This Music May Contain Hope Raye Album Review

By Cara MacDonald; edited by Charlotte Lewis

Raye’s theatrical and personal new album, This Music May Contain Hope is a great follow-up to her debut My 21st Century Blues. 

Something that stands out about the album is how much the London singer values her family. Including special features of her grandparents and the collaboration with her musical sisters Amma and Absolutely, the album feels like she’s found her way back to her roots, bringing a fresh perspective and mature sound to her music. 

The way she sings and narrates each song feels like a new perspective, one she’s found through hard times and suffering – which again refers back to My 21st Century Blues as it described the difficulties of navigating through the music industry and being afraid to speak up.

A unique trait of the album is the theatrical structure to it. It’s structured like a movie along with its “end credits” section where she reads out the names of musicians, family members, and friends who all played a part in bringing it together.

I liked how certain tracks of the album were represented as winter, spring, summer, and autumn. Raye refers to seasons of life a lot in her music with Click Clack Symphony, Hard Out Here, which doesn’t name seasons directly but does highlight changes in life, and Worth It, which again highlights change and growth.

Another example of Raye’s musical family is in Joy, a feel good anthem featuring her two sisters Amma and Absolutely again. After seeing the whole family perform at her first concert at The Hydro, it was interesting to hear how all their styles are so different but can come together for a song that shows all their own voices.

Fin. Concludes the album and uniquely reads like the credits to a film. Raye thanks everyone involved in making the album what it is, a reminder to the large team it takes to put an album like this together.

Overall, the album is a lot to take in but so well executed. The mix of narration to tell a story through music is interesting but works well with the album overall. It ties it back to the initial theatrical concept, she’s verbally reminding people of the struggles she’s overcome and while you are lost in the music, she narrates the story, bringing you back out and setting a reminder of what the story is that she’s trying to tell.

Since her departure from Polydor in 2021, she’s not abandoned her dance style of music as she still lends her voice on tracks with Central Cee, Doja Cat, LISA, and other notable artists. But, she’s proven she can produce more than just one track hits. Albeit slightly messy and the few narrated breaks in songs, TMMCH is a perfect follow up to her debut and confirms Raye made the right choice in taking the risk in becoming an independent artist.