Introducing... Ria Ritchie

These days, there’s so many apparent YouTube sensations flying around, it’s hard to know which ones are actually worth investing time in - but in the case of Miss Ria ’10 million views’ Ritchie, we reckon there’s really some substance behind all the internet buzz.

Taken under the wing of Plan B, she’s since toured with the who’s who of the British urban scene and there’s definitely something special about her, a real ‘wow!’ charm to her plainly apparent talents. At the heart of it all, there’s an impressively good, solid pop voice – the kind that could turn itself to any genre or taste with equal ease. And in debut single Only One, Ritchie goes for the big diva anthem vibe – riding a wall-of-sound wave of thundering percussion and scratchy guitar licks. It’s a towering girl-power record in the gutsiest of ways – this is no dainty doll, she’s all grit and raw passion, the kind that makes you feel every emotion ten-fold.

Plan B co-write Peculiar sounds like early Sugababes – think of Run For Cover or Stronger, that melancholy tinged street-ballad sort of thing crossed with the love-lorn hurt of countless tears and smeared mascara. Meanwhile, free download Blow Back verges on the trippy Katy B pop-dance blend; all delicate vocals and atmospheric beats. If there’s one word to sum up Ritchie, it’s sheer versatility, and to be perfectly honest, the UK could do with another properly good female artist like this to freshen up the market.

She’s rather easy on the eye too, and it’s very easy to imagine her swiftly sky-rocketing into a kind of UK Kelly Clarkson type if she plays her cards right – with the kind of online hysteria she’s already garnered, surely it’s only a matter of time?