Raye has stunned fans as they claim the Prada singer bears an ‘uncanny’ resemblance to a legendary British pop icon during her appearance at the 2024 BRIT Awards.
Viewers said that the multi-award-winning artist, 26, was the double of Rehab singer Amy Winehouse during her iconic performance on Saturday.
At the ceremony at London’s O2 arena, she collected prizes for best artist, new artist, R&B act and songwriter as well as a song and album of the year.
But viewers were unable to shake the similarities between the two stars as fans fled to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their amazement as they said ‘she should have played her in the biopic!’
One star-struck viewer penned: ‘Raye reminds me of Amy Winehouse #BritAwards’
Raye has stunned fans as they claim the Prada singer bears an ‘uncanny’ resemblance to a legendary British pop icon during her appearance at the 2024 BRIT Awards
At the ceremony at London’s O2 arena, she collected prizes for best artist, new artist, R&B act and songwriter as well as a song and album of the year
‘Wow Raye, Incredible #BritAwards’
‘RAYE is giving Amy winehouse vibes omg’
‘raye is so amy winehouse coded’
‘Raye has a decent voice tbf. Her look reminds me of Amy Winehouse. Not my thing really. Daughter loving her though. #BritAwards’
‘Congratulations… #BRITS Amy Winehouse reincarnated’
Raye’s journey from musical obscurity to global pop star reached a new height tonight as she made history by sensationally winning six Brit awards.
The London-born singer, full name Rachel Agatha Keen, was overwhelmed as she broke the record for winning the most gongs in one night, going up each time to collect her awards barefoot.
She was nominated seven times – the most ever for a single artist in a year – but couldn’t possibly have won more than she did as she was shortlisted twice for song of the year – for Escapism, which won the title, and for Prada.
Viewers said that the multi-award-winning artist, 26, was the double of Rehab singer Amy Winehouse during her iconic performance on Saturday
Viewers were unable to shake the similarities between the two stars as fans fled to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their amazement as they said ‘she should have played her in the biopic!’
The songwriter’s success represents one of music’s greatest ever comebacks, coming just three years after her former record label Polydor refused to release any of her albums.
This led to Raye leaving the company and releasing her critically acclaimed, and now award winning, debut My 21st Century Blues as an independent artist.
Raye was seen in floods of tears as she collected her awards and even brought her grandmother on stage to collect Album of the Year.
The star of the night also took to the stage to perform a trio of hits – Ice Cream Man on piano, an orchestral version of Prada before ending with Escapism.
The singer/songwriter scooped the Song of the year award for her hit Escapism ft 070 Shake, shortly before also taking home the R&B Act gong and Best New Artist.
‘I’m shaking. I don’t really know what to say right now, but… thank you. I’ve always dreamed of saying that,’ she said as the reached the podium to accept her first award of the night.
The London-born singer, full name Rachel Agatha Keen, was overwhelmed as she broke the record for winning the most awards in one night
Raye won the first BRIT Award on Saturday night during a star-studded ceremony at London’s O2 arena.
At the ceremony at London ‘s O2 arena, the 26-year-old collected prizes for best artist, new artist, R&B act and songwriter as well as a song and album of the year
She also scooped the first ever BRIT Award for R&B act, which is voted for by the public via Instagram and is a new standalone genre category
The 26-year-old has been shortlisted in seven categories – the most by any artist in one year- including two separate nods in the Song of the Year category for ‘Prada’ and ‘Escapism’
Raye was seen in floods of tears as she collected her awards and even brought her grandmother on stage to collect Album of the Year
The star went barefoot, kicking off her red carpet heels, for her many trips to the podium
Accepting Best New Artist just minutes afterwards, the emotional star told the crowd: ‘What is actually happening right now ’cause I just don’t understand!’
Raye’s recent success comes after she parted ways with her former label, Polydor, and released her critically acclaimed debut My 21st Century Blues as an independent artist. She referenced her new beginning in her Best New Artist Speech.
‘I have to thank my mum and my dad who are also part of my team, and my grandma. Yes grandma! I, in ways, do feel like a new artist. I released my first song when I was 15, my first mixtape when I was 16, don’t go and listen to it because it’s not that good any more.
‘But I do feel like a new artist, I got to start again. The artist I was three years ago would not believe what she’s seeing today. I’m my own boss now, I’m in control. Thank you!’
The singer/songwriter scooped the Song of the year award for her hit Escapism ft 070 Shake, shortly before also taking home the R&B Act gong and Best New Artist
Her success comes after she parted ways with her former label, Polydor, and released her critically acclaimed debut My 21st Century Blues as an independent artist
She also scooped the first ever BRIT Award for R&B act, which is voted for by the public via Instagram and is a new standalone genre category after musicians and fans complained about R&B being conjoined with the pop last year.
Raye acknowledged the the uproar in her speech, telling the crowd: ‘Look I just wanna say, when I was about 16, 15 years old, I wanted to be an R&B artist, that’s what I would say. And I was told, I think, a lie that R&B doesn’t sell in the UK so I needed to learn how to make different kinds of music.’
‘I know that’s a bit shady but I need to say R&B is so important and there are so many R&B artists in the UK eating it up. I wanna shout out to Mahalia, who campaigned for this award, Cleo Sol, who’s immaculate, Sault. This really is a lot – thank you.’
Raye also won Songwriter of the Year, which was announced ahead of the live ceremony, with host Clara Amfo handing her the gong in a surprise moment after her Best New Artist win.
