This Music May Contain Hope

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The long-awaited second album from Raye, six months after the release of Where Is My Husband, This Music May Contain Hope is a genre-blending, theatrical journey that is worthy of 70 minutes of your time.

Raye continues to use her poetic writing style to confront the trials and tribulations that come with being a female musician in an ever-critical industry. Nevertheless, she has managed to create an album that doesn’t feel like a direct replica of her debut, 21st Century Blues. Ever the lover girl, it contains stories of romance and heartbreak, but also of family, self-worth, and mental health.

The WhatsApp Shakespeare perfectly encapsulates Raye’s genre-blending techniques. Rooted in the beat of a South London drill track, it is then elevated by layered strings and harmonies — a combination that has become Raye’s infamous sound. Just as you settle into one style, she pivots effortlessly into another. Perhaps this is the ingredient that allows this 17-track album to not become stagnant.

Released just a week ahead of the album, Click Clack Symphony, created in collaboration with Hans Zimmer, offered an exciting glimpse into what this album would entail. With someone like Zimmer on the track, my expectations were inevitably high, and then subsequently met. The mix of orchestral arrangement, sirens, and the sampled ‘Click Clack’ of heels makes this a track I would use to showcase the unique sound Raye has created for herself.

Ever the poet, Raye has no trouble pulling on your heartstrings. On the ballad I Know You’re Hurting and the deeply personal Fields, written as a letter to her grandfather, she need not rely on repetitive bridges and choruses to convey her stories.

I would argue this album is something of a time machine. Lifeboat takes us back to that industry-fresh Raye, reminiscent of her early features on countless house and garage tracks that scored the 2010s, before seamlessly transporting you to 1900s New Orleans with the soulful jazz track I Hate the Way I Look Today.

If I had one qualm, it comes in Goodbye Henry, featuring Al Green. Whether an editorial or artistic decision, his vocals feel noticeably detached, which in turn disrupts the smoothness of the track.

The album commences with a return to a musical theatre style, as if to neatly tie the project up with a bow. A final flourish on a record built with meticulous attention to detail. While the singles of this album confidently stand alone, this is a musical narrative that deserves your full attention from beginning to curtain call.