Raye, wearing a black, formfitting Versace dress, can hardly contain her smile as she thinks about that legendary Christina Aguilera riff in Burlesque. You know, the one at the end of her “Show Me How You Burlesque” number, where her voice does cartwheels up and down a scale? Yeah, Raye knows it perfectly. “When I tell you I studied that run, I studied that run,” says Raye. “YouTube, me. The living room. Door shut. Play, rewind. Play, rewind.”
It just so happens that Raye is sitting in Aguilera’s living room, admiring the colorful art on her walls (there’s an iconic Banksy painting on one). They’re about to meet for the first time, and Raye is quickly going over the list of questions she has for the diva.
“She’s ready,” a voice says from the distance. Seconds later, Aguilera struts down a burgundy staircase that matches her blouse. At the bottom of the stairs, Raye is waiting excitedly. “You look beautiful!” Aguilera tells her as she leans in for a hug.
It just so happens that Raye is sitting in Aguilera’s living room, admiring the colorful art on her walls (there’s an iconic Banksy painting on one). They’re about to meet for the first time, and Raye is quickly going over the list of questions she has for the diva.
“She’s ready,” a voice says from the distance. Seconds later, Aguilera struts down a burgundy staircase that matches her blouse. At the bottom of the stairs, Raye is waiting excitedly. “You look beautiful!” Aguilera tells her as she leans in for a hug.
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MusicTranscript
00:00I mean even the fact that she sings barefoot, I've already fucked up my legs and my feet so bad
00:05with all this high heel nonsense shenanigans.
00:11I feel like when I'm wearing shoes, I'm thinking about wearing shoes.
00:14Yeah, yeah. No, it's annoying.
00:17Right?
00:26I'm just in awe and in love with your talent and your voice and everything you're doing is just
00:33so elevated and beautiful, I think, to so much of what I see and your own unique vibe.
00:41In your musicianship and artistry, it just seems like you just definitely,
00:45you can tell your core is music-based. It's about that first and I love that about you.
00:52Thank you guys.
00:52Because I think, yeah, you hear, especially when you have a really,
00:56you know, a hit song and it's breaking wide open, you don't really get a full feel of,
01:01you know, what an artist is really about until you really see someone do it live.
01:06And then when I saw you, I was like, what? Like, oh, she's going to be around.
01:12Oh, stop. That makes me sad.
01:14And they go, she's here today. I see what's happening here.
01:18Yeah, and I was just so drawn to it because, yeah, you built this whole,
01:22I don't want to say persona because I feel like you're so versatile, you know,
01:26in what you can do and I just, I love that about you too.
01:28You can like break wide open on a beat and just literally give it that
01:32sort of swag or make it orchestral and I guess that was my question is,
01:37where do you get all these jazz influences?
01:39And you know, I feel like we're all just
01:42sponges. I think like what we listen to and feed ourselves
01:47is subconsciously what we regurgitate, I guess.
01:50So I think for me, I've been just listening to the greats,
01:54especially over the last two, three years.
01:56It's just Ella and Etta and Dinah Washington.
02:00I love jazz. I don't know.
02:02I don't know why, but I kind of stumbled on it because
02:06I grew up in a house of like, it was a lot of gospel and I grew up in the church.
02:11It was kind of like a lot of like...
02:12Soul music.
02:12Yeah, church music and kind of, you know, when they're up there playing
02:16and then the vibe changes and they all go with the vibe and it's not rehearsed
02:19and it's kind of ad-libbed and stuff like that.
02:21But if you're going to go jazzy,
02:23you have to be able to back that up vocally, you know what I mean?
02:26So like that's why I just, I love also,
02:30like I just feel like both of us being vocalists,
02:32we're drawn to things that are a bit challenging and like,
02:36I just even love how your vibrato sound like...
02:41Like all your note choices.
02:43I just, I love listening to true vocalists, you know,
02:47who really pick and choose the notes and the intricacies
02:51that go into each stylistic choice within a live performance
02:55because it's one thing to do it on record,
02:56but you are challenging yourself with every big performance
03:00to see, you know, how you're revamping that.
03:03Do you work with a very specific like,
03:05because after doing it, you know, so many years,
03:07I just know like I had someone that I worked very closely with
03:11like my musical director for some time.
03:12And then, you know, people have kids, people have lives,
03:16like things change or, you know, people take whatever happens,
03:19you know, life is life.
03:20But how does that work for you?
03:21What is your process?
03:22Do you have someone you work very closely?
