Adele was in the audience for the closing night of Raye‘s U.S. tour this week at the Greek Theatre, which naturally led to all kinds of murmurings about torches being passed. One imagines Adele being the type to give up a torch only when it’s pried out of her cold, dead hands, but it’s safe to say that a certain flame is now at least being shared. It’s not casual hyperbole to say that with this tour, the 28-year-old British singer has crossed some kind of threshold to earn a place in the pantheon of great 21st century entertainers. The barrier point may seem like it’s lower than it used to be for what constitutes a first-rank diva, but Raye in her current prime meets all the bars, past and present.
There is a lot more to being a great diva than just having a great voice, of course. Where Raye really shows she is up to Adele’s standard is in being a great talker. There’s a great tradition among female belters of being masters of repartee and prolific oversharing, but it was more the province of Vegas entertainers than arena-level pop acts until Adele more or less made it into its own artform, particularly on her “25” tour a decade ago. You could say that Adele walked so that Raye could run in that regard, but the more truthful way of putting it might be that Adele ran her mouth so that Raye could also run hers, with endlessly charming results in both cases. The gift of gab might be only fifth or sixth on either woman’s list of talents, but it’s one of the most essential parts of why they’ll both be selling out shows for the rest of their lives.
