Raye Zaragoza

Raye Zaragoza is an American singer-songwriter. As a Japanese-American, Mexican, Indigenous woman, Zaragoza spent much of her early life trying to assimilate with the world around her, to meet punishing standards of beauty synonymous with just one color of skin—and not her own.

Raised in New York City, Zaragoza grew up in a studio apartment on Houston Street with her mother, father, and two siblings. Despite financial limitations, her parents were fervent believers in the power of performing arts and committed to cultivating their children’s creativity. This meant that money earned went first to mortgage, second to bills, and third to arts education and opportunities for Raye and her siblings. When Raye was fourteen, her family moved to Los Angeles and by eighteen, she was living on her own in North Hollywood, gigging at farmer’s markets, restaurants, and at one point, once a week at The Republic of Pie—in exchange for nothing but a slice of pastry. She moved back to New York City as a young adult, bartending at The Knitting Factory and The Bitter End while developing her East Coast audience, before rising rents sent her back to California.

Zaragoza released her debut EP "Heroine" in 2015. She started to gain national attention in 2016 with the song "In The River," protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. Raye and her brother made a video for "In The River" that included facts about Standing Rock and it received 100,000 views overnight. The song was awarded the Global Music Awards' 2017 Heretic Award for Protest/Activist Music and the Honesty Oscars' award for Best Song.

In 2017, she independently released her debut album "Fight For You." Her music covers topics related to social justice and her experience as a woman of color.

In 2018, Zaragoza toured with Dispatch and Nahko and Medicine for the People raising funds for Generation Indigenous.

Her sophomore album "Woman In Color" produced by Tucker Martine was released October 23, 2020 on her own label Rebel River Records.