65 fans of British Pop/R&B singer, Raye, were denied entry to her show at the Accor Arena in Paris on Sunday night despite holding valid tickets. The singer issued an official apology Tuesday evening and explained it was due to a ‘system error’ on the part of Ticketmaster. She added this situation was ‘outside of anything [she] could control’ and she is ‘saddened and let down.’ She called the situation ‘unacceptable and wrong,’ offering her ‘deepest apologies’ to those affected by the incident.
The singer acknowledged that fans were reimbursed by Ticketmaster and given a voucher by the company. But she went on to further offer those 65 affected fans free tickets to any future Raye show, as well as a complimentary signed vinyl.
The entire post of Raye’s apology is below.
— RAYE (@raye) February 17, 2026
Fans have come out in vocal support of this gesture.
A post on X from a fan calls this an example of Raye being a ‘genuinely kind human’ and how admirable it was for the singer to post about situation publicly. Another fan simply says, ‘what a gesture.’
This gesture to the affected fans is indicative of the rich sense of community the singer fosters within her fanbase, something which was felt by her in 2021 prior to the artist parting ways with her record label, Polydor.
Raye was signed to Polydor in 2014 at just 17 years old. There for six years, she released a series of singles, features, and EPs. But in June 2021, she took to X, formerly Twitter, to say the label had been withholding her debut album. She claimed that the release of her debut was now contingent on the success of her single, ‘Call on Me’ and opened up to fans on how the pressure of this negatively affected her. This show of vulnerability pulled fans closer to her. She said in one of her final posts that June evening, her fans had ‘made [her] feel heard.’ Raye stepped away from the spotlight after this, taking a brief hiatus. Almost exactly a year later, in June 2022, she released her first single as an independent artist, ‘Hard Out Here.’
Fast-forward to 2025 and Raye has been launched to a global level of notoriety after the success of her independently released 2022 debut album, ‘My 21st Century Blues’ and its viral third single, ‘Escapism.’ Throughout it all, she has retained the bravery and honesty which fans admire from her. In response to the incident at her Paris show this Sunday, one fan says, ‘the fact that an independent artist is apologizing and literally paying for [T]icketmaster’s mistakes out of her own pocket before that f**ka** company even says anything.. raye you are so special to all of us.’
Raye continues her tour at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester tonight. Full UK/IE dates for This May Contain New Music Tour can be found below.
Raye’s This May Contain New Music UK/IE Tour Dates
18/2 – Co-op Live – Manchester, UK
20/2 – OVO Hydro – Glasgow, UK
21/2 — OVO Hydro – Glasgow, UK
23/2 — bp pulse LIVE — Birmingham, UK
24/2 — bp pulse LIVE — Birmingham, UK
26/2 — The O2 — London, UK
27/2 — The O2 — London, UK
1/3 — The O2 — London, UK
2/3 — The O2 — London, UK
4/3 — 3Arena — Dublin, Ireland
5/3 — 3Arena — Dublin, Ireland
19/5 — The O2 — London, UK
20/5 — The O2 — London, UK
1/8 — Pride on the Park — Brighton, UK
29/8 — Reading Festival, Richfield Avenue — Reading, UK
30/8 — Leeds Festival, Bramham Park — Leeds, UK
