Raye is about to have the craziest year of her life. Not only did she just get cast playing an iconic indigenous character in the national tour of a reimagined Peter Pan (Broadway bound?) but is also taking off from her Long Beach, CA home on her first headlining tour supporting her new LP Hold That Spirit.  In this first chapter of our conversation, I was able to catch up with Raye before she hit the road to talk about her unique childhood in New York City - where her dad was also on Broadway, her struggles with body acceptance and overcoming toxic relationships, processing trauma in her records, and how her ancestors spoke to her through emotional new songs like “Still Here”.