Raye reveals she feels lonely and needs therapy despite her stratospheric rise to the top of pop stardom

She swept the board at last month's Brit Awards with a record-breaking six wins.

But Raye said she has to battle to find positives in her stratospheric rise to fame – and plans to start therapy to help her cope.

The London-born singer, 26, admitted to struggling, even though her career is finally taking off after years of hard work.

'I feel lonely,' she said. 'I don't mean that in the sense of wanting a partner or wanting to be in love. It's not that.

'I need to do some therapy, get some practices in place to let the negatives fall away and soak up all the positive things that life is offering me right now.'

The 'Escapism' singer – whose real name is Rachel Keen – said she struggles with confidence and feels 'out of place' when not writing music or performing.

'I'm not the most confident in my appearance, it's something I still struggle with,' she said. 'I feel confident when I write, when I sing.'

She has been deeply affected by negative comments about her weight and appearance on social media, and believes trolling is worse for women in the industry, whose looks are regularly 'critiqued'. 'You can see thousands of people's opinions. When you let those opinions in, you start to loathe yourself or pick yourself apart,' she told Elle Magazine.

'People have been saying I don't look like a woman; really nasty comments that go round and round in your head.' Raye, who has spoken out about her experience of sexual assault in the industry, has no desire to be 'famous' or an 'influencer', and just wants 'millions and millions of ears' listening to her music.

She signed with record company Polydor as a teenager, but claims they refused to release her debut album after seven years. The album, My 21st Century Blues, was released independently and became one of the biggest records of 2023.

The May issue of Elle UK goes on sale tomorrow.