Ari Ray Announces Sophomore Album ‘Hello Poison’
46 Arin Ray‘s first album of new material in four years has a title, official cover artwork, and release date. Hello Poison will release June 3 via Interscope Records.
It is the follow-up to the rising singer’s debut album, Platinum Fire, which was released in March 2018 and later upgraded to a deluxe suite that December.
On the cover art for Hello Poison, Ray wears an open dark brown suit and goes shirtless underneath for the artwork, shot by Darren Craig. He poses in a gold chair in the center of shallow water where sea stacks and a gloomy sky are present in the background. See the cover above.
Ray gave his fans a taste of Hello Poison in April when he released his D Smoke-assisted single “The Mood.” His most recent song, “Gold,” served as a rock-solid track to come behind. Both songs have supporting visuals.
For now, no other tracks from Hello Poison have been unveiled. Songwriting and production credits at this point include Camper (Mary J. Blige, Brandy), Los Hendrix (SZA, Givēon), Ben Lusher (Leven Kali, Dixson), Carter Lang (Rihanna, Jamila Woods), and Stephen Feigenbaum (Jazmine Sullivan, Teyana Taylor), among others.
On tap for Ray’s current album cycle is a performance at this year’s Cincinnati Music Festival. His set is on July 21, day one of the three-day festival that booked Janet Jackson and Charlie Wilson as headliners.
As mentioned above, Ray’s forthcoming album Hello Poison marks his first since Platinum Fire. The standard set featured guest appearances from Ty Dolla $ign, Shelley FKA DRAM, SiR, YG, Terrace Martin, and Childish Major. He enlisted the legendary Babyface on the expanded edition.
Ray did release the EP Phase II in late 2019. Kehlani served as the only guest and showed up on the focus track “Change.”
Last year, Ray contributed to Gallant’s highly-praised EP Neptune (“Third Eye Blind”), which placed at No. 3 on Rated R&B’s Best R&B Albums of 2021 list.
The previous year, Ray joined rapper Wale for “Hold On” and teamed with K. Roosevelt on a remix of “Bloom,” also featuring BJ The Chicago Kid.