It is always a marvellous treat to discover someone is as genuine and authentic off stage as they present themselves to a crowd, and within moments of meeting Gretta Ray, it is easy to understand how she has grown such a dedicated, loyal fanbase. Known for her optimistic, light-at-the-end-of-a-tunnel-infused melodies and hyper-specific lyrics that cement her relatability, the rising Australian popstar has formed a connection with her listeners so strong that many travelled the UK to see her open for Maisie Peters’ The Good Witch Tour, and then waited outside her sold-out London headline show for hours to get a spot up close.

“Right now is the most connected I’ve ever felt to my audience, and I’ve been doing this for seven years,” she tells me as we sit down backstage. It’s between the soundcheck and the show, and we dive headfirst into the silver linings, reclamation of heartbreak, and detail-oriented intention that fills the track list of her sophomore album, Positive Spin.

For the past decade, Ray has used songwriting to work through complicated emotions, unravel messy situations, and stitch herself back together. And now, she’s built a cathartic safe space for listeners to do the same. “If I’m feeling a complex emotion, I’m going to try and write a song to bring myself out of it,” she explains. “Going into songwriting sessions — or writing music by myself when I was younger — I would address a sadness and then write a narrative that talks about how I’m going to construct a way out of it.”

With the 2021 release of her debut album, Begin To Look Around, fans quickly connected to the way she’d turn sadness into meaning and hardship into strength, belting anthems about moving on in an effort to get there themselves. They started writing her therapeutic lyrics on notebooks as mantras, forming friendships, and sharing which songs they resonated most deeply with. Entirely organically, Ray proved how powerful music of the sort could be — and knew that with her follow-up, she’d take it a step further.

“I had a really specific idea for the album in mind by the end of the writing process and I’d been wanting to find something that pulled everything together,” she tells me, noting that she had to comb through 80 or 90 song contenders for her unnamed sophomore project. “My fans really honed in on the optimism that lives in my songwriting, so I got to thinking that’s what it would be about. And then I was in a conversation with my sister and she used the term ‘positive spin’.” After settling on the name and writing the title track, the roster almost figured itself out, favouring the songs she wrote while travelling from Australia to London, LA, and Nashville, spending time with friends, and basking in the “sunshininess” and gratitude of feeling free.

One of the first singles released from the luscious pop project, “Heartbreak Baby” set the stage for what fans could expect moving forward. A bit of a fake-it-til-you-make-it tactic, Ray wrote the anthem the day after a breakup. “I was so sad. I was a shell of a person. But I was like, ‘well, if I’m going to get broken up with so often, I’m going to make it sound like it’s an empowering thing to be defined by heartbreak. I can just own it. I’m really good at coping with the post-breakup thing, because I’ve done it so many freaking times.” She laughs. “It’s nice to feel like that resonates with the fans. It’s so good to indulge in sad music, listening to Phoebe Bridgers and Billie Eilish and being in your feelings, but Positive Spin is like, ‘get off the floor, put some lipstick on, we’re going out.’”

And with her contagious hopeful energy, it’s impossible not to follow her lead.

Other standouts from the album include the pop-expertise of “Don’t Date The Teenager”, the overwhelming gratitude of fan-favourite “You’ve Already Won”, and the vulnerable relatability of lead single “Dear Seventeen”, which Ray cites as the most emotional one for her to perform live. “There are certain songs on the album that I get really excited to sing live, because I know I’m just going to be watching [fans’] faces as they experience their own stories while listening. On this tour, there are so many teenagers, and whenever I see a girl swaying and singing all the lyrics [to ‘Dear Seventeen’], I just want to burst into tears. It’s so crazy and really special.”

Spotting the glittery gown across the room, I’m reminded of the fans currently waiting outside, who will soon get the chance to sway and sing along to Positive Spin — and I can’t help but get emotional myself. It is no small feat to become a role model, inspirational figure, or helping hand to thousands, and with her gratitude and earnest love, Gretta Ray makes it look effortless. It is this, along with her growing pop prowess and lyrical mastery, that makes me excited for her future.

Her own future goals, however, are centred around celebrating moments as they come: “I want to celebrate my achievements more, or know when they happen and be excited about them in the moment, instead of looking at what I don’t have or the gaps where it didn’t go as well as I’d wanted. I just feel like we’ve had a lot of wins this year and I’m feeling so grateful for them now and really aware of them now. But there were times earlier this year that I could have felt like that and I didn’t because I was like, ‘oh, well, I still need to do this, this, this, and this.’”

As I head out, I hear the sounds of a sold-out crowd cheering her name — and I hope she takes a moment to celebrate.

Stream Positive Spin…