RAYE AND THE BEAUTIFUL COINCIDENCE OF “4”

It´s recommended to listen while reading

[embed]there is no better introduction for this article that the same RAYE setting up the scene

The past few months have been about closing a four-year chapter of living abroad, and I cannot stop thinking about how lately that number seems to be following me everywhere. Let me explain:

After four years living in Malta, I decided to return home and rebuild my life from scratch. Every year I spent here brought a lesson, and, as expected, the best way I can explain it is through music. This time, it is RAYE’s latest album that tells the story.

Wait. Before we begin, let’s talk about the coincidence of the number four. Here it goes:

The album is divided into four parts, and RAYE makes it clear that they represent the four acts of a theatre play whose protagonist is a woman in a red dress. Each act is made up of four songs — except for the last one, which includes an additional track dedicated to the credits. At the same time, these acts also represent the seasons, which inevitably brings me to The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi.

Each act and each season allow us to witness the grieving process of the woman in the red dress and her broken heart.

This album is not a blues per se (understanding that blues is born from feelings of nostalgia and deep sadness, often carrying a darker sound associated with cold and shadowy tones). It is more of a monologue of optimism. A constant reminder that even a broken heart can heal, and that eventually one can emerge from the darkness left behind when love ends. That is why the album is called THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE.

Do you see the beauty of the number four?

I would like to think that RAYE observed my last four years and decided to turn them into this masterpiece. So I will try — probably in a clumsy way — to tell you a little about this period of my life while following the narrative of this album.

Without further ado, let us begin.

ACT I — AUTUMN

Just as the album opens by placing the woman in the red dress inside an almost apocalyptic setting that mirrors autumn, allow me to contextualize my own autumn as well.

I arrived in Malta in 2022 with the hope of building a better life alongside the man I believed was the love of my life. However, life had different plans for me, and I eventually became “The girl under the gray cloud” the moment everything ended with “The South London lover boy” –of course he is not from London, however RAYE makes it sound so poetic — .

And then I experienced firsthand what RAYE describes in “The Whatsapp Shakespeare”:

“Though I’d like to clarify, no one did die in the story But I did inside, when I found out I was one of seven other leading ladies Starring in the new romantic thriller”

I had never heard such an accurate description of what I went through and she definitely nailed it.

Everything happened during summer, yet it felt like autumn. And eventually, it led me into my personal winter.

ACT II — WINTER

Looking back on it now — and connecting it to Vivaldi — Winter is the darkest season, but also the most beautiful one. At least, it is my favorite. It is the season that brings the most painful lessons and, at the same time, the most valuable growth, even if we cannot understand it at the moment.

So yes, eventually I became the “Winter Woman” (and I would like to highlight how beautifully RAYE incorporates Vivaldi into this musical piece).

As she describes it: in the middle of summer, I became a cold, heartbroken woman waiting for warmer days to arrive. In the meantime, I retreated into myself until those days came.

And they did eventually.

Not everything was lost. Just as she narrates, reinforcements arrived to pull me out of my isolation. I heard the “Click Clack” of my friends’ heels, the friends who never gave up on me and extended the hands I needed to understand something fundamental:

“She must hold on, and she must let go She’ll be alright, no riding, shining, armoured knight She will save herself this time And in fact, tonight she did confirm The cold never lasts, my darling It just teaches the heart how to burn”

Everything was going to be alright.

But in order to get there, I needed to look deep inward, understand myself, and speak to myself with the same compassion I offered others.

Alejandra, “I Know You´re Hurting.”

I discovered something painful: I could always find kind words for everyone except myself. So RAYE built what I consider now my personal anthem. A constant reminder not to give up.

Never give up.

So in the middle of the storm, I asked God for a “Life Boat” to hold onto so I would not drown in my own tears.

And the words of a wise man resonated within me so deeply that I feel they deserve to remain here:

“Many people have pains in their lives… Whether you’re going through darkness There’s a future, there’s a way forward There’s hope.”

ACT III — SPRING

After winter, comes that transitional period when it may still feel cold, but the first blossoms begin to appear. And with them came a new version of the woman in the red dress, one who started repeating affirmations to herself in hopes of finally believing them:

“Get a grip, that’s what I said You must change the way you talk to yourself There’s only you that can do it, only me that can try To love the way I look tonight”

Although saying it is easier than actually doing it. Still, I had to start somewhere.

And during that Spring, I began choosing myself.

I gave myself trips, silence, and introspection. But most importantly, I took my pain and officially said:

“Goodbye Henry.”

“And his name isn’t even Henry, but I’m just tryna be respectful We don’t talk anymore, he could be next-door, wouldn’t even know In another life, we could have made it, but in this one, well, we let go”

I allowed myself to leave the pain behind in winter. I allowed myself to say goodbye, just as RAYE did in Nightingale Lane, and to open myself once again to the possibility that:

“When I drive down this road I’m reminded, though I’ve let him go now Right here in this ghost town Right here on this ground is where someone once loved me And someday, someone will again.”

The gray sky disappeared. And I began seeing colors again. The sun began to shine once more.

ACT IV — SUMMER

The most beautiful thing about summer is its warmth. That warmth that comes from within and pushes us to see everything with more joy and optimism. And that is how my summer arrived.

My heart no longer hurt, and it was finally open to radiating warmth into the world. I feel ready to start attracting all the good things I know I deserve and, why not, even ask God for a husband.

“I would like a ring, I would like a ring I would like a diamond ring on my wedding finger I would like a big and shiny diamond That I could wave around and talk and talk about it And when the day is here, forgive me, God, that I could ever doubt it”

That is what I became: a woman in a red dress who, after enduring difficult seasons, now feels ready to welcome only “joy” into her life, and who asks God, above all else, that regardless of whatever life may bring:

“Cover me with Your feathers, Father Shelter me with Your wings I may cry through the night, I may cry through the night But my joy comes in the morning Joy, joy”

FIN

Nothing that happens to us is accidental. There is always a lesson behind every person who enters our lives. In the same way, a broken heart pushes us to face our fears and bring out the best version of ourselves.

RAYE is living proof of this. THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE is profound and medicine to the soul. Every human being has, at some point, identified with the process of loving, having their heart broken, falling apart and feeling empty, getting back up, healing, and becoming happy again. That is called resilience. And thanks to it, we also build beautiful projects that fill our lives with purpose and meaning.

In my case, it led me back home.

After four years of living through my own theatrical seasons and rebuilding myself within them, I am going back home. Thank you Raye for resuming the last years of my life in such a beautiful masterpiece.