03:23So I'm so lucky that I have,
03:25I've had this tour manager who worked with me since I was about,
03:28since I started out doing shows about 15
03:31and he loves music and plays a couple of instruments
03:36and stuff like that.
03:37So he was my tour manager for ages,
03:38but as we got to know each other better,
03:40I was like, oh, you just really just want to be in the thick of the music.
03:43And now we're at a place where we travel around everywhere together
03:47and then we make the arrangements.
03:49We do it all on a laptop whilst we're on the road.
03:52And then once we have the arrangements, we love.
03:54It's your tour manager?
03:55Yeah.
03:57Yeah, so we literally do it together.
03:59Is he a producer?
04:00He's just a musician, like a proper muso though, you know.
04:03What does he play?
04:04He plays bass, he plays keys, he plays guitar.
04:07And he's your tour manager.
04:09Yeah, so he used to be a session musician.
04:11Does he play too?
04:12No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
04:13I was like, that's a lot of hats.
04:14No, he's called Pete and he's called Pete Clements and he's amazing.
04:18But he's now my musical director and we do it together really.
04:23And it allows it to be, you know,
04:25we have loads of different versions and edits and also an intention,
04:30you know, because it's like for a moment like SNL,
04:32like I'm like, I want to give the best that I can.
04:35I want people to watch that and be like, oh.
04:37So we're like, how do we cram musicianship in there,
04:41but then not do too, well, I did way too much.
04:46I always say like, your team is your everything.
04:49Having your right, like solid core people in place for you is everything
04:53because you can be as talented, as amazing as you want to be,
04:57but you have to have the right support system.
04:59You know, you really do.
05:00And just having any support system isn't, you know, isn't going to work.
05:05It's having the right one.
05:06How do you know, like, especially being, you know, you,
05:10I'm only just starting to do whatever.
05:13And, you know, you get quite like, wow.
05:15And like, trust is like, it's such a big thing
05:17and feeling safe around people, like bringing people into your team.
05:20Like, how do you know?
05:23You'll never quite know.
05:26That's what I've noticed.
05:27I mean, I'm a big gut girl.
05:29You know, I definitely have always been one that, you know,
05:36being true to where my core is and what my true,
05:41my truth, where that lies to me is really important sense to me to stay grounded.
05:46And because, yes, this business is crazy, but, you know, I don't know.
05:51I feel like as an artist, too, it's important.
05:55I think your biggest gift as an artist is to be able to listen,
05:59you know, it's like we exude a lot, right?
06:01But it's, you know, we're great listeners, too.
06:04That's why we're absorbing everything.
06:06But it's really hard because I'm a person that, like, I'm so sad.
06:12I like I'm, you know, what a business to be in as a creative is,
06:16you know, when you're a sensitive person and it is business is crazy.
06:19But there's a lot of things to be learned, you know, over time.
06:23And time always tells.
06:26But you start to be able to navigate certain things.
06:29And and sometimes it's really disappointing when you're like,
06:32really, we're we're that far in my life as a grown woman.
06:37I've been through the crooks and the critics and the this and the that.
06:40And like, OK, just I hate when you're like still
06:44when someone just still does that thing where you're just they disappoint.
06:47Yeah, that's sad.
06:49But you have to protect it.
06:50You know, you have to protect your space and your energy,
06:52knowing going into it that you you're this kind of way or this kind of person.
06:57It's our greatest gift to be able to absorb all the energy and feel it
07:02and then turn it and regurgitate it in a way that
07:07I think our intention is to spread so much joy and love with what we do.
07:11And all we want to do is to be able to inspire the next us.
07:15You know, at least for me anyway, that's that's that's the ultimate goal.
07:20And I think what's really hard is that, you know, then you start to you know,
07:25it starts with this like such a fun dream and goal.
07:29And you're seeing the musicians that you love.
07:32And, you know, then you're up there with them.
07:34And it's so fun.
07:35And and sometimes it takes a toll where it's like, oh, I forgot it is a business.
07:39It's, you know, it's a lot of of work.
07:42You have to have endurance.
07:43You know, you have it.
07:44But I think and I've always said this.
07:46You have to really get to really want to do it
07:49because it can't be about any other reason than wanting to do it
07:52or else it's going to just burn you out and you'll have nothing left.
07:55And that's the other thing that you have to be careful.
07:58Were there moments in your career where you didn't feel in control of your career?
08:04And if so, how did you process that?
08:07I mean, I think I need so, so much of it.
