Nicole Rayy Quite Happy With Her "Sad Song"

Nicole Rayy's trajectory on the Canadian country music scene has been a steady upswing, garnering more attention, more fans and more praise for her music. And her latest single "Sad Song" isn't stifling that momentum.

"Yeah it's been great so far," Rayy says. "It's actually a song I didn't write so it was pitched to me. I just loved it right away because I knew that this was something that everyone could relate to. I think as music listeners we all just love a good sad song sometimes. It makes us feel less alone when we're going through something."

The song, co-written by Emma Lee, Jordan Depaul and Karen Kosowski, was pitched to Rayy by her manager. She says other people's songs have to resonate with her before recording them.

"Absolutely," the musician says. "As an artist and as a songwriter it's hard to put your ego aside and think about something that you're not a writer of. So for me if I'm picking something that I did not write it really has to resonate, it really has to say something that I would say as a songwriter."

Rayy, whose favourite sad song is Taylor Swift's "All Too Well," also released a video for the track. The video, directed by Tim Deegan and Leah Daniels, contains a bit of economical "movie magic."

"I knew I wanted rain in the video just because it mentions rain in the song and also I feel that depicts that feeling of sadness the best, a good rainy day," she says. "But of course you can't control the weather so we had a lot of fun filming that. We had a super helper who held up a garden hose and just made it look like it was raining."

The singer enjoys the whole process behind music videos.

"It's really cool just to be able to bring a song to life visually," Rayy says. "When I'm writing a song if I can picture in my head what the video is going to be that says to me it's going to be a good song."

Another highlight this year was getting two 2021 CMAOntario nominations, one for Album of the Year (All Woman) and another for Video of the Year ("Broken Boys"). While pleased with the recognition she doesn't use awards or accolades as her measuring stick for success.

"It's important to me as an artist always to be making the best music that I can and connecting with my fans," she says. "Awards don't always equal that you're the hardest worker or making the best music. It's nice but you have to take it with a grain of salt."

Like every other musician, Rayy is coping with the global pandemic and the catastrophic ramifications for musicians in general. She says she's trying her best to stay busy and productive.

"I know it's so hard for so many people in their careers and not being able to do their job the way they would like right now," she says. "Especially with no live music I've been missing that aspect dearly. I've been staying creative, learning a lot, writing a lot at home and been doing a lot of virtual shows through the computer."

Rayy finds the virtual shows interesting but says it doesn't compare to the energy of a live concert.

"Yeah it's weird to read your applause rather than hear it, seeing little clap emojis on the screen," she says. "So that aspect is definitely a bit weird, you just feel like you're talking to yourself even though you know there are people at home watching.

"Something that has been cool about it is being able to connect with some of my fans that live far away. That part has been pretty cool connecting with new fans that haven't seen me perform before."

Although touring plans are in limbo, the musician is hopeful to organize the second edition of HarmoniaFest this year, an all-female drive-in festival she launched in Milton, Ontario last year. In the meantime she's pleased with how her virtual All Woman Music Live concerts have come off since the pandemic started.

"It's been so much fun," Rayy says. "Honestly I'm just always amazed, the female talent is unbelievable. They're just so many great female musicians and singers in country music. It's so nice to have a girls' night on the computer once a month and get to hear all the new music from all these ladies. For me I'm always trying to call out the gender bias that we still have in country music."

That gender bias is slowly narrowing in the genre but Rayy says there's still a long road to go.

"There's still work to be done but there's been a lot more attention called to it which of course is the first step," she says. "As long as we are aware that this is going on then we can continue to challenge and figure out ways to make changes to the genre and give more opportunities to women. But I'm glad that the conversation is there." Although touring is up in the air, Rayy at the time of the interview was hoping to get into the studio to record new material that has "a little more of a rock edge." But COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions were putting those plans into uncertainty also.

On some lighter notes, Rayy has also kept busy in other respects, including recently getting some ink work done of an elephant on her leg. Her love for elephants perhaps doesn't quite rival her affinity for Cadbury Mini Eggs, something she enjoyed over the Easter holidays.

"Mini-eggs are my kryptonite! That's my small addiction, I'm addicted to mini-eggs. I'm glad they don't have the big bags all year round because I would just be sitting at home eating them 24/7. I still have a bag in the back of a cupboard, I'm trying to hide it in the cupboard now so I don't eat them all at once."

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