Saya Gray, portrait of a young girl on fire

With '19 MASTERS', a debut album as authentic as they come, the young Saya Gray has made a stunning entrance into the industry. By refusing to play by the rules, the multi-instrumentalist is laying the foundations for a career that could one day become a benchmark. Working at both the mill and the kiln, the artist crafts a singular music in which she masters everything, without making any compromises.

Before she went solo, Saya Gray was a band. Playing bass for over ten years in the bands of Daniel Caesar, Willow and Liam Payne, in the shadows of the studio or in the spotlight, this Japanese-Canadian perfected her already considerable, almost innate know-how. As the fruit of the union of a renowned trumpeter and sound engineer and a woman who invented one of Canada's leading music schools, her destiny seemed sealed. Inspired by her parents' trajectory, the artist has not fallen into a kind of bland mimicry. On the contrary, thanks to the strength of her ideas, the young woman has embarked on an atypical career path, positioning herself directly off the beaten track, while remaining true to her convictions. Taken together, they outline her personality. Taken together, they form 19 MASTERS (2022), a debut album produced with (almost) total autonomy and, above all, without compromise.
Only one option

Saya Gray exudes a kind of aura that's impossible not to notice, that suggests she was always made for this job. It struck us when we met her on the last night of the Paris edition of the Pitchfork Music Festival. At the same time, if you go back a generation in her family tree, this young artist seemed almost 'doomed' to make music. Her father's name is Charlie Gray, and he made his name as a trumpeter and composer. His father came from a jazz background, "a very cool milieu", and played alongside Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett and Ella Fitzgerald. His mother, "more classical and very strict", is called Madoka Murata. She is the founder of the Discovery through the Arts music school, a Toronto-based institution that is over 40 years old. Looking back, I have the impression that I had no choice but to make music," laughs Saya. In reality, it was the natural path and I didn't struggle."

This quest began very early for Saya Gray. First, with a piano, the first instrument with which she learned to communicate. Even today, it serves as the basis for her writing. But it's with a bass that the young artist has a very special relationship. As soon as her hands grasped one, something unique was revealed: "There are functions with each of the strings. You can change mood and slide from minor to major, have complete control over all the frequencies and, above all, have access to all those frequencies." So the musician can express herself to the full. But before taking the plunge and telling her story, Saya Gray first became part of a collective. In the backing bands of Daniel Caesar, Willow and Liam Payne, for more than ten years the young woman played the notes of others before her own. It was through contact with all these artists and their entourages that the bassist decided to try her hand at it too.
Saya Gray, alone on stage

As the tour progressed, Saya Gray's performances went from strength to strength. I really took it as a job and was happy just to make music," she says. Then, after a while, everyone I worked with kept telling me to create my own compositions. I realised how lucky I was that they were all so supportive. It's something very rare." If the musician feels this way, it's because she has certain reservations about the industry. Without going so far as to consider it a kind of big machine driven solely by its own interests, she nonetheless stresses the lack of authenticity that reigns there. In a binary way, this can either generate traumas or develop vocations. Which was the case for Saya Gray. Always on the road, in this positive atmosphere, the singer began to write the songs for what was to be her first album, 19 MASTERS.

Released last year by UK label Dirty Hit, this album is a superb calling card. Its 19 tracks each present who Saya Gray is, both the person and the musician. The daughter of a Japanese immigrant to Canada, the young woman, proud of her origins, proclaims her dual culture loud and clear. A central point in her life, since it is her mother who opens the album by saying in her native language: "Welcome to my world". The daughter of a renowned musician, she also displays a full range of her techniques, playing all the instruments on the album almost alone - her brother accompanies her on guitar, her father on trumpet. Rather than delivering a good student's score, Saya Gray innovates by exploring a wide range of genres, sometimes even mixing them together. Finally, because she is a woman of her time, the singer recounts her doubts, her fears and shows her "total vulnerability", the common thread running through 19 MASTERS. All in the non-conformist way that is the cornerstone of her business.
Cultivating her difference

Once the foundations had been laid, Saya Gray continued on her way. In music, this was evident in a new EP, QWERTY (2023). While her presentation album had a certain freedom, even urgency, this record breaks away from the usual standards. Here, the classic couplet/reflection format explodes in flight in favour of completely disintegrated, even 'glitchy' productions. And yet, paradoxically, the singer has imagined this EP in order to "translate it live". The bassist is particularly fond of this counterpoint. She has developed it further with the recent songs revealed - Annie, Pick a Flower... (My House), ? and T. T. F. G.. By exploring her "relationship with technology", the artist is bugging the matrix. Far removed from social networks, Saya Gray deliberately rubbed shoulders with the dictatorship of algorithms to see what impact they would have on her and, by extension, on her music. She came out all the better for it.

    "I feel it's my job to keep this old-fashioned music alive", she says.

"With social networks, people are so exposed", says Saya. In saying this, the artist is targeting one negative aspect in particular. This overexposure creates collective behaviour that tends towards uniformity. A single thought for similar tastes. You have to create your own path, no matter how difficult it is," says the bassist. That's why, in a way, I stay away from everything, I don't want to be too influenced. Maybe by doing that I'm also encouraging marginalised people to assert themselves. That's important to me, because I didn't have that." In addition to this, Saya Gray has also given herself a kind of symbolic mission.

Since her art is above ground, in many ways different from that imposed by TikTok and passons, the young woman is carrying on a certain tradition. "It's great that the new generations have such wide access to music. But in a way, there's too much of it and it creates saturation. I feel it's my job to keep this music alive in the old way, or at least as we know it. Otherwise, all the real musicians and all this music will come to an end.

Determined, almost radical, such proof of authenticity can only be welcomed.

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