08:12I mean, I think that this business, I think it's really hard
08:17because as a creative person, too, I think that when you truly care,
08:21you're like a control freak, you know, and it's really hard to relinquish control.
08:25And at the same time, like you just you have to at a certain point
08:29to just give yourself away and allow yourself to do that.
08:33But but look, I've been working since, you know, I was a really little girl.
08:39Yeah.
08:40I grew up like singing in like block parties, pool parties,
08:44weddings, like six, seven years old.
08:46Actually, no, like seven, eight national anthems when I was like nine.
08:51And like where my mom ended up residing,
08:54moving in with my grandma after my mom and dad got divorced in Pittsburgh.
08:58So I did like all the anthems there at a young age.
09:02And then and so I've been working, you know, I've been working since since I was a kid.
09:10And so also the time I came in to this business,
09:15it was it was a time when there was a really big pop boom there.
09:22And it was very like it was very specific that what a label wanted
09:26a pop star to look like, to sound like what they wanted them to wear.
09:31You know, it was a very specific thing.
09:33And it's fine.
09:33Like, I wanted it so bad.
09:35And and you're a kid and I, you know, I knew what I liked.
09:38But every time I even tried to to say, you know, or even sing,
09:44you know, that that first record that I did,
09:46we're coming up on the 25th anniversary of it, actually, this fall.
09:49It's crazy.
09:50But and, you know, I still like I reinvent the material now, you know, in new ways.
09:56But that was definitely a record in a time where, you know,
10:00it was definitely told to me like, oh, you can't sing that way.
10:03You're over singing like we're not doing runs or ad libs.
10:06You know, it was very specific.
10:08Like I did everything I could.
10:10But yeah, like when you feel like your voice is stifled in any way.
10:13I mean, there's there's different episodes of that.
10:15There's different, you know, that have come within the past,
10:18you know, couple of decades.
10:20But, you know, yeah, you're gonna have situations where you're just
10:23you feel like it's the worst feeling in the world when you feel like
10:26you have no creative control or you're in a position where your hands are tied or
10:30or you have to be a specific way for television and network and,
10:34you know, studio heads that are conservative.
10:37You know, it's just no place for an artist.
10:39So when my hands feel too bound and tied and I feel like there's no breathing room,
10:43I'm also sad.
10:44So I feel like I need space to roam free and just go.
10:49Then that that's where I start to really suffer.
10:52And like, I know that that's not a healthy place for me to be.
10:56So I just I need to like re-evaluate.
10:58Okay, what are we doing?
10:59And how do I get back to like where I need to be creatively to be happy?
11:03That's why I stripped was called stripped because it was just like,
11:06let me strip everything down.
11:08Yeah.
11:08Like it was just like a almost like a yeah,
11:10a term that was just like felt very like almost visceral,
11:13like just like literally strip strip away.
11:16Anything that I just really feel is like a layer.
11:18I don't that doesn't feel good, you know, and isn't authentic to me.
11:22And that's where that all those feelings just were so like
11:26bubbled up and busting over from on that record with
11:31all my diary entries that I've been keeping and where you got like, you know,
11:35the what people thought was over sexualized dirty.
11:38But it was just so freeing to me to to fight or, you know, like being wronged.
11:44And now my fans call it like everything happens for a reason.
11:47So you have to look at it.
11:49That's fine.
11:50But how did you deal with being such a female powerhouse in the time?
11:55Whereas I feel like obviously from my perspective,
11:58you see things that are wrong now and stuff like that.
12:01But like coming up in a time where it really was just gatekeepers and just like sexist,
12:07just men do that, do this.
12:11There was a time where I was just like literally living in New York as a teenager,
12:16shopping for a record deal, like couch hopping and like just trying to.
12:21I was around a lot of adult male conversation that was.
12:27You know, it's a lot to take in.
12:29And this is before, you know, you feel like you have a say in anything
12:32and you're just still like sort of fully minding your P's and Q's.
12:36You're trying to get your foot in the door.
12:37You're just trying to learn everything.
12:39I'm trying to not upset anyone.
12:41Because trust me, if the wrong person who's being even inappropriate,
12:45you know what I mean?
12:46Gets wind of it, then it's your fault.
12:48Like I've been through all of that too.
12:50But yes, I was.
12:51The music you create could never have been that without what you are.
12:55But having to kind of shelter that and suppress that in the environment
13:00to not upset egos and dancing around egos.
13:04I think that's a part of probably what pushed that.
13:07The fact that I felt there was such a suppression
13:10and such a right or wrong way.
