Interview: Singer Cilla Raie

How transformative is your daily life because of outspoken musical artists? For many young people before the web, interactions with MTV artists existed as told by radio, television and newspapers. Any artist who had something to say was dropped by a label or silenced by a publicist. This week, The New York TImes and Hulu presented their own Britney Spears documentary, Framing Britney Spears, examining the media scrutiny Ms. Spears received that today would be called shaming.

Aaliyah fan and R&B artist Cilla Raie takes the best of the 90’s and early 2000’s stylistically with the roaring (20)20’s mindset of always showcasing your beautiful personality and views on bettering the world.

You are a single mother. This fact I wouldn’t have known about you had you not said so because nothing on the web talks about who you are. All your press is, “She releases this.” Who are you? What have you dealt with in hardships or daily life and working hard in recording and promoting your music?

I will introduce myself, I’m Cilla Raie (real name Priscilla) and i’m a 27 year old singer/songwriter from Hornsey, North London. I’m more than just an artist, I'm a two time graduate with a Bachelors in PR and a scholarship Masters Degree in Music Business Management. I am the youngest of 2 older siblings and the only girl. I am also a mother and I have a 3 year old son. I would deem myself to be quite multi-skilled, especially when it comes to being independent. As I have progressed throughout my career, I haven't yet sat down and had a real candid conversation about who I really am and the hardships I have faced because I wasn't given the opportunity to. This seems like the right time for me to be more open, honest and real about who i am. My hope is that maybe I could inspire another person reading this. 

To begin with, I always knew I wanted to be in the music business when I was around 9 years old, music was what kept me dreaming, especially as a very shy, little girl who always kept myself to myself. It gave me the real confidence I needed when I had none, it made me feel recognised and out of the shadows because I always felt insignificant. I started singing professionally when I was just 14 years old using my brother Peddy Pro’s beats (as he was a producer) to record myself on a broken laptop and post music on Myspace. My first real experience in the studio was when i got discovered by major producer DaVinche (Stormzy, Skepta, Wiley). I was always known as the girl who could sing. I balanced going to school and going to the studio, talent shows, open mics, auditions to any opportunity I could get to be heard. I pretty much sacrificed a lot of my teen years, dedicating this to building a music career for myself. And with this meant that i had to grow up and mature very quickly, meaning that i would travel around London from 14 years old with a couple of pounds in my pocket, and being around producers, managers, a&r’s and people in the industry who were twice my age, which was an eye opening experience looking back now. 

The hardest part for me was navigating through different managements, believing that they would follow through on their promises and they didn’t. Believing that they wouldn’t try to stare me away from who i wanted to be as an artist or give up on me. It took some time before I finally found the right manager for me, Teriy Keys of R.O.A.D Entertainment, when I got to 20 years old. It also takes time before you start making any real money from music, and I remember having to go to university (which I wasn’t opposed to going) working a part time retail job and being an artist all at the same time. I come from an African household where I had to ensure I had a plan both ways, being a doctor or a lawyer would have been more ideal for my parents I guess. I think my experience of balancing various commitments really gave me the resilience I needed to become the artist I am today. 

Finishing my degrees and finally having music out and promoting this, whilst on a radio tour, and finding out I was pregnant and becoming a single mother at 24 wasn’t something I expected I would become, all at the same time. In fact, it was one of the hardest challenges I had to overcome because I felt very betrayed, emotionally abused and wrecked and very mistreated at the time. I didn't think I was going to get past that situation, especially without the support, with a music career being as crazy as it can be.  There were times when I thought that it would be best to quit, and focus on raising my child, get a stable job and just be normal, so I could get past my trauma too. But when something is meant for you, you can never quit and there are plenty of singers out there who are mothers also. I became friends with another UK female singer Rebecca Ferguson at the time who honestly helped through one of my most difficult times, which I am grateful for her doing. In the end, and as my son got older, my resilience kicked in again and I just wanted to raise the bar and set an example, that you could do it too, despite what you have been through.

What we both have in common is a love of Aaliyah. My favourite music of hers happens to be her final self titled album. What about Aaliyah inspires you? Is it her look, music videos, the music, or a specific album?

