POP star Raye broke down in tears over her tough climb to fame before scooping a gong for ‘best independent track’ at a star-studded awards ceremony.
The 25-year-old – who has spent a decade working in the music industry – opened up about her struggles on stage at Superbloom Festival 2023.
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Raye performed her biggest hits in front of a massive crowdCredit: © Tim Ludwig
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The singer won an AIM award for best independent trackCredit: Julius Hatt for SUPERBLOOM Festival
Raye spoke emotionally about being s*e*xually assaulted as a teen, battling a drug addiction and failing to find love with her rapper exes.
She was then awarded for her No1 hit Escapism by the Association of Independent Music at the ceremony in Camden, North London.
It represents and supports the UK’s independent music community, previously honouring stars including Stormzy and Adele.
Offering up motivation to her adoring fans on stage at Superbloom’s two-day festival at Munich’s Olympiapark, Raye said: “Let me give you some advice. Live your life to the full. Be happy and joyful.”
The singer – who went out with global superstar rapper Drake – then joked: “Oh and don’t date rappers. I’ve tried it, many many times and it doesn’t work.”
Introducing her song Mary Jane, Raye talked about her “addictive” personality.
“Are any of you into star signs?”, she asked.
“I’m a Scorpio, which basically means that I’m very all or nothing. If I drink alcohol, I’ll drink a lot of alcohol.
“Or if I’m on a rollercoaster, I’ll go on 35 times until I’m sick from it.
“If I love you then I’m all over and you love so hard.
“That’s why I stopped smoking weed. I used to smoke a lot of it until it got out of hand.”
Raye also didn’t hold back to revealing intimate details about her past, admitting “music is my medicine”.
Before performing Ice Cream Man, Raye explained the lyrics behind the song, which she wrote to deal with her pain after being s*e*xually assaulted by a music producer.
“I don’t want to bring down the mood, but this is really important because there are a lot of beautiful people here today and I want you to be careful,” said Raye.
“What happened left me with this really s***, terrible, horrible feeling.
“I’m not very good at talking about things and when I went through what I went through, that’s exactly what happened. I didn’t talk about it and I buried it.
“I buried it, buried it, buried it all up. Bottling things up have consequences and I went through a lot of pain.
“Music is my medicine so I wrote this next song [Ice Cream Man] just to help me feel better or process something really s***.”
The crowd cheered in support of the star who cried on stage as she delivered the song.
A whopping 50,000 music fans turned out to Superbloom Festival 2023 for its second year.
After last year’s debut with performances from the likes of Rita Ora, the festival delivered a “bigger and better” extravaganza – attracting international stars including Jason Derulo, Ellie Goulding and Aitch.
So far the festival has seen 22 to 27-year-old females most likely to buy a weekend ticket, but the event has something for everyone.
From a minibloom area to entertain the kids to a s*e*x toy rodeo where youngsters can get s*e*x education throughout the festival.
There’s also swan pedalo rides, a ferris wheel, roller-staking rink and a wall of mirrors to visit in between gigs.
Festival director Fruzsina Szép told The Sun: “I truly believe that besides all the fun, the music and our diverse experience areas with all these human and social actions will lead to a better and safer world and more kindness and understanding for all of us.
“For a long time, I have wanted to give social issues the space they deserve at one of my festivals.
“With my work, I aim to promote inclusion, social cohesion and raise awareness and tolerance towards all cultures, genders, religions, s*e*xual orientations, skin colors, and origins.
“My goal is to encourage people to participate in political and social activities, take action and to stand up for peaceful dialogue, humanism, tolerance, and mutual understanding.
“With Superbloom I want to continue the work to become a festival that is as inclusive and barrier free as possible so our guest living with disabilities can enjoy the whole festival the same way as all our other guests.
“That is why it was so important for me to provide our Main Stage to human rights activist Düzen Tekkal and spread her message for thousands of people. In the future, I want to expand also this concept continuously.”
Superbloom Festival 2024 has already been announced for next year, on September 7 and 8th.
The presale limited Early Bird tickets are available now.
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Ellie Goulding was among Superbloom’s star-studded line-upCredit: Facebook/Superbloom
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Rapper Aitch was one of the British artists to perform at the German festivalCredit: Julius Hatt for SUPERBLOOM Festival
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Jason Derulo was one of the headline actsCredit: Wikipedia/Markus Maier
