London-born singer RAYE has claimed the first number one single of 2026 with ‘WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!’ The funk/soul hit has gone viral on TikTok and exploded globally.
Many Christians lament that marriage rates are still falling and casual relationships can feel pervasive. Vogue has also announced that it’s now ‘embarrassing’ to have a boyfriend. So why in an era of individualism is a song literally ‘praying’ for commitment so successful?
Perhaps it reflects the fact that young adults are now the loneliest generation. RAYE vocalises this pain as she sings, ‘I’m doing lonely acrobatics, unzipping my dress at 2am / And I’m tired of living like this / If [my husband] doesn’t find me now I’m gonna die alone.’ Millennials and Gen Z are living the hangover to the individualist party that kicked off in the 1960s. The flipside to the ‘freedom’ of individualism is isolation – when you don’t commit to others, they don’t commit to you, either. Maybe marriage has something to offer after all.
Not just any marriage, though – marriage done right. RAYE wants the love her parents have. They met at church and the singer has recently found her way back to faith. She told Vogue that she thanks them for ‘allowing me to grow up seeing how beautiful love can look… Through the tough times they fight, but then they pray it out. I have an incredible example of what I would love to one day find for myself.’
RAYE says she wants ‘old fashioned’ love, but where is it? Millions of women are singing along with her, ‘Where the hell is my husband?!’
Husbands – you’re trending! Your monogamous, day-in-day-out, often unglamourous love is being celebrated and idolised. So if that’s you, keep at it.
Paul calls husbands to ‘love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her’ (Ephesians 5:25).
May you see the value in your mundane commuting, cleaning, earning, encouraging, and caring.
In society, your family work alleviates poverty, improves education, and strengthens mental health. It’s also a prophetic sign for this lonely generation of the love Christ has for them.
If you’re not a husband, how can you support and celebrate the husbands you know? And how can we all mentor the younger generation, particularly men, to give them a contagious vision of godly marriage – as RAYE’s parents did for her?
Kezia Martin is Digital Communications Executive at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC). This article was first published on the LICC website and re-printed here with permission.
