Raye, the 28-year-old singer, has swapped Instagram for a Bible app, crediting her Christian faith with guiding her through intense struggles with drugs and alcohol.
Embracing Life Offline
Raye has been candid about her past substance misuse during her time at Polydor Records. In a recent interview, she explained her decision to step away from social media: “I’m terrified of people picking me apart and eating me alive. At the end of the day not everyone’s going to love it but I know somebody out there will. I think since I’ve come offline, it’s been much better, ignorance is bliss.”
She added that negative comments once deeply affected her: “If someone said I look awful in a dress, it’d make me sad, if I don’t know someone said I look awful in a dress… so I’m really [big] on being offline.” Now, she turns to the Bible app for guidance instead.
While she maintains privacy online, Raye remains approachable in person. “It’s taken me so long to get here, I’d be terrified to jeopardise all of that by giving someone a bad impression of me,” she said. “So I’ll always say hello.”
Path to Sobriety and Growth
Raye recently shared her pride in her transformation on the February 2026 cover of ELLE. “I’m really proud of the growth I’ve done, because there’s a period in my life where I wasn’t interested in going on. And I know a lot of people out there go through that. I would never dream of giving up on myself like that today,” she stated.
Early in her career, she experimented with codeine and MDMA while drinking heavily to numb her pain. Supported by her family, especially her sister Lauren Keen, Raye overcame these challenges and now avoids using alcohol as an escape.
Grounded Creativity in New Music
Reflecting on her upcoming second album, Raye noted a shift from her debut My 21st Century Blues. “A lot of My 21st Century Blues, I was up in the clouds, rolling a blunt. I like that I’ve come down to earth to write these lyrics,” she said. “I prefer myself like this. I’ve found discipline and abstinence in my life, and it’s a beautiful thing. I’ll have a nice glass of wine every now and then, but I’m no longer drinking to fix or bury or numb or escape.”
Raye channels her experiences with substance abuse and assault into her lyrics as a form of healing. “I just want to be a woman discussing uncomfortable topics that we don’t talk about, these are all things I battled with in the darkness and in silence,” she revealed. “You hope in writing about these songs and putting them out into the world, you just hope that people hear them, and relate to them also. It’s very much medicine… For me it is just very empowering, and I hope it can be medicine for anyone else who needs it.”
