Raye Stars In Stella McCartney’s New Campaign, Talks New Music

IT’S NOT DIFFICULT for British music sensation Raye to remember her first introduction to Stella McCartney.

“When I was maybe about 18, I got my hands on this gorgeous Stella McCartney faux leather jacket, and I was obsessed and I wore it absolutely everywhere,” Raye tells Harper’s Bazaar. “It was the first Stella piece I ever owned and I just remember as a young girl thinking, I love this brand and I love this jacket. It was one of those things that was just effortless and you could pair it with anything. I’d wear it with a men’s white [Oxford] shirt and I would wear it to death. And I still have it!”

Now, of course, life has changed a bit for the London-born musician. Nearly a decade later, Raye is on her way to being a household name, having written hits for the likes of Beyoncé and Charli XCX, and paved her own lane as not just a songwriter but also as a powerhouse performer who became the most awarded winner in Brit Awards history last year. Her success is shifting over to fashion as well; Raye is returning as an official face for Stella McCartney’s summer 2025 campaign alongside fellow creatives like Myha’la, Alex Consani, and Eva Mendes. Lensed by photographer Ethan James Green, Raye wears an off-the-shoulder knit maxi dress for the campaign, not unlike the vintage-inspired gowns she often sports onstage while touring the globe.

“It was a fabulously chaotic day and a brilliant experience,” Raye shares of shooting the campaign in New York City. “We were all on set together and it was all really fun and lovely — Alex was in and out of her makeup chair just being fabulous, Eva was just being fabulous, and Stella is so funny as well. She’s always got her phone out and she started singing opera, so I started singing opera and it was chaotic and so fun. I’m definitely new to the world of fashion, so I was just very grateful to have such, brilliant, professional people there who could help me really get into the vibe. [Ethan] has a very, very great eye and he made the experience very easy and was so encouraging. Words of affirmation is my love language and he gave so much positive feedback [while shooting].”

The underlying message behind the new campaign is the mantra “Save What You Love,” inspired by author and birdwatcher Jonathan Franzen’s book The End of the End of the Earth. Featuring AI-generated avian species pictured alongside Raye, Consani, and Mendez, the campaign is also a celebration of the beauty of birds — and a reminder of the fact that that nearly 50% of avian species are in decline, so we need to act fast to save them.

“I loved that Ethan let me play my classical music during the shoot. Because the campaign is so centred around nature and the planet and the earth, I always feel quite regal when classical music is on — so we were playing Vivaldi and Beethoven,” Raye laughs. “It really helped me get into the spirit of trying to channel your inner bird!”

Raye is undergoing her own sort of style evolution as her star continues to rise. She fully embraces the glamour that comes with performing, often opting for tailored gowns and vintage inspired silhouettes when it’s time for her to to belt on stage. Some of her biggest style inspirations are history’s finest divas including Diana Ross, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, and more. When it comes to studio time, however — or any sort of rare downtime in-between touring and frantic press cycles — she regularly reaches for her old reliables: jeans and a t-shirt.

“I’m such a lover of the ’50s and the ’60s — I’m obsessed, in fact. I just love my Hollywood glamour. When my hairstylist first tried a bob on me, which was almost five years ago now, that hairstyle really pushed me to feel more excited, confident, and comfortable about gowns and dresses and [it was] this kind of fabulous juxtaposition from how I was as a kid growing up in Croydon in South London,” she shares. “A lot of the way that I dress considers the presentation of the music and the style and the genre and how I want to share that space with the crowd. [Studio Raye] is the complete opposite. Comfort is everything for me then. I’ve collected so many t-shirts from so many of these things we’ve done — I have like six Tiny Desk t-shirts, five SNL shirts, Jimmy Fallon shirts, Jimmy Kimmel shirts! I spend a lot of my studio time just rotating those t-shirts and if I’m heading out, pairing them with a good pair of jeans.” (And maybe perhaps, her vintage Stella leather jacket for good measure, too.)

Following a Grammys debut for the ages earlier this year (which the singer describes as “one of the greatest moments” of her life), Raye is finally heading back into the studio, though she admits she’s nervous about sitting down to record music again.

“I’ve realised I’ve become such a performer over the last two years and my career’s been so focused on putting on shows that now that I’ve been back in the studio and I’m so out of my comfort zone,” she says. “So it’s really an interesting new chapter of being back in a creative space because I haven’t been in this specific space — which used to be my everyday life! — for so long. Now I’m in the studio like…oh, sugar! I’m scared,” she laughs.

She’s ready to embrace the evolution that comes with discomfort, however.

“It’s good to face and confront and to feel uncomfortable. When you’re uncomfortable, you can push yourself and find new things within yourself,” she adds. “I’m staring at the potential and it’s quite overwhelming, and I just want to do the best job that I can. That’s me right now.”

This article originally appeared on Harper’s BAZAAR US.