The first black female to win the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Award, an international fanbase including King Combs and Jermain Dupri, plus millions of listens to her tracks, R.A.E is on the cusp of greatness, but you’d never know it, writes Joe Bill

“You have to hype yourself up into a mindset to do it, you have to swap over. It’s weird. I don’t know if I go through a portal or something from backstage. But as soon as my foot hits the stage, I’m just a confident person. But when I come off, I’m back to being shy. I don’t know how, but it just happens.”

Interviewing Rachel Oluyitan on the hottest day of the year, it’s pretty clear there is a big distinction between the person sitting in front of me and that of R.A.E (@itsr_a _e), the hip-hop/R&B artist from Thamesmead.

Not 48 hours beforehand, R.A.E was on the main stage at NASS Festival. And while this was a major milestone in her career arc, Rachel was more hyped about meeting London rapper Ms Banks.

“It was cool. I’ve met Ms Banks, like many times before, but this was the first time I actually spoke to her, which was really nice.”

R.A.E burst onto the scene in 2019, getting major attention for unapologetic rap track Damn Jermaine, which garnered attention from BBC 1Xtra, Kenny Allstar and Jermaine Dupri. In 2020, she became the first black female to win the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Award, only for Covid to cause her live performance at the legendary festival to be postponed for two years.

“Basically, my manager applied for me – I had no clue,” explains R.A.E. “I was meant to perform, but Covid basically cancelled everything. I thought that I’m never gonna perform there. And so it was kind of sad. But finally this year I performed there, and it was such an amazing experience.”

In 2020, R.A.E was also named by GQ as one of “The 46 new musicians to make 2020 better”, while EP Listen Up made the top 40 in the iTunes UK Hip-Hop/Rap chart.

“It was a really big time for me,” says Rachel. “Everything was taking off at the same time and I was like ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t know why all these things are happening for me, but I’m so grateful’.” And there was the small matter of the release of Like This, which has since racked up more than 1.6 million plays on Spotify alone… and she worked with Diddy’s son, Christian ‘King’ Combs.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that,” says Rachel, smiling. “His photographer, who I didn’t know was his photographer, had heard Not Your Love somewhere. And I got a DM from him saying that King Combs had heard it and liked it. So I went on their Instagram, and they were following each other. I connected our management together to make it happen. And yeah, he sent me his verse and I was like ‘Oh my gosh, it’s actually happening’.”

R.A.E, which stands for Rise Above Everything, remains an independent artist, which makes the achievements to date even more impressive.

“I do like it,” she says. “Sometimes it can be a little bit hard and maybe if I was signed it would be a lot easier. But at the same time there’s, like, a lot of artists who are independent that are doing really well. I kind of want to be the face of the independent black woman who’s doing great things. I did say to myself that if somebody wants to sign me and the deal makes sense I will probably take it. But for now, I’m independent and I’m still rocking with it.”

With three more singles slated for release this year, it’s probably time to move on to the music. Reading around, you will find R.A.E’s music described as a mix of 90s R&B mixed with some early 2000s hip-hop, with a distinct feel of TLC melodies and Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes vocals.

“I’d say my style is very, I don’t know the word, but it’s basically in between a girly-girl and a tomboy. But with a 90s twist. And very oversized. Like I love oversized clothing. A lot. It’s just a lot more comfortable and free,” says Rachel.

“I grew up listening to TLC. Spice Girls and Brandy. And then I also love New Edition and SWV – there’s so many. My favourite song of TLC would have to be What About Your Friends. Like, that song, I don’t know, I just love it so much.”

R.A.E is part of a growing movement of British female artists coming out of London and flying the flag for British R&B and rap – a genre that is historically dominated by the US.

“I really do like the UK R&B scene, but I’m never really included in it,” says Rachel. “When people talk about it, my name never comes up. So, I just told myself, well, I’m just one of a kind, basically. I hope it becomes even bigger than it is. But for now, I think it’s pretty good.”

Having played at two of the top festivals in the country this year, working with international artists and heading off to Europe to play gigs, you might think that perhaps the shyness would dissipate or the moments of clarity would hit home the relative magnitude of her success.

“I don’t think I’ve had that yet,” she says, coolly. OK, I mean, when I won the Glastonbury competition it was crazy. But I don’t think I’ve had that moment where I’m like ‘Whoa, this is really my life!’.”

But Rachel doesn’t come across as blasé about these things. It’s different to that.

“I find it very hard to see a lot of things that are happening. I feel like it’s because I separate myself from the artist. So I don’t really see it as an artist,” she explains. “There’s so many things I want to do. Like my biggest dream is to be an actress – oh, I really want to be in a musical movie. So I think that’s where my head is at. But I need to see it all because otherwise I’m just gonna not ever see anything!”

Surely there’s be a moment where every artist looks back and says ‘Oh yeah, I did do that’. Like R.A.E reaching 1.5 million plays on track Like This, for example.

“Oh wow!” she says. “I don’t know why, I just don’t look at those things.” And what about R.A.E’s 45,000 monthly listeners? … “Yeah, that’s pretty cool.”