Raye has had some pretty big moments over the past few years, but we’re guessing that last week was a standout even for her.
After winning the Mercury Music Prize up in Newcastle on Thursday for 2026 album This Music May Contain Hope, she was back in London the following night for her eagerly-awaited one-off gig at the Royal Albert Hall, and she had some pretty impressive company.
In keeping with the show’s title – This Symphony May Contain Hope – Raye was joined on stage by London’s Heritage Orchestra, with the Flames Collective providing additional vocals. And there was another special guest, too: the Royal Albert Hall’s official organist, Anna Lapwood.
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Lapwood first came to mainstream attention when she performed alongside Bonobo during his Albert Hall run back in 2022, and went on to join Raye on her song Escapism during her show at the grand old venue in 2023. On Friday night she was back, this time adding organ elements to Click Clack Symphony.
Following the show, Lapwood posted a photo of herself alongside Raye on social media, and followed this up with a video of her big moment during the performance. “Getting to add organ to the song that kept me going this year,” she wrote in the caption. “I literally had tears streaming down my face while I was playing this.”
That wasn’t the end of Lapwood’s night, either – she popped up again for the encore, playing Felix Mendelssohn’s Wedding March prior to the inevitable show-closing performance of Where Is My Husband!
In another post-show social media comment, Lapwood said: “I don’t know how to describe the feeling of getting to play this live with Raye at the Royal Albert Hall, or to describe what a phenomenal artist and human being she is. I will never ever forget this night.”
In an interview with MusicRadar that took place prior to the performance, Lapwood made it clear just how much she rates Raye, and This Music May Contain Hope in particular.
“It’s extraordinary, and I think, like, what an inspiration in terms of following the music that she feels is most authentic to her,” she said. “She’s not let herself be restricted by genre, and I find that really really inspirational. But also musically, it is just so clever and so advanced and so mad and also it has such a deep emotional heart. And when it first came out, I listened to it something like 16 times in the first week, cover to cover. And I’ve never done that with an album, ever.”
We’ll bring you the full interview next week. Anna Lapwood’s new album, Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost, is released on 13 November on Sony Masterworks and she tours the UK in October next year.
