Raye meets Mutya Buena

In the first episode of Face-to-Face, the musician Raye meets Mutya Buena from Sugababes.

Raye was born in London and she grew up in Croydon. Between the ages of 14 and 16, she attended the BRIT school for performing arts - which also counts Adele, Amy Winehouse and FKA twigs as alumni.

Raye released her debut EP in 2014. Alongside releasing solo material, she has worked with artists such as Stormzy, Charli XCX and Beyoncé.

Last summer, Raye publicly criticised her record label on social media, claiming that she’d been signed for a four album deal in 2014, but that she hadn’t yet been allowed to release an album. “I’m done being a polite pop star,” she said.

In July this year, Raye released Hard Out Here – her first song in her new chapter as an independent artist.

Mutya Buena was born and raised in Kingsbury, North West London. The Sugababes formed in 1998 and released their debut One Touch album in 2000. Despite the album including three Top 20 singles, they were dropped by their record label. They released their second album Angels with Dirty Faces  in 2002. It featured the Number One hits Round and Round and Freak Like Me.

After the release of Sugababes’ fourth album Taller in More Ways, in 2005 Buena announced her departure from the group. She released her solo album Real Girl in 2007.

In 2012, Buena and original Sugababes members Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy confirmed that they had regrouped.

This year, the Sugababes performed at Glastonbury, creating such a high demand that an entire area of the festival was shut down to avoid overcrowding. They will be back on the road this autumn.

During their Face-to-Face conversation, Raye and Buena discuss mental health, social media and navigating the toxic side of the music industry.

This podcast was produced with Front Ear Podcasts. It was edited by Nathan Copelin, and the music was created by David Cantello.

Recorded at The Standard hotel in London.

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