RAYE arrives with “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!” and flips the script on modern love songs. This isn’t pleading. It’s a power move dressed in vintage glamour and built with sharp technical precision.
The production drips with 1960s soul sophistication while pulling off tricks that would make contemporary pop producers rethink their whole toolkit.
RAYE and Mike Sabath developed the track during a 10-day retreat in Big Bear Lake, California, drawing directly from The Supremes’ polished elegance. The structure hits immediately: it opens with the chorus, a rare choice that lands with instant authority.
Brass lines slice through the mix, driven by Chris Hill on trumpet, Ivan Malespin on trombone, and Graeme Blevins on saxophone.
A female bassist anchors everything with syncopated grooves that deliberately dodge beat one, landing instead on beat two for a funkier pull.
The production takes a bold risk with the lead vocal. RAYE isn’t centred; she’s doubled and stereo-panned, creating a sense of movement most pop tracks avoid.
Harmonies stack five deep in sections. Rita Andrade’s viola and Yasmeen Al-Mazeedi’s violin sweep through the bridge, where chromatic walk-downs nod to jazz sophistication.
The backing vocals whisper close-mic’d and dry, creating an ASMR effect that feels like three voices murmuring secrets in each ear.
RAYE’s technique is razor sharp. The verses showcase speed singing, rapid-fire delivery with relaxed articulation.
She switches cleanly between chest voice for punch and head voice for lift, using twang to project without strain. The “uh-huh, uh-huh” moments drop into her natural speaking range, warm and grounded.
The bridge brings coordinated jazz scatting, something only trained vocalists execute easily. The outro leans into vocal fry, adding texture to the final “Where is my husband?” The whole performance flickers between melody and spoken rhythm, giving the track theatrical looseness.
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The Reid Brothers, Ed and Will, direct the music video with a Looney Tunes-style title card announcing “RAYE Presents Where Is My Husband The Sound is Retro-Pop.”
It opens in stark black and white as RAYE wanders through empty apartment hallways, chasing a silhouette that never quite materialises.
Colour erupts when she appears on stage in a red sequin dress, using footage captured at her SUPERBLOOM Festival performance.
Executive producer James Hackett and art director Mikey Robbins nail the retro aesthetic, it looks like a lost film from 1965 that somehow landed on modern streaming platforms.
The lyrics thrive on specificity: she wants a diamond ring, stands 5’5″, has brown eyes. RAYE wrote the song after a painful breakup five years ago, telling British Vogue she longs for an old-fashioned meet-cute – eye contact at a bar, a negroni, jazz drifting in the background.
The outro features what sounds like a grandmother’s voice blessing the search.. For a deeper dive into the lyrics and the personal journey that shaped this track, check out our full meaning breakdown.
RAYE debuted the song as her opener at Glastonbury 2025, backed by a full brass band. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number four and reached number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100.
She later graced the British Vogue October 2025 cover and appeared in Netflix’s Black Rabbit (released September 2025), performing a cover of “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes.”
Last week she headlined Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball 2025 at London’s O2 Arena. Her 40-date “This Tour May Contain New Music” tour begins January 2026, with her sisters Absolutely and Amma joining as support.
This track makes one thing clear: RAYE owns her lane completely.