13:12I was told a woman should act or sound or look like or feel like
13:17from a very male perspective, you know, that I was constantly surrounded by,
13:21you know, a lot of like male studio heads and producers.
13:25And, you know, now the industry looks a lot different now.
13:28Like there are a lot more female presence.
13:31And it's really exciting to see.
13:33And also the conversation is more open and communicative
13:37where we see each other more, even though, you know,
13:41social media and all the exposure is a lot and it's unproductive.
13:45Sometimes it also actually is.
13:47I can see where it is a benefit, though, because we do.
13:51We are able to see each other more from our own personal perspectives
13:55rather than allowing it to just be in a journalist's hands.
13:58You know what I mean?
13:58Because which is not a question.
14:00What does it feel like breaking in a time of all that?
14:03Because then you're getting, you know, not just one journalist's perspective
14:07that might be off, but like a whole, you know,
14:10all the comments and everything.
14:11There's just like a lot, you know, which I don't even comment.
14:15Yeah, which I absolutely just don't read.
14:18I mean, yeah.
14:19And even my like social like I, you know, I have I have a life.
14:23I cannot be like consumed with, you know, that aspect all the time.
14:28Like I just can't do it.
14:29Like literally, I have to like have my sanity.
14:31I want to live my life.
14:33I don't know.
14:33I don't like to be affected or feel affected by, you know, people's opinions.
14:40Or like, I think that's so harmful, you know, completely.
14:43OK, so on to that, I would love to ask you what's the what is right now
14:49your top five favorite songs that you've ever written?
14:53Um, probably.
14:58You know, I got to do a song on strip that was about sort of revealing and Linda Perry
15:03at the time, you know, she did beautiful and all of that.
15:06She did a lot of work with me on those records.
15:10She encouraged me to do a song called I'm OK.
15:12It was on stripped about sort of touching on, you know, some of my reflections on my
15:19childhood and my strange relationship with my father and, you know, some of the, you know,
15:25chaos and abuse that I had growing up.
15:27So probably songs like that.
15:30She did it in such a beautiful way.
15:31We had this just it's such a tender song and I'm literally crying on the record.
15:36So, you know, it was very.
15:40So the opposite of like that first record, you know, where I had to feel so confined.
15:44It was like this was just so when I wanted to go there, though, I really wanted to be
15:48as vulnerable and open as possible.
15:51Oh, mother is one that I dedicated for my mom on Back to Basics about just like us.
15:58Yeah, I love that.
16:00Um, three would be fighter, probably just because my fans have like adapted, adopted
16:08that term for themselves because, man, they've got such incredible stories.
16:12You know, fans are they're just so like ride or die.
16:16And they're just they just have, you know, so many stories of their own to tell.
16:21And so I almost like out of respect for them, just like love that song so much more.
16:27You know, what is that two more?
16:34No, it's not my favorite song sometimes to perform, but it's like if I loosen,
16:39loosen and have fun with it.
16:41Ain't No Other Man is fun because I got DJ Premier on there.
16:44And it was just so fun doing that initial like fun run.
16:47Would you do a lot of really fun?
16:48Oh, yeah, yeah.
16:49I've been taking notes from the Queen.
16:53Your run, yeah, on Belesque, yeah.
16:56Can I just tell you that run?
16:59The I don't even want to do it in front of you, but I can't.
17:02But I rehearsed and practiced.
17:05I could not get it straight away.
17:07It took me so long to try and get my voice to just do.
17:11And even the way you closed it off was so disgusting.
17:17It was so rude.
17:18I was like, oh, do you kind of freestyle things like that?
17:21Or do you kind of do like 10 runs and choose the one you love the most
17:25and then rehearse it to make it perfect and then go like, what's the vibe?
17:30No, I'm pretty programmed when it comes to that kind of thing.
17:33Yeah.
17:34Unless it's like more of like a vibey song where it's like, say, like off a strip.
17:38Let's just say like Loving Me For Me, where it's a very like soft,
17:41like low, like jazz vibey song where you're just like doing airy runs and things like that.
17:46But when it's down to business and there's no music and yeah,
17:51we're going for like a range moment because you don't also want to like
17:55overkill yourself if you don't have an exact vision.
17:58You know what I mean?
17:58You want to strain your voice.
18:00You're doing like, you know, these endless takes doing what are we doing?
18:04You know, like, I love to get to the point and really perfect what it is we're doing
18:09and like go into all like the micro details of what all the little,
18:15you know, note placements, as you know, inside of a run.
