Your Husband Is Coming

Raye “Where Is My Husband?”

I heard “Where Is My Husband” at least a dozen times at the gym before I knew what it was, and because I was preoccupied, didn’t have my phone on me, and couldn’t make out any of the lyrics, I couldn’t easily look it up or Shazam it.

It immediately caught my attention because I’ve been hoping for years – nearly multiple decades – that the huge hyperkinetic go-go Rich Harrison drum sound from Amerie’s “1 Thing,” Beyoncé’s “Crazy In Love,” and Missy Elliott’s “Can’t Stop” would come back in style. It’s here and back on the charts, but this time around it’s the work of the young producer Mike Sabath rather than Harrison. (I hope Harrison isn’t too bitter about this, because it fully sounds like his work.) Sabath has been working with mid-tier pop stars for a while now, and was also responsible for Jade’s oddly assymetrical banger “Angel of My Dreams.”

I eventually identified “Where Is My Husband” while putting together the 2025 survey, but even then I didn’t really have a firm handle on the lyrical POV. Given the title and the supercharged manic energy of the arrangement, I assumed this was a song about getting cheated on by your spouse, or at least being paranoid about this happening. It’s a logical conclusion given how many songs are about that sort of thing, but no, this is actually more of a “loneliness epidemic” Hinge-core song.

Raye is frustrated and eager to settle down with someone who loves her, but can’t find the right man. She’s terrified that she’s running out of time and may die alone, and the bug-eyed urgency of the music is driven in part by a ticking biological clock. She’s holding on to her faith that there’s someone for her out there, but her resentment about waiting for this happen is stronger than her romanticism. “Why is this beautiful man waiting for me to get old?,” she sings. “Why he already testing my patience?” The dark feelings creep up on her and neuroses drive the song, but you can feel her refusal to back down from what she wants so badly.

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