Aaliyah has this soft sultry tone of voice that stuck out to me more than other artists. I would always have her music on rotation in the house. As a young girl, I remember my mum telling me to clean my bedroom, clean my wardrobe, and I would have her music playing in the background every single time I had to do those chores. For months, I remember laying on my bedroom floor looking up at the window as the sun was setting and listening to her ballads like ‘Journey To The Past’ and ‘At Your Best’ singing along to her songs and just daydreaming. I feel like this is why I have a soft tone of voice like hers, because I pretty much vocal trained to her voice from always singing her songs back to back. Also, she was so shy but so confident at the same time. It reminded me of myself because I was the same way. Her look is unique, her aura was beautiful, she was the epitome of R&B. She was just so versatile, which I loved and resonated with. 

I always like asking people who go into entertainment professions like this one. Do you feel your education was worth it since you do not work in that profession? Would you get a university degree again?

Going to the University of Westminster twice was the best decision I felt like I made. With my first bachelor's degree being in PR (Public Relations) I learnt alot from this course, I utilized the skills I got from this into my own career. When i released my first self titled EP ‘Cilla Raie’ in 2014, i used all the tools and knowledge i got from this course to PR and market my own release. It was just me and my manager at the time and we were working on a very limited budget, our own money, so we couldn’t afford to hire a PR company in the beginning to market the release to the press. So i decided to do this for myself, because i already knew how to create a single’s campaign, from writing a press release, getting press shots done, emailing journalists, radio DJ’s and other tastemakers. I just went for it and managed to successfully get press coverage for my own release. To being on the front cover of my local newspaper Ham and High, to becoming artist of the month on radio at Pulse Radio with DJ Bliss. To get featured on Singersroom, Urban Development and a whole lot more at the time. I saved myself thousands of pounds just by going to university and learning this. Luckily, now I have been fortunate enough to have received support from Arts England/National Lottery who have helped me get my releases out and I have been able to hire a PR company to work with me. Wardah Sempa, my current publicist, has done an amazing job for me. But I did the work to get to this point.  

The reason why I went back to Westminster University to do a Masters Degree in Music Business Management, was because I was offered a scholarship to do the course. So of course I took the opportunity, plus it made sense to me learning about the business side of the music industry when it comes to copyright, contracts, intellectual property, marketing and so fourth. Westminster are highly reputable when it comes to the course because they had the best guests and lecturers come through, because they were located in near Warren Street, which is in Central London and all guests who worked at major and independent record labels were close by. It was only 1 year, and a year goes by fast, I met some of the most legendary people there such as Richard Antwi (RIP). It was definitely an experience, I will not forget. 

Until Spotify helped things, R&B and hip hop artists had a harder time going outside their home countries. As an example, when I was younger, it was very common for the only British R&B artist American people knew to be Craig David, or for some acts to be famous only in Atlanta, or to very small numbers of genre fans, like Outkast until they broke out with their double album Speakerboxx/The Love Below around 2003. How do you work finding an audience outside of Britain?

Luckily, times have changed so much to where the internet has become a big playing ground, being able to connect to a fan-base and other industry tastemakers outside of Britain. This is what has helped my career tremendously. I have met and built so many relationships with music industry professionals in the United States such as songwriter Autumn Rowe, producer Pierre Medor etc who have given me the best advice and have been supportive when it comes to me and my music. Because I do R&B music and the genre originates from the States anyway. I naturally have a connection with a lot of people out there who support me (and because of my British accent). From releasing my first EP, to the singles ‘Masterpiece’, ‘Ain’t No One’ and ‘Motives’ I always have lots of American fans following and reaching out to me via instagram, twitter and facebook. Some supporters are even surprised when they find out I am British, but it makes them more intrigued. All of this has simply been from having my music available through streaming platforms, YouTube and VeVo. Being active on social media. Being featured on American publications such as This Is R & B, who made me one of the ‘10 Artists You Should Have On Your Radar’ giving me a platform to be recognised and seen. 

A while back, I read an article about albums and EPs having no value anymore for the most part. It was best to release a single the moment you finished the song so music fans would not have to wait. The only excuse for an album is if you are a huge artist and the album is a specific sound to your ever changing music as a new sound of the year marketing strategy, like Taylor Swift or Katy Perry types. As a person releasing EPs, why did you make EPs your choice instead of singles?