18:18And I, you know, I have a mathematical approach where literally,
18:21if you're trying to also communicate with an engineer, like,
18:24let's do a volume texture shift and like, you know, like say it's like
18:301, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
18:35So it's like on the 8th, you know what I mean?
18:37Like you have to like number, you have to put like a number to it,
18:40you know what I mean?
18:41To be able to communicate and like it's, it's, it's, it's...
18:43Wow.
18:44So you group each note by a number and be like...
18:46To be able to communicate, yeah, yeah.
18:49I need it to be that.
18:50Yeah, because I'm, I'm not the girl that sits behind a line board visually
18:55and does my own.
18:56I'm like, God bless Ariana.
18:58I'm not that girl.
19:00You know, I'm just like, I'm here to do that.
19:03And you guys sit with that for a minute.
19:05But in order to communicate that with somebody,
19:07I understand how like as, you know, being a perfectionist and control freak,
19:10you'd want to like do, you know, you want to get into those moments
19:14and really get them right.
19:16But yeah, you're right.
19:17100%.
19:17Yeah, exactly.
19:18But that's how it's like our language.
19:20The first time I heard you was with Escapism.
19:23Of course, you have a voice.
19:24But just the way you, you so cleverly wrote that song, you know,
19:28and just tied in all the wordplay.
19:31Like, you know, I love something whenever you can tell,
19:34like it's just so like, just well written.
19:36It didn't sound like too forced.
19:37Like it was like effortlessly clever and, you know, really, it was just so cool.
19:42Aww, thank you.
19:43How did 070 Shape, by the way, come out?
19:46That happened because the engineer that I worked on my album with
19:50also engineers for Shake.
19:52And when I discovered her music, I was like, oh my God.
19:58And it was nuts.
19:58I think also when I met her, I was at such a time where I was just,
20:03I was in the middle, like putting out music that I just really hated.
20:06And it was before I'd put my album together, you know, time before.
20:10And she's just said something really potent to me.
20:12And it's like, you know, if you don't like your music,
20:14then what are you doing this for?
20:15And, you know, it's so obvious.
20:16But you need someone to just smack you in the face of it.
20:20And I was like, rah, you're right.
20:24You know, and then from then I began a meal of everything
20:27and then I became independent.
20:28And then I really wanted her to be part of the album.
20:30Also, she's like a really good friend of mine.
20:32Is she really?
20:32Yeah, she's so lovely.
20:35Such a real one and so talented.
20:37Yeah, I'm a fan of hers too.
20:38So the two of you together, I was like, oh, favorite song.
20:42Um, yeah, one from your album that I really love is the Oscar winning Tears.
20:49It's sick.
20:50That's like the kind of song that I feel like that would be like a fun song to sing.
20:54Oh, my God.
20:55If you were singing that song, you would eat that song.
21:00It's like a fun, that's like a fun singer song.
21:03Yeah, yeah.
21:04Is it fun to just dig your heels into?
21:06It is.
21:08I love to sing it.
21:09But do you know what?
21:10When you're singing it every night, you're like, oh,
21:12because it takes a lot out of you, isn't it?
21:14To do them notes.
21:16And I've been trying to work out how I can put it in a different place in my larynx.
21:21So it kind of feels as grand, but I'm not killing myself to do it.
21:26Yeah, I get what you're saying.
21:28Because, you know, sometimes I have to be honest.
21:31It's kind of like I've noticed this about certain things
21:35because there will be new songs that are like more like recent off of things.
21:40And I'm like, I get so like in my head and fearful of like hitting a note.
21:44And I'm like, oh, like, and I can just tell it gets in my head.
21:48Whereas then if I like compare it to say, Lady Marmalade, where there's a lot of big notes.
21:55And I'm just like, they just for whatever reason, I've and I just for some kind of memory.
22:02They've just sit like you're saying in the back of my throat,
22:05where it's just like it's a very like it just my voice just goes there.
22:09But it is from like a very like, oh, I know this note.
22:12Yeah, I've done it a thousand times.
22:14Like, I'm not afraid of.
22:15Yes, because I know it's there.
22:17Yes. And it's there.
22:18Yeah.
22:18You know, and it's just a programmed exactly what it is all the time.
22:24But yeah, the newer.
22:25I'm just like, wait, that note in Lady M or Burlesque, whatever is higher.
22:30It's literally that this one is lower.
22:32And I'm like, terrified.
22:33Yeah. So it could also be a mental thing in it.
