Raia Was Releases New Single 'Any Evil'

NYC-based songwriter/producer Raia Was is excited to share her new single "Any Evil" and its accompanying lyric video. "Any Evil" debuted today at Under The Radar and the song is available now on all digital platforms for any playlist shares.

The track is the latest single to be released from Raia Was' self-produced, sophomore album Captain Obvious out October 5 on Switch Hit Records, founded by Raia Was, Arthur Moon and Cale Hawkins. Captain Obvious can be pre-ordered now on limited edition vinyl at Bandcamp and is available to pre-save on all digital platforms.

Raia Was on the single:

"Any Evil" is a short poppy burst of a song, hot out the gate with the feeling of being dropped into the middle of a drum battery, the middle of a block party. Then a rewind, let’s start this at the beginning, which now feels like slow motion, like life in reverse, the vocal tossing lyrics like you’d toss salt over your shoulder to ward off bad luck. And the song is about bad luck, or at least the looming threat of the curse of distraction (the curse of our time) that blocks us from our blessings; the one you love right in front of you while you’re “rushing around for any evil."

The track follows pre-album singles "The Fragile Part," "What It Feels Like," "Tough To Love" and "If You’re Asking (I’m Offering)" which was highlighted on NPR's All Songs Considered last month. "The Fragile Part" was featured on MTV's Teen Mom Next Chapter and is available now on all streaming platforms for any playlist shares. 

Raia Was has announced a New York Record Release show on October 11 at National Sawdust. Tickets for the show are available HERE. 

With her name nodding to the past, Raia Was is the project of an old soul. Raised by her mother in Downtown Manhattan, she began performing as a teenager, holding a weekly residency at a piano bar on Avenue B and accumulating hundreds of hours of performance experience before beginning her professional career. Having grown up in the scene, Raia Was is a mainstay within the NY indie community, recording and touring as a vocalist and keyboard player before finally stepping into her own solo project as a performer.

Raia Was has an exceptional ability to push the boundaries of genre and create magnetic work that is honest in its exploration of the intricacies of everyday life. She performs a controlled suite of music with a rare brooding intensity and haunting sense of color and space set amidst her irreverent mix-and-match approach to live arranging.

Her debut LP Angel I'm Frightened (released 2021) earned her a feature in HBO’s Euphoria with her song "You Are," and was created alongside illustrious producer/performer Autre Ne Veut. Now as she prepares to debut as sole-producer on her sophomore album Captain Obvious, her stylized take on experimental pop is being placed in the company of Weyes Blood, Mitski and Kate Bush.

On her sophomore LP, Raia Was plays Captain Obvious. What began as a practice to combat tunnel vision and increased anxiety after years of hyper vigilance around health and safety (aka living through a pandemic) turned into a body of work about the big feelings inside life’s subtleties. 

Photo credit: Audrey Melton

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