Gracie imparts raw honesty upon lively pop soundscapes punctuated by R&B grooves and jazz fluidity in her music. She tells stories with the candor of a late-night chat between lifelong friends, sparing no detail or emotion as she examines the ups and downs of love and life.
“My music is conversational,” Ray affirms. “Lyrically, I find a lot of truth and beauty in not sugarcoating where I’m at mentally or emotionally. I try to transmute my pain into love.”
Gracie was literally born into music. Her grandfather just so happens to be two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame® inductee David Crosby of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash.
Surrounded by instruments and equipment at home, Gracie picked up a microphone at eight-years-old and learned songwriting by watching her father James Raymond, an accomplished musician himself, and grandfather. She learned piano and guitar before immersing herself in musical theater during high school.
After a year at DePaul University, Gracie transferred to the New School in New York City, studying film and gender studies. At the same time, she often backed Chloe Chaidez of Kitten live in addition to performing solo around the city. Upon graduating, she returned to the West Coast daydreaming of music, listening to everyone from SZA, Jacob Collier, Frank Ocean, and Remi Wolf to Sade, Dolly Parton, and Kacey Musgraves.
“Home To Me” hinges on a handclap-driven synth line as she admits, “Your body feels like home. You used to be my favorite song.”
Crying on the dancefloor never sounded so good…“I wanted to make a melancholy track you can still dance to,” she reveals. “I’m heartbroken and betrayed, but It still feels like home because that’s what I got used to. The catch-22 of codependency.”
In the end, Gracie’s truth will undoubtedly connect from within. “When you listen to me, I hope you walk away a little less isolated and a little more mobilized to heal together and listen to one another,” she leaves off. “We, as a collective, can transmute what we’re going through into art. So, check in on yourself. Recognize your own truths and embrace the song within you. I’ve been sitting with my mission. Now, I know what I was put here to do. I’m finally tapping into it.”
STREAM/SHARE “HOME TO ME” HERE
On “One of These Nights,” a soft beat underlines flourishes of guitar and glossy keys. Hoping to cross paths with an ex, her vocals echo on the candid chorus, “Despite what you made me go through, I’m honored that I got to know you.”
“I went through a devastating heartbreak right before quarantine,” Gracie recalls. “But I got an explanation and an apology —which a lot of people don’t ever get. I was still beside myself. So, I thought, ‘How cool would it be if I just ran into him somewhere out in L.A. and I had glowed up and was feeling happy?’ I’d love to look him in the eyes. It came out of this fantasy. It’s sad and desperate, but I’m owning it and not apologizing for it.”
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