Listen to THE FACE’s podcast with Sugababes’ Mutya Buena and Raye

We’re excited to launch Face-to-Face – the podcast which pairs creative people with the legends who’ve inspired them.

In Episode One, Raye and Mutya Buena sit down to discuss mental health, social media, the toxic side of the music industry and the genius of Doja Cat.

Since releasing her first EP in 2014, Raye has worked with the likes of Stormzy, Mabel, David Guetta, Charli XCX and Beyoncé. But last summer, the London musician took to Twitter to publicly call out her record label, claiming that she’d been signed for a four-album deal in 2014, but hadn’t yet been allowed to release a single album. She also said that her songs were either ​“sat in folders collecting dust” or being given to other artists. In July this year, Raye struck out as an independent artist with the no-holds-barred single Hard out Here, following it up with the melancholic dance track Black Mascara.

In Episode One of Face-to-Face, Raye sits down with the legendary Mutya Buena – an original member of the Sugababes. The trio formed in 1998 and released their first One Touch album two years later. One Touch spawned three Top 20 singles, but the Sugababes were dropped by their label. They went on to score number one hits including Freak Like Me, Round and Round, Hole in the Head and Push The Button.

Buena left the Sugababes in 2005. She reunited with original members Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy in 2012, and they dropped the single Flatline the following year. In 2022, with ​‘00s nostalgia at its peak, the Sugababes drew such a big crowd at Glastonbury that the whole Avalon Field had to be shut down. They hit the road this autumn.

This episode of Face-to-Face was recorded at The Standard in London and created with Front Ear podcasts. Stay tuned for the next episode.