Stormzy and RAYE teamed up for the sultry and 2000s-reminiscent collaborative single, ‘The Weekend’. Check out the track and the video below.
‘The Weekend’ is the second collaboration from the two south Londoners have together – following the Norbury grime star hopping on the R&B singer’s single ‘Ambition’ back in 2016.
Yesterday (July 19), Stormzy and RAYE dropped their new London-produced single. ‘The Weekend’ is a slick R&B-rap track that calls back to the genre-changing style Ja Rule and Ashanti made famous in the early 2000s. The two Ivor Novello Award winners use tongue-in-cheek lyrics to convey a tale of pursuing a new crush.
Directed by esteemed film director Omar Jones, the music video is ladled with nostalgic elements, with clothing and set lighting reminiscent of Nelly‘s ‘Hot In Here’.
In a recent interview with Dazed, Stormzy explained how his approach to songwriting has changed as he gets older.
“There’s a difference between doing music at 22 and when you’re about to turn 30,” he said.
“It’s the kind of peace and stability and stillness you can only get from maturity. You lose all the nervous shivers and the anxiety; you shake it off because now you’re a grown man coming into your skin.”
‘The Weekend’ is Stormzy’s second single of the year. Last month, he and northwest Londoner Fredo released the Dave-produced ‘Toxic Trait’ alongside an equally high-concept music video where TV presenter Allison Hammond acted as the duo’s therapist. Stormzy told also revealed that he is already working on new music – despite only releasing his third studio album ‘This Is What I Mean’ in November last year.
Meanwhile, this is RAYE’s third single of the year – following on from ‘Flip A Switch’ and ‘Ice Cream Man’ being lifted from her debut album ‘My 21st Century Blues’. In a four-star review, NME said the record was “brilliant” and “granted her creative independence, though, the hard-fought ‘My 21st Century Blues’ is unequivocally RAYE from start to finish.”
In June, it was reported that Stormzy and Wilfried Zaha are set to purchase AFC Croydon. Both men grew up in the borough. In the same month, RAYE performed at this year’s Glastonbury and gave an emotional and candid speech about her label troubles and sexual assault.