For me EP’s are a safe zone, because I believe you still want to offer fans a collection or a body of work that they can listen through, as though it is a playlist. Particularly in times like this, an EP can be a gateway to an album. With restrictions on live shows releasing an EP in the meantime is ideal because hopefully when restrictions lift, being able to promote a full album and do a full campaign for this and tour is fundamental. The investment that goes into making an album is a lot, so being able to maximise a campaign for this means you will hopefully get your return of investment. I do agree that albums should be made when you're at a stage where you’ve developed into a bigger artist with a platform of fans, only because of the work that goes into making an album. However EP’s are a way of offering a body of work that can represent the moment in time in which the artist is at. I don’t think EP’s will ever die, because they can be the stepping stone towards making an album. For me personally i would like to have 2 more EP’s out and by that time i hope i would be ready enough and more established to start working on releasing an album, which is much more personal and in depth. Hopefully with eased restrictions, live shows could be back on by then.

My home part of the USA is famous for great hip hop stars including Kanye West and Chance the Rapper. To me, their music reflects the Midwestern business values of everyone of any gender, colour, or socioeconomic class having equal changes of making it. Midwestern R&B and hip hop artists create Americana stories, though for some reason our journalists only view country and other artists as Americana. With British hip hop and R&B, what local British values are reflected in your music? Anything that is so specific to your storytelling, nobody can imitate it?

I would say, the music i have released so far, represents the values of everyone, of any gender, colour or socioeconomic status and doesn't necessarily have any local British Values. However, on my up and coming EP due to be released mid this year, I do have one particular song that represents metaphorically what it is like being a Black British Female growing up in the UK. Talking about the misunderstanding and misconceptions of what we are perceived to be like, and wanting to be given an opportunity to just flourish without being diminished because of the color of my skin. However, in my recent music video for ‘Motives’ directed by LUX London and shot by Supreme Runners, the video embodies the late 90’s/early 2000’s era, there are elements in this video where even though this is meant to represent this era old school in the US. There are elements in this video where you can tell this is still a London based artist/song and visual, as it has some british values in terms of that old school british behaviour, class and style from that era.

You wanted to talk about Black Lives Matter. A friend of mine whose relative was confused for a criminal solely because they were both black and was wrongfully accused of a crime ... told me the other day, “2020 America is what black people have known since the beginning of America.” Because people were so in shock. I would like to add, mistreatment and racism goes into mistreatment of women, LGBTQ people, immigrants, brown, and anyone who is “different,” so everyone sees a part of themselves in the movement’s honest beginnings mostly from what I gather, with the exception of people who never experienced those things. What do you want to do with speaking your mind on BLM?

The BLM movement in 2020 was the year it really hit home not only for me, but for everyone around the world, particularly after the death of George Floyd. It really sent shockwaves around the world, in the most impactful way I had ever seen in a long time. The experiences my own family members and friends have had to face, including myself, reawakened the years of racism we have had to face and still face in Britain today. We saw the shock and years of systematic racism in the US and often it can be forgotten that these issues still go on in other parts of the world today. Just as horrible as it is in the US, is as horrible it is in the UK or somewhere like France. We too face racial discrimination in criminal justice, i can’t count how many times my own brother has been racially targetted or mistreated by police. There are still issues of racial health disparities amongst women in health care, including black maternal mortality rates. So many issues that we are still trying to get our Government to wake up to and act upon. We have had dedicated ongoing protests here and people marching in solidarity for the movement. I wanted to play my part in this as a social activist myself, with my single last year for ‘Ain’t No One’ I had merchandise alongside this campaign for all the individuals attending the protest with donations to BLM related charities. I also incorporated this in my music video. Lastly, I am raising a black son, so this is something I think about everyday and how he might be potentially treated one day. I would hope and want the world to be a better, less scary place for him when he gets older, so I just hope i can find more ways to be a part of the change and help tackle these issues moving forward.

A criticism from the same types of people who tend to see all R&B and hip hop as “woman hating” is they refuse to see the genres as art. When women speak about life and relationships using the same language that men do, often without any bad words, they are told things about ruining “family values” within these genres. Because you wanted to talk about feminism, how do you feel about the discussion and women in music getting away with things because they are in other genres? Or really anything on your mind bothering you about women in music?

