This Interview With Raye May Contain Hope

It’s been a while since South London singer Raye was a supporting act for another artist. And honestly, she admits, the experience has been humbling at times. With two critically acclaimed studio albums and world tours of her own under her belt, the 28-year-old has racked up countless hours on stage. But opening for pop heavyweight Bruno Mars on his Romantic Tour means she’s facing stadium crowds of around 70,000, a scale that still intimidates her.This story is part of the 2026 TIME100 Next. Read Anya Taylor-Joy’s tribute to Raye here.“I think people know ‘Where Is My Husband!’” she tells me on a Zoom call from New Orleans, the 12th stop on her leg of the tour. The hit single has surpassed a billion streams on Spotify since its release a year ago, and she recently performed it at the 2026 MTV VMAs. But that recognition only goes so far when the audience has come to see someone else. “It’s that taste of humility, where you’re like, ‘Right, this person is just staring at me like they are bored out of their mind,’” she says. “But it encourages something within you that’s like, ‘I need to put on a good show for this person!’ It’s quite funny, but also healthy.” Art Direction and Set A...