RAYE wasn’t planning on tuning into the 2025 Grammy nominations announcement. Her debut album My 21st Century Blues was released long before this year’s eligibility period began, so she didn’t expect to see her name in any categories.
In fact, when this year’s nominees were unveiled in November, the Grammys weren’t even on the 27-year-old singer-songwriter’s mind. “You know them days where you’re just so mean to yourself? I was overthinking everything,” she tells PEOPLE over Zoom. “I was like, ‘What if that’s it now? What if my career’s over?'”
Nonetheless, one of RAYE’s team members turned on the announcement live stream — and quickly learned the London-born star is nominated for best new artist, best engineered album (for her work on Lucky Daye’s Algorithm) and songwriter of the year, non-classical. “I started crying, and I feel like my entire career flashed before my eyes,” she recalls of the moment.
Since releasing My 21st Century Blues in February 2023 and earning a global hit with its single “Escapism,” RAYE’s won six BRIT Awards and been shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, major accolades for a British artist. The Grammys, however, feels different for her.
“When I was little, the first image I saw was that gorgeous golden gramophone. For a British girl, you watch the Grammys at home, like, ‘Wow, one day maybe I’ll make it there.’ It’s that ultimate American dream,” she says. “Now I’m actually going to attend. It’s real!”
In the best new artist category, RAYE appears alongside fellow nominees Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Teddy Swims, Benson Boone, Shaboozey, Doechii and Khruangbin, each of whom has found major success in their careers. “And I think that’s why for that award, I’m not even holding my breath,” she jokes humbly.
“I’m just happy to be listed amongst these incredible artists who are just absolutely killing it and having Billboard No. 1s and selling out freaking huge arenas,” she continues. “I still feel like I’ve got a lot of work to do and a long way to go, but it’s just a really beautiful thing.”
The songwriter of the year nomination undoubtedly means the most to RAYE, who’s penned lyrics for herself as well as Beyoncé, Charli xcx, Jennifer Lopez, Ellie Goulding and other superstars throughout her decade-long career.
“That one hit differently,” she says of the nod. “At 14, I was like, ‘I want to be a great songwriter. That is my goal.’ In my early career, that was my main income source. It’s such a beautiful thing to have grown in that skill.”
RAYE’s nod comes after she spent the last year speaking out about unfair working conditions for songwriters and calling for more equitable business deals in the field — and “sadly” nothing’s gotten better yet, she says. “But I do think a change is on the horizon. I think it needs to be something legal that needs to change, dare I say, because I think it’s just really unethical.”
If she wins the award, Grammys ceremony viewers can likely expect her to make a statement about the matter on stage. “It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t,” adds the “Oscar Winning Tears” artist, “because I’ve just seen the other side, how ugly and how bleak it is.”
At this point though, RAYE isn’t rushing to write any acceptance speeches. “I’m keeping my expectations low. I’m just happy to be invited,” she says. “Anything more than that… I’ll have to work out how I’ll deal with that later.”
The 2025 Grammy Awards air live on CBS from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Feb. 2. The ceremony is also available to stream on Paramount+.
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