Raye collected the Mercury Prize in Newcastle on Thursday night, and her winning album did exactly what its title promised — it gave the room some hope.
By The Superfan — CelebnMusic247
The tears were already close before Raye even finished her speech. Raye has won the 2026 Mercury Prize for This Music May Contain Hope, per Stereogum, taking the award Thursday night at Utilita Arena in Newcastle upon Tyne. The Mercury Prize honors one album from the UK and Ireland each year, chosen by a panel of music industry figures, and it comes with a £25,000 prize.
The panel did not hold back. It praised “the scale, structure, ambition, and sheer charm” of the album, per Stereogum, adding that “Raye displays real imagination and scope in showing what an album can be, going beyond any one style or genre to realise her vision.” The judges agreed the record “will serve as a huge inspiration for years to come.” That is not faint praise for a 73-minute record that, per Reuters, blends jazz, orchestral pop, funk and other genres.
On stage, Raye made the case for the album as a form. “Hope is a very cheesy word … but hope is just something that we all need,” she said while accepting the award, per Reuters. “Music is medicine, so I just hope as well that message comes across to anyone who needs it.” She was also among the night’s performers, singing the jazzy “I Hate The Way I Look Today,” per Stereogum.
Mercury Prize 2026 Nominees
Look at the field she beat and the win gets bigger. This year’s other nominees, per Stereogum, included Dave for The Boy Who Played The Harp, Dove Ellis for Blizzard, Florence + The Machine for Everybody Scream, Jade for That’s Showbiz, Baby!, Knats for A Great Day In Newcastle, Kojey Radical for Don’t Look Down, Nia Archives for Emotional Junglist, Olivia Dean for The Art Of Loving, Paul McCartney for The Boys Of Dungeon Lane, Suede for Antidepressants, and various artists for the War Child compilation Help(2).
That shortlist is the story inside the story. A former Beatle, a past-winning rock band, one of the year’s biggest pop breakouts and a hometown jazz outfit all stood in the same line — and the panel still landed on the most maximal record in the room. Last year’s prize went to Sam Fender for People Watching, per Stereogum, which makes Raye’s win a clean hand-off from guitar-led confession to full-orchestra ambition.
Stereogum also notes Raye is set to make her acting debut in Yann Demange’s thriller Lineage. First, though, she has the kind of trophy that tends to send an album back up the charts and into a whole new set of ears — listeners who may have heard the singles but never sat with the full, sprawling thing the judges just crowned.
The 247 Take — This is the album-as-album win the Mercury Prize was built for. Raye bet on length, strings and indulgence when the safe move was three-minute singles, and Newcastle just told her the bet paid off.
More music news at CelebnMusic247.com.
