Primetime television spots are still a relatively new phenomenon for the artist born Abby-Lynn Keen. Today, I find her sitting in a quiet room backstage at her label offices; she jumps up to greet me with a hug as I walk in, her hair a mass of scarlet locks piled high on top of her head. A pair of knee-high suede boots are placed at one end of the sofa, a groaning rack of wardrobe options on the other. I interviewed Keen\u2019s big sister Rachel, the pop star we know and love as RAYE<\/a>, back when she was around 19, two years younger than Keen is now. It\u2019s striking to see her up close \u2013 the family resemblance is impossible to miss. Born to a Swiss-Ghanaian mother and English father, they share the same high forehead, strong jaw, and almond-shaped, liquid brown eyes that seem to reach into your very soul. Both sisters have the capacity to disarm, in different ways: RAYE is wonderfully brash and bold, a chatterbox, while Keen is so shy I find myself talking more gently, out of fear of startling her.<\/p>\n The times when I was letting those voices cut through were the times I was most stagnant, creatively<\/p>\n We\u2019re here because Keen is about to play her second album, Paracosm, to a small group of writers, critics and tastemakers. I was sent an advance stream and already adore it: it\u2019s a taut, confident, beautifully realised 11-track journey spanning pop, electronic, R&B and soul, in which she explores themes of heartbreak, identity and resilience. She started working on it as soon as her first album \u2013 2023\u2019s Cerebrum \u2013 was done, but it\u2019s been through a number of iterations. There were also two occasions where her hard drive crashed and wiped all her files… apparently, misadventure when it comes to music runs in the family. RAYE told her followers last year that someone had stolen her car<\/a>, containing notebooks filled with songs earmarked for her upcoming second album (fortunately, she was able to retrieve both the car and those precious notebooks).<\/p>\n \u201cIt had three different titles, three different concepts,\u201d Keen tells me. She ultimately went with Paracosm, a term for an imaginary world \u2013 often starting in childhood \u2013 that expands and changes in the mind of the individual throughout adulthood. She\u2019s a big Tim Burton fan, which explains the fantastical darkness you see in her fashion and artwork choices. Freedom proved to be another big theme coursing through this record: \u201cFreedom from the perception of others, freedom to express myself, freedom from fear,\u201d she recites, almost like a mantra. She\u2019s used to having to battle with people\u2019s preconceptions: \u201cThe times when I was letting those voices cut through were the times I was most stagnant, creatively. I was stuck for months because I was focusing so much on what people would think, worrying if we were making something that would get on the radio, or that people would understand.\u201d<\/p>\n Fortunately, Keen has some experience when it comes to writing hits. She began songwriting \u201cjust for fun\u201d when she was 13, and would create \u201cmultiple songs a day\u201d in the family\u2019s back garden and then come up with beats for them after school. It proved to be a positive outlet; she was a shy child, too, and music was a way of expressing herself. Then, aged 16 and stuck in lockdown, she signed a publishing deal and found herself on video calls with other songwriters and producers. It was a steep learning curve: \u201cI had to record myself and learn how to produce,\u201d she recalls. She scored co-writes on tracks released by David Guetta, Anitta and Normani and continues to crop up in the credits for more recent output by Teddy Swims, Nao and Mahalia. <\/p>\n In between those successes, the time came for her own artistic identity to take shape. She chose the name Absolutely because it sounded decisive and definitive, but also because \u201cit\u2019s kind of just random and weird, like if somebody asks, \u2018Hey, what music are you listening to?\u2019 \u2018Absolutely.\u2019\u201d She teamed up with a producer she admired, Dave Hamelin, known for his work with her favourite artist \u2013 the rapper and singer 070 Shake \u2013 and who also produced several songs on Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s 2024 album, Cowboy Carter.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Absolutely: \u2018Definitely in the studio, I have to work a little harder to assert myself\u2019 (Press)<\/p>\n A number of the songs on Paracosm seem to address Keen\u2019s own conflicting feelings about entering the spotlight. The waltzing single \u201cNo Audience\u201d, which opens with a flurry of wintry harmonies, finds her dreaming wistfully of performing to an empty theatre (\u201cNobody watching, wouldn\u2019t that be freer?\u201d), before the chorus: \u201cAnything you decide, you can make it real life\/ Don\u2019t think, don\u2019t fear, just be, just flow\/ Like a house on a hill, can\u2019t be hidden like you wish it will\/ When you\u2019re alone, it\u2019s there you\u2019ll glow.\u201d On \u201cNowhere to Hide\u201d, over juddering beats, she sings of releasing herself from all her insecurities and going back to that childhood sense of abandon. \u201cHelium\u201d lifts her up with arpeggiating piano notes, ascending to a state of true clarity. I ask what she\u2019s floating above in the song, and she smiles. \u201cWell, sometimes when you\u2019re on the ground and looking at everything around you, it might look daunting. But when you\u2019re above, you can see things from a different perspective.\u201d She sings: \u201cWhy should I consider what you should say\/ When you can\u2019t even see what I\u2019m seeing?\u201d The opinions of others can get in her head, she tells me, \u201cso I have to rise above the situation\u201d. <\/p>\n I wonder if some of these lyrics were inspired by real-life conversations she had in the music industry. \u201cIt\u2019s more an overall feeling I needed to express,\u201d she answers carefully. \u201cDefinitely in the studio, I have to work a little harder to assert myself.