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Calling Ray Hawthorne prolific at his craft is an understatement. Since the release of his reflective, intensely catchy sophomore album Ray Hawthorne Isn’t Real this August, the pop-punk upstart has already released sixteen new singles. And while he reveals music at a warp-speed clip, it’s far from quantity over quality – every new track feels like an ultra-personal examination of his inner life with razor-sharp detail.
While the unrelenting wave of new singles is jawdropping, though, Ray Hawthorne Isn’t Real deserves a spotlight of its own. Coming on the heels of 2024’s Ray Hawthorne Sucks, it blends sticky pop-punk hooks with an undercurrent of vocal grit that makes anxieties and exhaustion manifest. As he declares “Lately I grave dig/Until my heart stops beating” with a wave of harmonizing screams on “Lately,” the urgency of the music matches the tone of his poetic confessions.
When reflecting on Ray Hawthorne Isn’t Real, Hawthorne explains the record is about the messy emotions that come after getting sober. While the drugs and alcohol have exited the picture, one is still left with themselves and has to ask: where do we go from here? He paints that portrait intricately through personal woes of backstabbing and heartbreak with bleeding heart lyricism.
On the record’s final moments, Hawthorne externalizes his frustrations, confessing “Telling ‘em all they’ll never know the real you.” While he finds plenty of personal obstacles to spotlight throughout Ray Hawthorne Isn’t Real, the outside world provides interpersonal hurdles of its own. He navigates them with an incisive clarity that’s present not just on Ray Hawthorne Isn’t Real, but has sustained into the post-album singles while barreling toward 2026.
We spoke with Hawthorne about the catharsis of songwriting on Ray Hawthorne Isn’t Real, channeling sobriety into song, and much more for the End Overdose blog below.
Can you take me through the creative process of Ray Hawthorne Isn’t Real? What was your approach on this project in particular and what was inspiring you throughout?
This record has a lot to do with self reflection after I got sober. My first record was mostly songs about struggling with substance abuse, and stories about some of my worst nights. After writing through a ton of those stories I found myself in a position to write about all of the self destructive behavior I was still exhibiting after I got sober. A lot of people think getting clean automatically puts you in a better spot mentally, but for me it sort of just highlighted all of the personal issues I was avoiding by getting high. So basically this record is sex, drugs, and rock and roll, without the drugs.
When speaking about this album, you’ve referenced the vulnerability you consciously channel into your music. You also described your newest record as “messy, distorted, chaos.” Does songwriting offer a level of catharsis when thinking about the experiences and emotions from your own life?
Sometimes it takes me writing about something to bring forward how I actually feel about it. I’ve never been to therapy, I don’t really talk about my feelings, I’m just a fucked up kid from Jersey. So songwriting is truly the only way I’ve ever dealt with my issues in a (somewhat) healthy way. Similar to what I was saying previously I used to just escape through drugs, and it’s actually wild listening to some of my songs from back when I was a full on addict. I’m singing choruses on those songs about wanting to get clean and hating what I’ve become, but then I just went on with my day, got high, and ignored it. It was like I had no idea how much truth I was actually forcing itself out in my songs at the time.
How would you describe your artistic evolution from your debut record to Ray Hawthorne Isn’t Real? While they’re only a year apart, I imagine a lot of personal and creative growth occurs in that space.
This record was inherently different just in the sense that I knew people were listening to it as I was rolling it out. When I was writing a lot of the songs for my first album I didn’t necessarily have a ton of people listening, it was all growing throughout the process while I released them as singles. For the Ray Hawthorne Isn’t Real songs, people were already checking out each single dropped and messaging me about how they felt about the songs, whether they related to them or not. So there was actually a bit more pressure this time around. It was hard to know when to stop, or when the album was done, and when it had a cohesive narrative. But ultimately I’m very happy with the result, and how everything feels messy and overly distorted compared to the first album to try and illustrate the mood.
How does your process look like from a solo perspective versus within a group setting like North Kingsley (and across totally different genres)?
Solo writing vs. writing in North Kingsley is very very very different. When I’m writing my songs I get the final say creatively. If I want to take a risk somewhere, I’m comfortable doing it, and I know that if it backfires it will only affect me. When you’re in a band you have to consider the optics and taste of the other members. Especially when one of them is a Grammy winner. So being in a band like that is more or less democratic, even if it’s not fully 50/50. I’m sure we’ve all seen Some Kind of Monster, the Metallica documentary. That is more often than not what being in a band can be like. But sometimes you need that pushback to make something great. I can honestly say, when it comes to North Kingsley, that band is purely the three of us. If you were to change any single member it would sound completely different.
You’ve dropped over 10 singles following the release of Ray Hawthorne Isn’t Real in August. How do you maintain that level of prolific creativity? What keeps you energized as an artist?
I think I just have a lot to say because I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. Life experiences are the only honest thing a person can write about, and I have fucked up a lot. So if I didn’t write these songs I’d just have a lot of backed up shit in my mind. That said, I plan on slowing down releases next year. No promises that I won’t start doing rapid releases again at some point though.
Can you take me through the process of bringing the “Flatline” music video to VHS last year? It’s a really unique physical item that also makes so much sense in a world where vinyl and tapes are on the comeback.
I just thought with the plot of the Flatline music video being a sort of fucked up, drug addicted, puppet adventure it would be hilarious if I released it on a kid’s style VHS tape. One that looked like it was basically an episode of Teletubbies released to home video. The juxtaposition of the tape looking like this innocent thing but really it’s a video of bunch of puppets doing cocaine and blowing each other makes me laugh. Plus I haven’t seen anyone else do a VHS tape, so I’m basically a trend setter. Cool guy zone.
On the topic of music videos, you also curated brilliant anime visuals for “The Reel You” – how do you approach adding that extra dimension to the world you’re creating?
Similar to my previous answer, the idea just made me laugh. I have a lot of crazy ideas that I’m fortunate enough to be able to follow through with and this was just one of them. Who doesn’t want to see me and my dog fight off an Elmo-Godzilla? Probably most people. But fuck it, I’m having fun over here.
Why do you feel it’s important to support a nonprofit like End Overdose? How can artists support nonprofits and each other to create a safer scene?
I’m actually stoked to team up with End Overdose. I’m coming up on 9 years fully sober so clearly this is a cause that actually matters to me. I feel like half my high school graduating class has died from opioid overdoses at this point. There’s a huge heroin crisis in my hometown. I’m certain if it was easier for people to get their hands on Narcan a lot more of those kids would’ve survived.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
If I started an OnlyFans, but it was just videos of me talking about the rare Ninja Turtle figures I have and showing off the cool parts of them, do you think people would subscribe? I could use the cash to buy even rarer Ninja Turtles. Undercover Raph mint on card is dumb expensive.