New tracks cast Rae of light on singer's lovelife

The 25-year-old singer-songwriter from Blackpool is back with Someone Out There, a collection of songs written with her friend-turned-boyfriend Fryars - and was tonight announced to appear at Lytham Festival in the summer. The stunning vocals are still there, but piano-driven ballads are largely replaced by a more electronic vibe - reflective of the ‘happy place’ Rae was in when creating the new works which come three years after her debut. “I was just dead excited to write more music again after touring,” she said. “It’s generally very positive and high energy. I was in a really happy, wonderful place.” And that place was falling for fellow musician Fryars - real name Benjamin Garrett - as they wrote new music in 2016. Always cheerful and a pleasure to speak to, there’s a new, giggly undertone to Rae’s answers which back up what she’s saying. “Someone Out There is about people coming together, taking chances and reflected my personal situation through the writing process and it’s been lovely,” she said. “I finished touring Unguarded in October 2015 and had three or four weeks floating around in London, with a bit of time to wake up in London and enjoying that life. “I went and worked with Fryars, he had some spare time and we started making something good. “The whole of 2016 we were writing and we became really, really close and have become a partnership, which is cool. “A lot of music was written while we were getting together in that way, which was really special. It spreads into the tunes, the intimacy and trust that two people build. “It’s odd in a way, also really lovely and natural. We had been friends for a long time, back through writing the first album - he even came to Blackpool and stayed at the De Vere. “Ordinarily you don’t discuss in too much detail your personal life, but it felt weird not to as it’s so much part of the new music. “And, actually, I really enjoy talking about it.” Signed to Atlantic Records, at The Cottage chippy after a gig in Blackpool, aged just 17, Rae took her time to complete Unguarded, and was rewarded with a top 10 slot in the UK albums chart and much critical acclaim. But there’s always the ‘tricky second album’ cliche to face this time round. “Even if you feel really good about the music and say ‘it doesn’t matter what others think’, in the back of your mind you wonder whether people will support it," she said. "Straight from the first single, the response has been overwhelmingly lovely and positive.”