The creator presents a case study on the singer Raye, starting with her backstory of being a successful songwriter who was creatively stifled by her record label. She explains how Raye left her label, embraced her unique artistic vision, and achieved massive independent success, including a record-breaking number of BRIT awards. The creator then analyzes Raye's brand strategy, discussing the importance of differentiation, the power of combining aspirational visuals with relatable themes, and the strategic trap of watering down a 'high craft' brand for mass-market appeal, concluding with advice for creators to deepen connections with their existing audience.
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They told her she was too many genres. Too confusing. Couldn’t commit. She left, kept every single thing they told her to cut - and became the most awarded artist in BRIT history.
Here are three things you can take from Part 1:
1. Before you change the product, try changing the frame or the articulation of it. Raye’s “product” is the same with a different frame - completely different result.
2. If your product is complex, find the simplest entry point for people to connect. For Raye it’s her subject matter - heartbreak, loneliness, desire, family. The lyrics are clear and immediate. The vocal ability and musicianship underneath are world-class. Simple door in, deep room behind it.
3. Identify and ACCEPT the right growth path for your product.
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Until next time…✨🫶🏽
Transcript
She wrote songs for Beyonce, Rihanna, and John Legend and still couldn't get her own label to let her release an album. They wanted a dance pop feature vocalist. While my girl, Rank, was like, I got way more in the tank than that. So they shelved her for seven years. And then she left and won more Best Awards in one night than any artist in history. Ray's story is one of the clearest and greatest examples of what happens when people position talent or a product from a place of familiarity and completely miss what makes it special. And let me let you in on a little bit of a secret. Normally, your differentiator, your strongest differentiator is the one that feels like it doesn't belong. The thing that you are a little bit scared of. Ray's brand is aspirational in how it shows up. The visuals, the theatrics, the scale. But it is deeply relatable in what she says. She talks about heartbreak, loneliness, desire, faith, family. And it is delivered in this unapologetic femininity and strength. She's got this glamour on the outside better then this gut punch honesty on the inside. And the minute that she owned that frame, everything took off. Six Brits, four Grammy nominations. Escapism went number one independently. Her new album is garnering universal acclaim. 51 sold out arena date six nights at the 02. Bruno Mars handpicked her for stadiums this summer. But here is the trap. Ray's brand is not a mass market rank, and that's okay. She can still be massive. But once you reach a certain level of craftsmanship, then you kind of get disqualified from mass market. And when I see brands like this try to cross over, it is very frustrating for the creators of the product and the brand gets watered down for the audience. Because actually, most people cannot ingest and appreciate that level of craft So for Rank and for you watching, if you're running a high craft brand, growth is about deepening the connection with the people who are already choosing you until they become the ones who bring in new people. The focus should not be about appealing to more people who do not appeal to you today. Six zero two nights did not come from a marketing spin. It came from people who had such connection to the work and to Ray that they started talking about it and telling others. So best remember, do not scale the product down. You've got to learn how to scale the devotion up. Let your audience become your megaphone. And that takes unbelievable patience creating conditions to continue to produce at the level of craftsmanship that ignited the momentum in the first place. And you've gotta find new ways to tell the same story to the same people and make them fall in love over and over and over again. I believe Rank and her team are well on their way. And for you, the move really is to just change and experiment faster with how you articulate what your product is and who it is for no that the right people can find you. But I'm not done with Ray. I'm breaking this into a second part. See you on the next episode.
