- Music
- 20 Jul 21
The pop singer signed a four-album record deal with the company when she was 17 years of age.
British pop singer-songwriter RAYE has exited her record deal with Polydor.
The newly independent artist alleged last month that the label – an imprint of Universal Music – was holding her debut album hostage and refusing to allow her to release her music, despite RAYE having signed a four-album deal with them in 2014.
RAYE claimed to have "albums on albums of music sat in folders collecting dust," which she was giving away to other "A-list artists" as she waited for Polydor to allow her to release her first LP.
"I’ve done everything they asked me, I switched genres, I worked 7 days a week, ask anyone in the music game, they know," Raye tweeted.
"I’m done being a polite pop star. I want to make my album now, please that is all I want. Holding it inside and pretending I am 100% fabulous will only hurt more. So here it is. Today I feel like a toilet. I’m going to be brave and talk about it. You are not alone, we can talk about our worries and our tears. It’s not embarrassing to speak out, It is brave."
Yesterday (July 19) RAYE tweeted that she spoke with the label and they reached an agreement.
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"Polydor and I have spoken and we have agreed to part ways,” she began her note on Twitter.
“I want to say a big genuine thank you to the Polydor team, and all the individuals who have fought for me, believed in me and worked so hard for me across the years.
“Polydor are an incredible infrastructure power house team, unfortunately we have had different goals artistically and I am very grateful to them for giving me a graceful smooth exit to start my next chapter as an artist.”
A spokesperson for the Polydor team told NME last month that the label was "saddened" to hear about RAYE’s concerns, adding that the label had “reached out to her management team to discuss and offer our full support.”