22:36Yeah.
22:37You know, I do a vocal warm up routine.
22:39You know how it what is your what is your routine before a show or?
22:43My vocals.
22:44I'll just face time my vocal coach.
22:46And he has like this giant straw that I like put into like a bottle of water.
22:51I've never done the straw thing.
22:53Does it help?
22:54Is it quite like it?
22:55Really?
22:55I think it's because it vibrates subtly.
22:58Any kind of mucusy.
23:00So it's really gross.
23:01But, you know, any sort of phlegm or anything that's just sat on your vocals.
23:04It just helps, like, get it all.
23:05It's so funny.
23:06You know, sometimes I like the mucus because it like helps with the letter.
23:10It doesn't rot, does it?
23:12It doesn't.
23:13You're actually hilarious.
23:15You know, when you're in the booth and you need to clear your throat,
23:17but you're like, actually, let me know.
23:19Let's just see what happens.
23:20I feel you.
23:20Back when my voice was like super, super clean and I was baby, baby vocalist.
23:26It was like I had to drink milkshakes to give me more grit.
23:29To get you off?
23:30I'm obsessed.
23:33What?
23:33That is so fire.
23:35Yeah.
23:35So do you think also like that cleanness is less so now and in a good way?
23:41Oh, the clean?
23:43In your vocals.
23:44You know how you were saying that when you were really, really young?
23:46Yeah.
23:46Your voice was super, super clean.
23:47Yeah.
23:48I mean, like, it's cute.
23:51But like, I much prefer my voice now, to be honest.
23:55Because it has experience, which is what I loved about all the singers that I grew up,
23:59like loving and wanting to emulate and be inspired by because they had,
24:05you know, that's why I just love soul and jazz.
24:07It tells stories.
24:08And it's just like through the grit and the,
24:10whether it's the emotional, like soaring and singing over the notes or
24:15the grain and the grit that goes into like a rasp that only comes from experience.
24:20Yeah.
24:20You know, it's like you can't force it or buy it.
24:24You know, it just feels lived in.
24:26And so, you know, I'll take a little imperfection and a little just to give me that rasp.
24:32Yeah.
24:33Because I think it's cute, you know, like something that Linda, Linda Perry,
24:39you know, who in my experience with her first trip,
24:42she got me to open up a lot out of like being this like over perfectionist,
24:47like vocalist in a way where she did teach me a lot about like the
24:51the imperfections become the perfections because it's where the emotion lies.
24:55That's beautiful.
24:56And, and it's true, you know, you know, we don't want to be cracking all the time.
25:02No.
25:02But you know what I mean?
25:03There's like really raw, amazing things that come up with like a cry or a rasp in a,
25:09in a voice and yeah.
25:12What is, to your memory, the toughest vocal performance you've ever had to do?
25:21And it could be maybe a mental thing or maybe just how big the song was.
25:27Yeah, I think it's probably a song for you.
25:31And I did it with Herbie Hancock.
25:34So yeah, it was on an album.
25:35I think it was an album called Duets.
25:37And it was like, it was a, so I did that song with Herbie Hancock.
25:42And it was just, oh my God, the arrangement.
25:44Yeah, it was so intricate.
25:46It was so delicate.
25:47Every, and it was full of ad-libs.
25:51It was, it was a lot to try and perfect that live.
25:54And, and also Herbie is quite like experimental himself, of course.
25:59I mean, legend and like honor.
26:02So it was just, you know, that was just a big one.
26:07I sang Run To You for Whitney Houston in front of her.
26:10Her song for, that was a big one, which was nerve wracking.
26:16But she couldn't have been like, so like, just more sweet and lovely.
26:21And just that was a, that was an honor.
26:24And difficult.
26:26That was me too.
26:27And then the third top most difficult was, it meant a lot to me.
26:31But it was also my, the funnest one for me.
26:34This was a fun one, was the James Brown tribute.
26:37It's A Man's World for the Grammys.
26:39That, I love that song.
26:40That was fun.
26:41That was, that was a fun one.
26:42Yeah, it's just like, when you just get to like,
26:45just sink your teeth in and just go and just run.
26:49It's, it was fun.
26:50Wow.
26:51You should write together.
26:52I would love that.
26:53I would really love that.
26:54Are you joking?
26:55I would love that.
26:56Thanks for all this stuff.
26:57Oh, well, that's gonna happen.
27:00Oh my God, that would be insane.
27:01So manifesting that, that would be my answer.
27:04Yes.