The latest guest on chart-topping music podcast STRAIGHT UP is RnB musician Ray BLK, who is soon to release her highly anticipated debut album, Access Denied.

Released today across all streaming platforms, hosts of Straight Up GQ journalist Kathleen Johnston and Telegraph journalist Eleanor Halls speak to Ray BLK about everything from exploitation in the music industry to what it’s like dating in the public eye, as the Catford-raised star shares her journey to becoming one of the UK’s hottest homegrown acts.

In this exclusive interview, Ray reveals for the first time how music execs pushed her into making a pop song at the expense of her own style, which she still regrets to this day, as well, as well as a traumatic X Factor audition in which she claims producers tried to “coerce” her into bringing her disabled brother on stage in order to make for “good” TV.

Ray also discussed the problem with women tearing each other down on the Instagram music blogs, the price of fame, and how she spent her first paycheque. Plus, Ray chats about her funniest drunk fail, and the songs that have soundtracked her most formative moments, from her first romance to her first big break.

Ray BLK on the pressures of fame

Not being anonymous has been hard. I would misbehave so much more if I wasn’t in the public eye. I feel like you can’t really speak your mind. You have to second guess everything. Especially in the black music community, the blogs really drive attention. I’m now at a point, I hate it but, if I post something I double check everything, the background…I make sure there is nobody there who could be my boyfriend.

On women tearing other women down on Instagram

On the blogs for me it’s the tearing down of women. From the blogs I realise society hates women. The hate for women is mad, from both men and women. A male artist can post himself doing a TikTok, and he’s a bad dancer, but people comment, “he’s so funny, I love him!” But then when a girl does it, “Oh why is she doing this? She’s so stiff. There’s still time to delete this sis!”

On dating in the public eye

I was on Raya for two seconds but there were loads of dickheads and it was super dead. I have seen a couple of people on there who are actually in relationships! I personally won’t date a rapper. I’ve done it and I won’t do it again. I’ve been around them and I’ve seen it and that is enough. You would think that the girls are falling over for rappers like Drake. But it’s the guy with 10k views, who no one gives a shit about. I was on a video shoot with some rappers I knew, and I turn up and there are 50 models. One of the rappers has a girlfriend who he has been with for years and I’m seeing him exchange numbers with different girls. One girl wrapped her legs around his waist and he started daggering her. They get away with it because they tell their girlfriends, “This is my job! I’m performing!” But it’s not.

On the politics of paying on the first date

Absolutely not. I don’t even do the fake reach. Nah I’m going to watch you bring out your card babe. Don’t even think it’s happening babe! I don’t want people to do too much, who start name-dropping how much money they made. But they need to show the effort. It’s important, as a guy, look at her and how she presents herself and the lifestyle she lives. If you don’t think you can match that or cater to that then just leave it.

On her traumatic X Factor audition

X Factor is a really grilling process. There are three auditions even before the live audition, and the whole experience….they hype you to make you feel like you’ve won this shit. The producers call you every day to say how excited Simon is to meet you, and they hype you up to think this is it for you. This is very distasteful, because I have a disabled brother. He is autistic, deaf and dumb. And the producers call you to look for a sob story. It’s dark. They found out about my brother and they asked if I could bring him to the auditions, and to talk to the camera about ‘What it would mean to him’. They applied so much pressure and I was just 16, and they were coercing me into selling my family to be on TV.