I’ve been a RAYE fan for more than ten years, back when she was the name tucked inside songwriting credits, the type of artist you’d play for friends with a quiet insistence that she was going to be huge one day. When she stepped on the stage at the O2 arena this year, not as a support act, not as an unknown backing vocal, but instead as the headlining show for her own tour, I realised that she wasn’t my little secret anymore, and I couldn’t think of anyone else more deserving of her success. The atmosphere before she came on wasn’t the usual pre‑show buzz; it felt more like a collective breath being held.









