Corinne Bailey Rae releases "Peach Velvet Sky"

"Peach Velvet Sky" marks the second single from Black Rainbows – her highly anticipated first album of new material in seven years – following critically acclaimed single "New York Transit Queen".

Regarding the track Bailey Rae explains, “"Peach Velvet Sky" is about the fragments of sunset Harriet Jacobs saw, through the tiny loophole she made, and its ultimate width and wonder when she finally found freedom."

The transcendent ballad is inspired by the true story of Harriet Jacobs told through her self-written autobiography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Bailey Rae originally read Jacobs’ story as a child, however after rediscovering it within the Stony Island Arts Bank she was empowered.

"Reading in The Johnson Publishing Library reignited my interest in the life of Harriet Jacobs,” remarks Bailey Rae, “I had read her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, as a teen. An aunt from America had sent me a copy of 'Six African American Narratives', and I went straight to 'Incidents', as it was the only one written by a woman. Re-reading the work as an adult and a mother, I was even more profoundly affected by Harriet Jacob's mental fortitude and courage, as well as being shocked anew by the injustices and cruelties of her situation.”

The video features UK dancer/choreographer Mayowa Ogunnaike as well as Bailey Rae.

“I first saw Mayowa in the rehearsals for 'Seeds, Dreams, Constellations', the Contemporary Dance piece I co created with Sharon Watson MBE, in Leeds, Spring 2023. Sharon and Mayowa had begun developing the choreography for 'Peach Velvet Sky' and called me in to see what was happening. I was speechless when I saw Mayowa dance," Bailey Rae says.

"The grace, the expression, the heaviness of the subject with the fluidity of the movement. Sharon and Mayowa had put in language which evoked Harriet Jacob's story so poetically, her loophole for viewing the world, the compression which ultimately brought her escape, the mental strain, the physical and temporal endurance. When I saw Mayowa dance that piece I knew that we had to film her to bring this story to people.”

In celebration of the new project, Bailey Rae will be performing three very special shows in London’s Ladbroke Hall on 25, 26, 28 October plus a special appearance at the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival in Ireland on 29 October.