Raye has shared her true feelings about her ‘traumatic’ and dark phase in a candid interview.
The record producer, whose real name is Rachel Agatha Keen, 28, was signed to record company Polydor in 2014 and rose to fame after featuring on Jax Jones’ You Don’t Know Me, at the age of 19.
However, despite securing a record deal, Raye was uncomfortable being part of some projects that record executives pushed her to pursue.
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During a stint living and recording in Los Angeles in 2019 that the star hit rock bottom as she blames ‘a large collection of traumas, frustrations and substance abuse, misuse, or whatever, that just kind of piled up and that year was just one blurry mess’.
Describing it ‘a pretty dark year’, the London-born star explained how she wasn’t close to most of her family at this time, apart from her sister Lauren – known professionally as Amma – who came to live with her for a while.
In a joint interview for CBS’ Sirius radio, Amma explained how ‘traumatic’ it was to see her sister spiral.
‘It would be me that had to double check that she was okay and yeah, she was still alive frankly,’ she said.
Raye was asked during the interview whether she was using ‘drugs’ at that time, she nodded and replied: ‘Yeah other stuff,’ whilst explaining that she still drinks.
‘Interestingly there was a time when I was just not sober at all. I was really in the deep end,’ she explained, adding that it was her grandmother texting her a bible verse about sobriety that helped start her recovery.
‘She didn’t know anything that was going on,’ she explained. ‘I was very good at hiding what I was going through and what I was doing from my family. But that Bible verse kicked me in the teeth a bit,’ she said.
‘I was at a session in LA, I just remember I went to the bathroom and I shed some tears and I was like, “I need to start getting it together here”.
Meanwhile, the Escapism hitmaker is gearing up for an exclusive musical experience at one of London’s most celebrated venues.
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2026-10-10 13:08:00
