Watch Raye cowl Nina Simone and Billie Vacation at Montreux Jazz Pageant membership present
Raye stunned an viewers at Montreux Jazz Pageant when she lined songs from Nina Simone and Billie Vacation. Test it out under.
Throughout one of many competition’s well-known ‘jam classes’, Raye took to the Memphis stage to carry out intimate covers of Vacation’s ‘All of Me’ and Simone’s ‘Feeling Good’.
The intimate present, seen by only some hundred individuals, adopted her efficiency on the competition’s predominant Lake Stage as a part of a double invoice with Janelle Monáe.
“I additionally stole an image of Nina [Simone] from the Jazz competition,” she joked with the viewers earlier than beginning the duvet. “I hope that’s okay, I want one thing to recollect at the present time by. I’ll put it right here, I like her a lot.”
It’s the second time she’s lined ‘Feeling Good’ this 12 months, after she shared a stripped-back model for Triple J’s Like A Model collection in February.
Shortly after the discharge of the duvet, the collection additionally shared a separate video of Raye explaining her love for the music, and why she determined to place her personal spin on it out of respect for Simone.
“I simply love that music a lot. I’ve been singing it since I used to be like 11 [or] 12. It’s simply one in all my all-time favourites. I’m intimidated by something that Nina sings as a result of I believe she’s one in all one and may’t be imitated. So I believe in my thoughts I used to be like ‘I’m going to do it however [in] my very own model’ as a result of her model can’t be topped,” she stated.
Earlier this month, Raye paid homage to Simone whereas showcasing her new single ‘Genesis‘ at a pop-up exhibition in New York Metropolis. She stated she was “so proud” of the seven-minute monitor, her first new materials since her critically acclaimed and BRIT Award-winning debut album ‘My twenty first Century Blues’, launched final February.
“There’s a Nina Simone quote, ‘It’s an artist’s obligation to replicate the instances’,” she stated. “This quote is all the pieces to me and I consider one of the best ways I can attempt to do that is thru my artwork and my music.
“There may be a lot darkness and ache on this world we dwell in, and I wished to create one thing each as deeply private and as uncooked as I may discover myself to be about my very own thoughts and the world I see round me.”
She added: “The music is a seven-minute piece that I’ve crafted and scrutinised during the last 12 months and a half, experimenting with completely different genres and sonic expressions, beneath all of the layers and the lyrics, the underlying message is ‘Let There Be Gentle’.
“It’s a prayer and a plea and a cry for assist, and I actually hope this music will have the ability to deliver some hope, the best way this music does for me, to those that want it most.”
Final week, Raye carried out ‘Genesis’ on an lively prepare station platform in London. The singer took to Selhurst station, situated only a few minutes away from the BRIT College – which she attended for 2 years from the age of 14 – to play the monitor with a jazz band.
Raye, who has repeatedly spoken out for songwriter rights, lately received the Ivor Novello award for Songwriter Of The 12 months. Her BRITs 2024 wins included Album Of The 12 months (‘My twenty first Century Blues’).
In a four-star assessment of the LP, NME wrote: “Raye recently said that such daring and courageous declarations wouldn’t have been launched had she nonetheless been signed to a significant label. Granted her inventive independence, although, the hard-fought ‘My twenty first Century Blues’ is unequivocally Raye from begin to end.”
Raye is amongst these rumoured to be headlining Glastonbury subsequent 12 months. This summer season, although, she’s set to carry out on the principle stage at Studying & Leeds 2024.