This is all down to my personal opinion, however i believe the evolution of women proclaiming our power and having the freedom to openly express ourselves, seems to have shaken men up. I still ask the question why is it ok for men to be derogatory towards women and openly express themselves without a problem. Yet when a woman does it, we are told we shouldn’t have the same level of freedom as speech and expression as men because it “devalues” us. Times have changed tremendously, women are more independent than ever, women are smarter becoming CEOs and leaders, generating generational wealth, we are investing in our careers, buying homes, we truly are taking the lead ahead of men in a lot of areas. Back in the day, I understood that this was not the case and we were to be seen and not heard. A lot of people still hold these same traditional values (which is totally fine) so therefore they don’t approve of these new ways and behaviour from women today. However, I believe no one should have the right to limit or police a woman on the way she wants to express herself through her art, her body and her own life. So because of this, we should have equal rights and should not be judged when it comes to being free to express how we feel, particularly when it comes to our art. 

A very weird thing about the English speaking entertainment market, primarily more with films coming out of the United States and less with British cinema, is how we censor films in a fear of not offending people. If you read the newspapers, you might believe it is us fearing offending the “woke,” “cancel culture” audiences. The truth: we cancel out films and music by people wanting to talk about things like racial inequality, child abuse and neglect, mixed marriages, or LGBTQ violence, and more beyond that. We blame it on not offending smaller foreign film markets where being LGBTQ is illegal, but we see animated films afraid to have an openly gay character say “gay” or “LGBTQ” in the movie. Our youth movies are like Mean Girls, where there are no answers. I look to British cinema, and Aussie-New Zealand cinema, as aspirational goals for me for work because I know I will be able to talk about things that if I were right now pitching the “right” Hollywood people with a fancy agent from the “right” place, I would be told to shut up and make my future film ideas “family friendly.” Which to me isn’t “family friendly” or “tolerant” of assorted American  beliefs. Denial, is the right word. It reminds me of how we wouldn’t have black actors as lead roles for the longest time because those films would not run in the South. Do you agree or disagree with any of this with your working in British music? Any thoughts on censorship?

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I haven’t necessarily faced this myself as an artist in the British music industry, however there have been similar cases like this when it comes to British music such as the genre, Drill. The police system here has been on a mission to censor drill music because they believe this type of music is encouraging youth violence and crime, specifically from Black creatives. There was a form called the 696 that music promoters here in the UK would have to submit to the police supplying them with information about the artists and their crews, meaning they could completely cancel an event hours before if they wanted to or arm up with police surrounding the event. A lot of individuals believed that this form was used to racially discriminate against black artists allegedly. The form was eventually scrapped in 2017, but they still found ways to censor this type of music that encouraged any type of violence, by restricting artists from using any type of words such as ‘Whip’, ‘Connect’ and ‘Trappin’ many other words which restricted the musicians creativity and removed their freedom of speech, which ultimately is taking away from who they are as an artist. I mean we could argue there are some other genres that also encourage violence such as Rock and Punk however they are not being heavily censored like this. If they would have this same energy to implement this on drill they should do so in all genres of music.  

Who are the women you wish you could collaborate with in music?

One day, I hope to be able to collaborate with Jhene Aiko. She is literally in her own lane and element at the moment, her whole artistry is about healing, meditation, sounds, crystal and spiritual healing music and messages. This has been something I have immersed myself into over the last year. Particularly when it came to finding ways to cope with being quarantined with a toddler during lockdown and still managing to release music during the pandemic. I have had to find ways of keeping my mental health intact and her album ‘Chilombo’ really helped me get through lockdown. With meditation, journaling and more, discovering moon energies, and really learning the spiritual laws of attraction and universal laws has been fundamental for my mental health and very motivating for me, and Jhene’s music helped me through a lot. 

Another artist i would love to work with is H.E.R, i remember seeing her performing her current single ‘Damage’ on Jimmy Kemmel and i was in absolute awe. The song, the performance, the structure of the instruments, the styling, everything brought me back to the same feeling I used to get when I would play an Aaliyah song. I have always loved H.E.R and i think she is a phenomenal versatile artist, so having that opportunity would be amazing for me.