Raph Solo Releases “I Believe”

London-based pop singer-songwriter Raph Solo released his new single “I Believe” this week, timed to National Coming Out Day — a date that carries personal weight for the artist, marking fifteen years since he decided to accept himself as a gay man. Released independently through his own label, Angel King Music, the single is Solo’s first new music in eight years and is available on all major platforms, along with a bonus 7th Heaven Remix.

The song is the product of a decades-long reckoning between Solo’s sexuality and his Faith in God. In his twenties, he tried celibacy for nearly six years. In 2011, he underwent reparative therapy in an attempt to change his sexual orientation — an experience he has called brutal, though one he says he doesn’t regret. “It led me to where I am now, and in hindsight, I wouldn’t have had it happen any other way,” he explains. “I hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else, though. There’s little to gain from it besides learning that you can’t become straight if you’re gay.”

That journey runs through the heart of “I Believe,” a song Solo says is about believing in his dreams. Chief among them: feeling okay with who he is. “I’ve been gay all my life, and God has always been there for me,” he says.

Musically, the track is built to carry that arc. Grand piano, violins and horns support the vocal through the opening verses before the song shifts into a fuller, R&B-inflected groove for its back half, climbing to what Solo describes as a powerful vocal and an epic climax. “I followed my heart on this track and made the music I would want to listen to,” he says.

The accompanying music video leans on an unusual central image: an astronaut, suited and masked, standing in for every kind of person. “The astronaut is a human canvas I can paint my character onto,” Solo says. “His actions tell us who he is behind the white mask and the white space suit, not his identity.” The video, shot in collaboration with longtime creative partner Vybrant Images, stars Valentino — who also appeared in Solo’s earlier video “Glass of Wine” — in a role drawn from Solo’s real relationship with his partner, Simon, with whom he marked ten years together this past June. “It felt natural for me to reflect that relationship in this work,” Solo says. “Our relationship taught me that God is love, in deed.”

At the core of “I Believe” is a message Solo returns to again and again: that character, not sexuality, is what defines a person. “I didn’t choose to be gay, but I learned that I do get to choose the contents of my character,” he says. “I get to choose to be kind, honest, sincere, uplifting, hardworking, faithful, and of help to others. Those are elevated character traits, and they define you as a human being regardless of your sexuality.”

Solo describes “I Believe” as the opening chapter of a larger body of work still to come. “Whether we’re straight or gay or bi or asexual, we’re all human at the end of the day, and we all have a right to pray,” he says. “Stay tuned to find out how we get there.”

For listeners still working through their own version of that struggle, particularly those who feel estranged from their faith, Solo’s message is simple. “God is with you wherever you are,” he says — the same line he hopes a young reader takes away above all else, from a song fifteen years, and one difficult decade, in the making.

Follow Raph Solo on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/raphsolo