British singer-songwriter Raye has been discussing her recent collaborations with Mark Ronson, the first of which - a single called Suzanne - is set to be released on Friday.
Ronson, of course, was a key collaborator of the late Amy Winehouse, a vocalist to whom Raye is frequently compared. This being the case, Raye said that she approached her own project with Ronson with a certain amount of trepidation.
"Honestly, I'm not gonna lie, I actually was quite nervous and scared to work with him," Raye told People over the weekend. "I just do want to say that I know I can never, ever, ever, ever, ever attempt to replace or imitate Amy. I’m in awe of her. We all are, and we miss her."
Ronson produced six songs on Back to Black, Winehouse’s career-defining 2006 album, including the title track (which he also co-wrote), lead single Rehab and standout ballad Love Is a Losing Game.
These are all considered to be contemporary classics and, ultimately, it seems that Raye’s desire to work with someone she admires so much outweighed her fears of fuelling further comparisons to Winehouse.
"It's quite a tough thing to even allow myself to create so freely with him," she admits. "But I really just wanted to be like, ‘Do you know what? I just need to forget what anyone else is gonna say about this.’ I absolutely love this producer. I've always wanted to work with this producer since I was a little girl."
After Suzanne, which we’ll get to hear on 13 June, a second Raye/Ronson collaboration - a song called Grandma Calls the Boy Bad News - will drop later this month. This is taken from the soundtrack to the upcoming F1 movie.
Raye is currently working on the follow-up to 2023’s 21st Century Blues, her debut album, but says that she doesn’t have a title for the new record, the release date for which is also unconfirmed.
