Raye has spoken about the honour of receiving the “best birthday present” with her Mercury Prize 2026 for ‘This Music May Contain Hope‘, sharing that she “just feels seriously seen” after her years of struggle.
The London singer-songwriter was crowned the winner of the 2026 prize in Newcastle last night (Thursday October 22) for her second album, beating off competition from other shortlisted records by Paul McCartney, JADE, Nia Archives, Dave, Suede, Florence + The Machine, Olivia Dean, Knats, RAYE, Dove Ellis, and Kojey Radical, along with the War Child ‘Help(2)’ compilation album.
The win comes on the eve of her playing the album in full with an orchestra at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall tonight, and ahead of her celebrating her 29th birthday tomorrow. After her emotional acceptance speech and closing performance on stage, Raye headed to the winners’ room to address media at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle – where she told us that the evening had fulfilled her dream of either getting a “boyfriend” or a “Mercury Prize”.
“I just poured so much heart into this album, I really did,” Raye told the room. “Down to the wire, I set myself the goal to just make the most ambitious album. We have about four orchestras’ worth of musicians on this. So much passion and love for music went into this album and really this accolade is really serious and something I always dreamed to one day receive. I just feel really grateful. It’s just the best birthday present I could have asked for.”
Speaking about her journey since her well-publicised past battles with her record label, she said: “I just feel seriously seen, you know? There’s always a battle between art and commercial or ‘Who’s having the biggest this?’ or ‘What’s going on there?’, and just to feel seen for a body of work that I poured my heart into makes me feel really grateful that the judges voted for it to win.”
Asked if there was a moment from the album that she felt particularly proud of, Raye shared that it was either deciding that she wanted the final track to list every single person that played on the album, or the gut-punch song ‘I Know You’re Hurting’ tackling mental health.
“I wrote that with my band,” Raye shared. “It was just me and the boys. We started talking about men’s mental health. Especially in the UK, there’s not a culture of talking about feelings. We started talking, we got really emotional and we made that song. There’s a lot of real light and love in that song.”
She also spoke about what it meant to take home the coveted Mercury Prize statue as an independent artist.
“It’s just not easy,” Raye revealed. “It’s not an easy industry and it’s not easy coming up as a young woman, but I will say that I feel encouraged and I hope anyone feels encouraged. I used to watch speeches like this wide-eyed and think, ‘Anything is possible if I just go for it’. As cheesy as that is now, it’s a real thing. It’s just persistence and relentlessness that’s required in this industry, especially being independent. It’s not easy but what a beautiful thing it is to dedicate your life to doing something you love. And I really do. I adore music. I live and breathe it, but it takes time.
“Eventually, one little door will creep open and then you just run.”
And as for her incoming Royal Albert Hall show – which saw a wild demand for tickets that was crashed by tout bots – will Raye be getting some sleep to prepare or partying through the night to celebrate her win?
“I’m absolutely not partying, at all!” she replied. “What people don’t realise about being a singer is that we do shows, and then we don’t talk much. I’m definitely going to sleep tonight but I think I’m going to be staring at the ceiling for a little bit. Tomorrow is round two at the Royal Albert Hall. The first time was one of the greatest, if not the greatest night of my life. We’re literally performing this album from front to back and I just cannot believe the timing of this. It’s just ridiculous, really.”
‘This Music May Contain Hope’ – which NME gave a five-star review and hailed as “show-stopping musical maximalism at its grandest” – hit Number One in the UK and led to her headlining Reading & Leeds festival 2026.
This marked Raye’s second Mercury nomination, and follows her breaking the BRIT Awards record in 2024 for the most wins in a single year by taking home six awards.