How Following Raye’s Vision Led to a Career High Debut With ‘This Music May Contain Hope’

British singer-songwriter-producer Raye has walked a winding road through the music industry over the past decade. Signed to a major label a decade ago as an artist, she subsequently had a string of successes as a songwriter for artists like Beyoncé and John Legend and as a collaborator with the likes of David Guetta and Charli xcx before going independent, signing with distribution company Human Re Sources and releasing her debut indie project My 21st Century Blues in 2023. 

Since then, her trajectory has been on a big upswing: the success of Blues led to a Grammy nomination for best new artist in 2025, where she stole the show at the ceremony with a rendition of “Oscar Winning Tears,” and the subsequent release of her second album, THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE, and its breakout single “Where Is My Husband?” This week, HOPE debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 and “Husband” reached No. 11 on the Hot 100, both career-high marks for Raye — feats which earn Human Re Sources founder/CEO J Erving the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.

Here, Erving talks about Raye’s success as an independent artist, how he’s built Human Re Sources over the past seven years and how he navigates the indie music world. “My goal isn’t to compete, my goal is to move culture,” he says. “And I feel like if we continue to move culture in a space that’s becoming more crowded by the day, we can continue to have success.”

This week, Raye’s new album THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE debuted in the top 10 on four different Billboard charts, and hit No. 11 on the Billboard 200, a career high for her. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?

Raye is the decision maker. Our role and responsibility is to support her decisions and help bring them to life. She knew exactly what she wanted when making “Where Is My Husband” and delivered a classic album.

At the same time, this week her single “Where Is My Husband?” reached No. 11 on the Hot 100, her first top 20 single and the highest mark of her career to date. How have you guys helped push that single ahead of the album, and after the album’s release?

Raye had the vision for “Where Is My Husband.” She introduced the record on her socials, explained what it meant to her and showed fans how to connect with it. We followed her lead and helped amplify what she set in motion.

With this album, as well as her best new artist nomination at the Grammy Awards last year, Raye has truly made the transition from hit songwriter to hit artist — a crossover that many have tried, but that is notoriously difficult to achieve. How did you help her make that shift and really succeed?

Raye’s first big record from “My 21st Century Blues” came almost three years ago, and that really set the foundation for this next chapter. The hard work, the live performances, the authenticity, everything she brings, it’s always been bigger than one song. Again, Raye is an independent artist, and she’s driving this.

You’ve had Human Re Sources for seven years now. How has the company grown and evolved over that time period?

We try to stay close to the artist. As we’ve grown, the team has grown with it. We’re learning every day, figuring out how to move within the new music business model and staying connected to artists that mean something to us, from Brent [Faiyaz] to Pink Sweat$ to Raye to Jill Scott and more to come. 

What does the future hold for both Raye and Human Re Sources?

There’s no ceiling to what Raye is capable of as she continues to grow and evolve, we grow alongside her at Human Re-Sources.