Taken from this week’s Future Pop mailer. Click here to subscribe.
I'm not convinced the U.K. needs or wants its own answer to Frank Ocean, but that won't stop the labels from trying. Here to compete with Universal's top contender Joel Compass is Sony's new artist Raleigh Ritchie. Raleigh makes mellow, thoughtful R&B music with clever, poetic lyrics, which you can hear on his free EP The Middle Child. He made a video for Stay Inside, but I think A Moor is actually the strongest track, and its Soundcloud play count suggests I'm not alone. Raleigh has toured with Kendrick Lamar, Emeli Sandé tweeted about him and he's working with Rita Ora collaborator Chris Loco. He's certainly moving in the right circles but it's too early to tell how the public will react.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRg-ipjX-vU]