After weeks of climbing the chart, RAYE has secured her first UK No.1 single on the Official Singles Chart.
The British singer-songwriter is sitting pretty at the top with her massive new hit Escapism, which features American artist 070 Shake.
Escapism takes the pole position with 5.6 million streams as the track continues to be a hit on streaming services, radio and TikTok.
“We are Number 1 in the UK! It’s the first Number 1 of the year, it’s my first Number 1 in my life. I’m an independent artist, this is sickening!” RAYE told Official Charts. “This is proof [you should] back yourself, no matter what. Thank you, this is mad. These are happy tears!”
Escapism is lifted from RAYE’s long-awaited debut album My 21st Century Blues, which will be released on 3 February.
“It does just feel beautiful, but it also doesn’t feel real, entirely,” RAYE recently told GAY TIMES regrading the impending release of the record.
“I feel like someone is going to call me up and tell me, ‘Oh, we’re moving it another two years.’ I am definitely battling with the surreal versus the real, but I’m very excited.
“I am also so proud of it and I think during this time with independent life, I’m reevaluating what really matters to me and who I want to be.
“I just know I want to put bodies of work out and this is my first one. I am about to achieve a really important goal of mine.”
Speaking about breaking away from her former major label deal, RAYE added: “I think in this independent journey it’s really been about stripping away all the other things I never cared about, but I felt like I needed to care about.
“For me, one of those things is the integrity of the music that I am creating. I am a very deep layered, complex person. I am not a simple person. I have a lot to say, I have a lot of feelings, I like to be honest. I like to say how it is and push boundaries and break walls.
“I think that this independent process is definitely liberating. The music now, compared to everything before, it’s very different. This music is not created to sell or designed to make money. It’s designed to be honest and express myself. Whatever happens happens but fucking hell, it feels so good.”
RAYE will embark on a headline world tour in February playing dates in London, Manchester, Paris, Berlin, Los Angeles and New York City, among others.
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