The prize, which began in 2022, has previously been won by Suffolk singer Ed Sheeran and British record producer Kid Harpoon, who worked with Harry Styles on the album Harry’s House.
The artist then gave an impassioned plea to the music industry, taking the mic to declare: ‘Whilst I’m here, British record music industry please, I just wanna have a brief conversation about normalising giving songwriters master royalty points.
‘It can be net costs, it doesn’t have to be at your expense, but it means if songs win big the writers win big too. Please allow that to happen.’
Later in the show, the star scooped one of Saturday night’s top prizes – Artist Of The Year.
The non-gendered Artist Of The Year Award sparked outrage last year, after it replaced individual Male and Female categories, but then failed to include any female or non-binary artists among its five nominations.
Stranger Things star Joe Keery preseneds Raye with the award for Best New Artist
Raye looked incredible as she changed into a plunging white dress for her performance
Raye performing on stage during the Brit Awards 2024 at the O2 Arena
Raye vowed to celebrate the night away at the after-parties at exclusive locations such as Soho House’s 180 venue where record label Universal hosted a bash, and the Nomad hotel
Born in Tooting to a Ghanaian-Swiss mother and English father, Raye began singing in the church choir
Raye’s recent success comes after she parted ways with her former label, Polydor, and released her critically acclaimed debut My 21st Century Blues as an independent artist
This year however, thanks in part to the category being doubled in size, there were six female nominees out of the 10, including Raye.
Arlo Parks, Jessie Ware, Lil Simz, Olivia Sims and Dua Lipa made up the female nominees, while Central Cee, Dave, J. Hus and Fred Again… were also nominated.
‘There are so many ridiculously incredible artists here tonight, so this is especially overwhelming,’ Raye told the crowd after her fifth win.
‘Man, what is happening? What the hell is happening? Shoutout Croydon! South London! What! Shoutout my team! My sisters! My best friend Carly, I love you so much Carly, don’t start me off!’
‘Thank you, this is unfair, this is unfair, this is wild. Somebody take this mic off me, I’ve had my first drink. Thank you to the Brits, thank you so much!’
Raye bought her grandmother on stage as she won Album Of The Year, which was presented to her by her BRIT School headteacher Stuart Warden, who she had earlier given a shout out to.
Speaking on the red carpet before the ceremony at London’s O2 on Saturday, Raye admitted she was struggling to take it all in.
She told red carpet hosts Layton Williams and DJ Harriet Rose: ‘It’s a joke. I was trying and hustling for years. It’s too much. My main thing tonight is that I have to enjoy it. Otherwise what is the point.
‘It’s really hard to process things in real time.’
The barefoot star wowed with her incredible vocals set against a full orchestra
Raye vowed to celebrate the night away at the after-parties at exclusive locations such as Soho House’s 180 venue where record label Universal hosted a bash, and the Nomad hotel.
Born in Tooting to a Ghanaian-Swiss mother and English father, Raye began singing in the church choir. At the age of 14, she was accepted into the Brit School for performing arts, but dropped out after two years saying she felt ‘confined’.
She first found fame in 2016, aged 19, when she featured on Jax Jones’s You Don’t Know Me which peaked at No 3 on the UK singles chart.
But in 2021 she revealed that record label Polydor had refused to release any of her albums, despite having signed her seven years earlier. She took to Twitter to say : ‘I have been on a four album record deal since 2014. And haven’t been allowed to put out one album.’
Her debut album My 21st Century Blues was released independently last year made No2 in the charts – as well as securing her the Brit Award last night.
Raye has previously told how she was assaulted by a music producer who forced his hand between her legs when she was 17 – an experience she drew upon for the album track Ice Cream Man.
Born in Tooting to a Ghanaian-Swiss mother and English father, Raye began singing in the church choir. At the age of 14, she was accepted into the Brit School for performing arts
Raye also won Songwriter of the Year, which was announced ahead of the live ceremony, with host Clara Amfo handing her the gong in a surprise moment after her Best New Artist win
Raye bought her grandmother Agatha Dawson-Amoah on stage as she won Album Of The Year
‘I wanna thank my grandma for her prayers. My grandma is awake til 3am praying for me and my beautiful sisters, I love you so much,’ she sobbed
Her history-making night comes after the singer, real name Rachel Keen, delivered a show-stopping performance on the main stage at Glastonbury last summer and received a Mercury Prize nod for My 21st Century Blues.
But the Brit School graduate has been climbing her way through the ranks for many years, having signed to Polydor Records as a teenager.
She later lent her vocals to top five hits by David Guetta and Jax Jones and wrote lyrics for Beyonce and Rihanna.
Despite her obvious talent, her solo work did not reach the same heights and in 2021 she expressed frustration at her label not letting her release her debut album yet.
In a series of posts to X, formerly Twitter, she wrote: ‘Imagine this pain. I have been signed to a major label since 2014… and I have had albums on albums of music sat in folders collecting dust, songs I am now giving away to A list artists because I am still awaiting confirmation that I am good enough to release an album.’
She said she had ‘done everything’ they asked her to do, including switching genres and working long weeks.
‘I’m done being a polite pop star. I want to make my album now, please that is all I want,’ she said.
She told the Sunday Times she was resentful of the music industry executives who took advantage of her youth.
She said: “When you’re young your mind is malleable, your opinions not always your own.
“As a kid in this industry I had horrible paranoia and insecurity projected on to me. I was told to fear all of the women doing well at the time, like we were competition.
“Apparently there was only one seat at the table and I had to fight to make it mine. That was such a confusing narrative for me.”
