No Majesty Music Profiles takes a look at artists’ careers from start to present, with the aim of documenting their impact on music culture.
Everyone will have heard Rayelle’s catchy, buzzy summer single from 2017. The track, “Get Ready”, was played on every pop music radio station, every video channel and on every dance floor across the world (yes, we’re talking about a time when dance floors existed… remember clubbing? Remember dancing within 2 meters of people?).
The track, which has also featured on numerous adverts including Samsung and Kohls, has appeared on the soundtracks of various TV shows including Insatiable, making it a song that well and truly infiltrates each and every audio avenue that exists in the modern world.
Although Rayelle’s music must be firmly entrenched in the pop genre, it is obviously influenced by all kinds of different music, drawing inspiration from a range including hip hop, RnB, soul, indie and even rock music. Rayelle has stated that her specific influences span as wide a scope as from Green Day and No Doubt to Mary J Blige and Lauryn Hill. So you can see, there is a vast range of cultural variety that has fed into Rayelle’s unique sound.
But who exactly is this mysterious blonde bombshell? Well, Rayelle is actually…. pop sensation Olly Anna. Olly Anna has had massive musical hit tracks designed to empower, such as “Write My Story” and “Make Me Wanna Clap”, and these hits inspire confidence in their listeners. And like her alter ego, she has had huge commercial success with her music being featured on adverts for the likes of Lexus and Special K as well as various television programs. This kind of success is impressive by any standard, but to have this kind of success twice with two different personas is completely wild and totally remarkable.
The fact that Lindsey Ray, a girl from a small town in Maine, found it necessary to reinvent herself into two distinct alternative versions of herself is an interesting symptom, perhaps, of a culture that chases an idea of edginess and mystery at the expense of authenticity. Then again, perhaps that is mapping too much politics on to the construction of Lindsey Ray/ Rayelle/ Olly Anna’s persona. The fact is, she has enough musical talent for any number of alter egos. For the purposes of this article, we will refer to this multifaceted music machine as Rayelle.
Rayelle’s path to success has not been as straight forward as her hyper polished, dewy all-American persona suggests: in fact, she had to fight through cover bands, backing gigs and interstate commuting to secure her chance at success. And when it came, it was, as Rayelle herself puts it “not a great deal by any stretch of the imagination”.
Read next: All Lana Del Rey albums ranked, from best to worst
Never the less, and luckily for us, Rayelle took the deal when it came – as she has said in past interviews she has “always had very high expectations for myself”. Even after getting a deal and all the accoutrement that goes with industry recognition, Rayelle’s actions suggest this brand of success left her dissatisfied. In fact, she felt very much unrepresented in her singular persona and retreated from the stage to focus solely on writing music for several years.
In her role as song writer (as opposed to song performer) Rayelle has had huge success, writing for big names such as Demi Lovato and Mariah Carey. Demonstrating that she is a truly impressive musician and then finally in the last couple of years, returning her own soulful, exciting voice to our radio waves, performing her own creations and blessing us with her brilliant talent.
Without a doubt, this is a person to watch with bated breath: with her series of personas and her smorgasbord of talents, Rayelle/ Olly Anna/ Lindsey Ray is an unstoppable force that I am personally very eager to see soar and succeed.