\u201d That must be hard, I say, when she\u2019s so reserved. \u201cBut I actually feel like I\u2019m my most confident self when I\u2019m in there, songwriting,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s like my natural habitat \u2013 I\u2019m quite a boss when I\u2019m in there.\u201d She flashes a grin. \u201cSo I don\u2019t think I have that much issue with it any more.\u201d<\/p>\n You hear the boss side of her on \u201cPrototype\u201d, a slickly produced slice of electronic pop that reminds me of early Banks, with whom she toured last year, or Charli XCX. On it, Keen is commanding, imperious, as she fires back at her past detractors over sharp, crunchy beats: \u201cI\u2019m a limited edition\/ Baby I\u2019m a prototype\/ I\u2019m just on a different rhythm\u2026 Try to catch me, if you can\/ Try to match me, but you can\u2019t.\u201d They\u2019re not typical Absolutely lyrics: \u201cThey\u2019re quite cocky, but it was cool to put that in there, to show a different side of me.\u201d<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019ve been learning from my sister and seeing the way she handles certain situations\u2019 (Press)<\/p>\n It helped, although it must have been awful, too, watching RAYE navigate her own series of hurdles before breaking through with her Brit Award-winning album, My 21st Century Blues, in 2023. Before then, her former record label had seemed to peddle her as a for-rent vocalist on a smattering of top 10 singles but, she claimed, refused to let her release the music she wanted to make. After a public plea, when she was at her wits\u2019 end, RAYE parted ways with the label<\/a> and now releases music independently, to considerable success and critical praise<\/a>. \u201cI think even subconsciously, I\u2019ve been learning from her and seeing the way she would handle situations and the way she\u2019s so just bold in her personality,\u201d Keen says. <\/p>\n Some might question whether she would be able to assert herself enough to avoid being referred to as \u201cRAYE\u2019s sister\u201d for the duration of her career. I have no doubt she\u2019ll be just fine. Listening to Paracosm, the talent is there, but more importantly, you hear the clear expression of artistic individuality. There are echoes of her sibling in her vocal register, but Keen\u2019s voice isn\u2019t as rich \u2013 it\u2019s brighter, like light refracting off ripples of water, with an otherworldly quality that\u2019s perfectly suited to her brand of alt-pop. And where RAYE\u2019s lyrics are often hard-hitting, whether on the sexual assault survivor anthem \u201cIce Cream Man\u201d or the impatient, big-band bop \u201cWhere Is My Husband?\u201d, Keen\u2019s are dreamy, introspective and quietly romantic.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Absolutely (far right) on \u2018The Graham Norton Show\u2019 with sisters Amma and RAYE, and guests Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Matthew McConaughey and James Norton (BBC)<\/p>\n But they\u2019re clearly a close-knit family, and there\u2019s zero suggestion that any of the three siblings (they have another, younger sister, who’s still in school) wants to distance themselves until they\u2019re all established in their own right. Far from it: they\u2019re going out on tour together, along with Amma, for RAYE\u2019s headline arena run that kicks off next month. \u201cI\u2019m so excited,\u201d Keen says. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a beautiful experience.\u201d Amma has just started releasing her own music, which Keen says leans into the pop and R&B side of things: \u201cHer voice is very powerful, like, she can belt! She\u2019s very funny too, she\u2019s cheeky.\u201d<\/p>\n While many of these songs will be making their debut on the tour, she already knows one, the stirring ballad \u201cI Just Don\u2019t Know You Yet\u201d, will prove a hit with their audience. Clips of Keen singing it during the Banks tour blew up on TikTok last year, prompting fans to demand she release the full track earlier than planned. Why does she think it resonates with people so much? \u201cI think a lot of people know that feeling of waiting and longing for their true partner,\u201d she suggests. She was writing from experience, having been made to feel in past relationships like she was always the second option. \u201cI was like, \u2018Wait, is this my fault?\u2019\u201d she recalls. \u201cI Just Don\u2019t Know You Yet\u201d, then, is like a psalm in which she tells herself to have hope: \u201cI just don\u2019t know you yet\/ But I know you\u2019ve been sent from God\/ To teach me to love again\/ \u2019Cause I think I must\u2019ve forgot\/ How to love\/ And how to be loved.\u201d<\/p>\n Those who sniff at the idea of manifestation might think twice when they learn that Keen is, in fact, now in a very happy relationship, with US musician Noah Urrea, whom she met during a songwriting session for another artist. They feature frequently on one another\u2019s social channels, sharing song covers or cute clips of them dancing or cooking together. \u201cHe\u2019s the most beautiful, special human being,\u201d Keen says happily. \u201cWe became friends for a bit, and then he asked me on a date, and it was the best date ever.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s time for the album playback, so I head out to the main room to let her get ready. I watch as she comes out and says the briefest of hellos to her audience, gets sidetracked by nerves, then flops down onto a sofa and shuffles as low as she can go, hiding as the album begins to blast from some industrial-sized speakers. Shy she may be, but she can command your attention when it matters most. A future pop star? Absolutely.<\/p>\n \u2018Paracosm\u2019, the new album from Absolutely, is out soon; she embarks on a world tour in support of RAYE from 22 January<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":{"0":"post-233440","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Absolutely:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/RT2A8474_final.jpeg\")
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