THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE
RAYE · Pop/R&B
Reviewed
The Roast
“RAYE spent years fighting her label for creative freedom and finally got it. The result? An album that is 80% genius and 20% "I probably should have let someone edit this." The highs are stratospheric. The lows are still better than most artists' peaks. 17 tracks is a choice, and RAYE made it with the confidence of someone who has nothing left to prove.”
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The Bright Side
Metacritic score of 90. A Hans Zimmer collaboration. A UK number-one single. RAYE went from label-dropped underdog to the most acclaimed British artist of the year. The four-chapter structure is ambitious and mostly works, weaving love, grief, resilience and joy into something genuinely cinematic.
Hardest Sneer
“17 tracks. Seventeen. In an era where albums are getting shorter, RAYE looked at the streaming economy and said "absolutely not." There are at least three songs here that a braver editor would have cut, and the album would be stronger for it. But RAYE didn't fight her label for years just to let someone tell her to trim the tracklist.”
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Issues (3)
17-track runtime
Receipt
Over an hour of music. Some songs feel like they exist because RAYE could, not because she should.
Fix
An album this ambitious deserves an editor who is not afraid of the artist. Cut three tracks and this is a 9.
Chapter structure inconsistency
Receipt
The four-chapter concept works beautifully for three chapters and then loses steam in the final stretch.
Fix
Either commit fully to the concept or let the songs speak without the framework.
Hans Zimmer feature
Receipt
Click Clack Symphony featuring Hans Zimmer sounds exactly as extra as that collaboration implies.
Fix
Sometimes restraint is the flex. This was not one of those times, and somehow it still works.