Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae will embark on her headline Plum Red Lipstick Tour this summer.
The performances will continue to celebrate Bailey Rae’s new album, Black Rainbows, which was released last year to widespread critical acclaim on Thirty Tigers. Listen/Share the LP here.
Critical acclaim for Black Rainbows…
“Black Rainbows is one songwriter’s leap into artistic freedom, unconcerned with genre expectations or radio formats. It’s also one more sign that songwriters are strongest when they heed instincts rather than expectations.” – New York Times
“‘New York Transit Queen’ kicks down the door with its craggy garage guitars and bratty chant of a chorus about a 17-year-old subway fare skipper” – Billboard
“Black Rainbows, her first album in seven years, promises to be more wide-ranging, foreshadowed by the piano-laden ‘Peach Velvet Sky’ and the trashy punk kick of ‘New York Transit Queen.’” – Los Angeles Times
“This punky intro to the project is a joyous celebration of Audrey Smaltz, who was the first Black woman to be named Miss New York Transit in 1954.” – Philadelphia Inquirer
“…the beginning of a new era for Bailey Rae.” – Rated R&B
Inspired by her transcendent experience at the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago, the project marks a compelling new chapter for the artist, who notes, “I knew when I walked through those doors that my life had changed forever.”
Wide ranging in its themes, Black Rainbows’ subjects are drawn from her encounters with objects in the Arts Bank, a curated collection of Black archives comprising of books, sculpture, records, furniture and troublesome objects from America’s past. From the rock hewn churches of Ethiopia to the journeys of Black Pioneers westward, from Miss New York Transit 1957 to how the sunset appears from Harriet Jacobs’ loophole, Black Rainbows spans Black femininity, Spell Work, Inner Space/Outer Space, time collapse, ancestry and music as a vessel for transcendence.
Additionally, Bailey Rae is honored at this year’s inaugural Resonator Awards ceremony on January 30 alongside six extraordinary women praised for their work in the recording studio as producers, engineers and mixers. She has been chosen for the Harmonizer Award, which goes to “a creator who uses music to leverage social change. A voice of our collective conscience who pushes boundaries to powerfully articulate their message and drive deeper meaning through music, this artist and producer challenges issues of our time head on and inspires social change through composition, production and recording.”
ABOUT CORINNE BAILEY RAE
English singer/songwriter/musician Corinne Bailey Rae shot to stardom with her self-titled #1 U.K. debut album in 2006, featuring the global hits “Put Your Records On” and “Like A Star.” Over the course of her career, she has released three critically acclaimed studio albums—Corinne Bailey Rae, The Sea and The Heart Speaks in Whispers—and earned two Grammy Awards, two MOBOS, and has been nominated for multiple awards including the BRIT Awards, Mercury Music Prize and BET Awards. Her work for film and television includes the theme to Stan Lee’s Lucky Man (SKY1), “The Scientist” for Universal Pictures’ Fifty Shades Darker opening title and soundtrack which charted globally, and in 2020 her song “New to Me” was performed in the film The High Note by Tracee Ellis Ross. Bailey Rae has collaborated with a wide range of artists including Mary J. Blige, Al Green, Herbie Hancock, KING, Paul McCartney, Kele Okereke (Bloc Party), Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Questlove, Salaam Rami, RZA, Tyler The Creator, Paul Weller, Richard Hawley, Stevie Wonder, Tracey Thorn, Pharrell, Logic, Mick Jenkins and many more.
