Gretta Ray releases new album 'Heartsong', announces London headline show

 Australian singer-songwriter Gretta Ray makes a stirring return to form with her sweeping new album Heartsong, out today via EMI Australia. A beautifully emotive, lump in throat collection of tracks, the album marks the beginning of yet another unexpected chapter in the critically acclaimed musician’s boldly genre defying career.

Ray has been a powerful voice not only in the Australian scene but in indie pop at large for a decade, spinning pop alchemy out of the depths of her heart. At just 18 she won Triple J’s Unearthed High, followed by riveting LPs like the vibrant debut Begin to Look Around and her follow-up sophomore album Positive Spin. Fans and critics alike were drawn to her captivating voice, poetic writing, and endless charm - as seen on tours with the likes of Maisie Peters, Jensen McRae, and fellow Australian heroes Gang of Youths. But after years of building bigger and further, of co-writing and working in pop studios, with Heartsong, Ray makes a sharp left turn.

Having flirted in the past with everything from gorgeously ramshackle indie ballads to neon-lit electro pop, Ray now turns her writer’s gaze inwards. Reflecting on an intensely turbulent time in Ray’s life in which everything she held dear felt at risk, these songs are intimate, urgent and stripped of any unnecessary frills or gloss; grounded in a warm, organic sound filled with drums, rippling piano and lush strings, and of course, Ray’s powerful, dramatic vocals, brought to the spotlight like never before. It was also conceived as a visual album, with each track accompanied by a video dropping every day after album release, thereby bringing Ray’s words to vivid life.

Conceived during a time where Ray suffered a life threatening health crisis and relocated from London to Sydney, Heartsong sees Ray excavating hitherto unexplored terrains of loss, yearning and rebirth and is at once an immersive and deeply moving experience. New single 'Every Aching Minute' is one of the rousing, heart cracking fruits of her efforts, a soaring paean to the power of hopeless optimism. In her words:

"This album is about grief - how I came to know it, wrestle with it and learned to live alongside it, following a life-altering health scare that I endured shortly after turning 26. It is a recount of how quickly my outlook on life, my priorities, my relationships and my career, changed after my world as I knew it turned on a dime. Amidst the heaviness and heartache of it all, a part of me was shaken awake once my confidence was shot, forcing me to come to terms with what I truly valued about my life. As much as this album unpacks what it means to sit with your sadness, to honour it, to give it every aching minute, it also tells the story of a triumphant return to one’s sense of self, and how retreating to the ocean, your family and friendships, your journal, and your guitar & piano will be the things that mirror your inner essence, true purpose, and your reason to be."

Gretta Ray has today also announced she will be heading out on the road early next year, beginning with an intimate London headline at Paper Dress Vintage on 9th March, before a small headline tour across Australia. Tickets for Gretta Ray's London headline go on sale 10am on 4th November - grettaray.com.

Gretta Ray's new album Heartsong is out now via EMI Music Australia.

LIVE DATES 2027

• 09 March - London, Paper Dress Vintage
• 08 April - Sydney, Metro Theatre
• 09 April - Brisbane, The Triffid
• 10 April - Melbourne, Thornbury Theatre

Heartsong - album  track list

1. Heartsong

2. Every Aching Minute

3. Partner In Crime

4. Coming Up For Air

5. Turn Off My Music

6. Holiday Season

7. Never

8. Please Be Gentle With Me

9. Dreams Are Everything Until You Awaken

10. Swimming, Crying

11. I’ll Be There

12. Lucky (In My Life)

More about Gretta Ray

Melbourne singer/songwriter Gretta Ray's journey from winning Triple J Unearthed in 2016, to being awarded the Vanda and Young Global Songwriting Prize marked an extraordinary beginning to her career. Her debut album, Begin to Look Around, released in 2021, earned nominations for both an ARIA Music Award (Breakthrough Artist – Release) and a J Award (Australian Album of the Year).

This was followed by a sold-out headlining tour in 2022, an Australian arena tour supporting Gang of Youths, and a viral moment sparked by her poignant and breathtaking cover of Billy Joel’s "Vienna" on TikTok. This cover has amassed over 20 million streams, 350 million views, 35 million likes, and half a million shares across social media platforms globally.

Continuing her success, Gretta toured her sophomore album to packed out theatres in Australia followed by a UK tour supporting Maisie Peters which ended in a final show at Wembley Arena.

Positive Spin, released in 2023 was an album bathed in golden light, a hazy sunset of love, heartbreak, growth and understanding. Praised by the likes of Wonderland, CLASH Magazine, NME, Notion and The Line of Best Fit, it was also shortlisted for The Australian Music Prize as one of the nine best Australian records of the year, the award celebrates the album as an art form.