You're A Man Now, Boy: Raleigh Ritchie Breaks Down Every Track On His Debut Album

The 12-track LP is officially out today.

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Image via iTunes
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Jacob Anderson has had probably the smoothest actor-to-singer transition in recent memory, taking the pop world by storm with his swag-filled, convicting and vulnerable ballads. Born and raised in Bristol, England, the then-aspiring thespian moved to London and followed his dreams at the age of seventeen. Anxious from its pace and bewildered by its lights, his vision never waned when he hit the big city. "I wanted to take the entertainment world by the scruff of its neck." That was Jacob's aim and he inevitably scored, starring in the cult hood classic Adulthood and securing a recurring role as 'Grey Worm' in HBO's Game Of Thrones. Big and small screens aside, however, Raleigh Ritchie—as he's known to music fans across the globe—has a new album out today which follows a string of rave-reviewed EPs.

You're A Man Now, Boy sees the 25-year-old crooner pour out his heart and soul over electro-bleeding pop and orchestral R&B adding the odd slang phrase to keep ears piqued, but with enough emotion to create a sizeable lump in your throat. You've hummed "Stronger Than Ever" all day at the office, watched the NSFW video for "Bloodsport '15" a million times, and wake up to "The Greatest" every single morning. Now, it's time for Raleigh Ritchie to give us a deeper look at those songs, plus 9 others, that feature on the soon-to-be-chart-smashing LP. 


 

"Werld Is Mine"

"I opened the album with this, and actually opened my live shows with it on my last tour. This song takes a different tone from the rest of the album, with me talking about money, living forever, and ruling the world [laughs]. It's about that carefree ignorance you have at a certain point where you think you can take on anything, but then you wonder why people don't like you, and then realise it's not sustainable."

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"Stronger Than Ever"

"'Stronger Than Ever' is one of the first songs that people heard from the album—before I'd even announced the title of the album. It's about when I moved to London from Bristol; I was 17, and found the city pretty overwhelming. The song is me almost psyching myself up and preparing for the adult world, and the last verse is supposed to be almost delusional and erratic... I think some people thought I was just really up on myself."

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"Bloodsport '15"

"'Bloodsport' is maybe one of the most well-known songs on the album. It's my most recent single, and I created two videos for it with a production company called Shynola. It's about how arguing in a relationship is fruitless, and that you should direct that anger against the world instead of each other."

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"I Can Change"

"There's something dark about this song but I wanted to make sure that it also had a sense of humour. This whole album has a sense of humour to it—I don't take myself too seriously—and hopefully that came through. I initially looked at bringing in a feature to sing the chorus because I wasn't confident about my falsetto, but I think it works fine as it is. There's honesty in imperfection."

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"Keep It Simple" f/ Stormzy

"'Keep It Simple' is the only song on the album with a feature. I really like Stormy's vibe and what he does. I asked him to do whatever he wanted on the track, as long as it felt like he was showing a different side to himself, and he came back with this and it's perfect. I also managed to get him talking about cakes in a verse [laughs]; that has got to be some sort of achievement. I love what he did. The track is produced by Mike Elizondo, who is a legend. He's worked with Dre, Eminem, 50 Cent and Jay Z—he's pretty rad. We actually made this song at the former Death Row studios."

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"The Greatest"

"Remembering the good times with your friends and realising that you don't have them anymore, that's a big part of growing up. I initially wanted this to be a sad song about losing people but decided to make it a celebration of people I miss and not a mournful song. I think it's a bittersweet song. It's also one of my favourites to perform live; it's when me and the crowd go mad together."

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"Never Better"

"This one means a lot to me. It's a track that I hope people can form their own opinions on. I don't like to place too much of my own personal meaning behind my songs as I'd like people to form their own opinions; but this one resonates with me, I think it's fairly self-explanatory though. It's produced by Justin Broad and Paul Herman, who I've been working with for nearly nine years. They're my brothers! We shot the video in Atlanta, which was incredible, and I got to work with Casper Kelly who made "Too Many Cooks"—one of the best things on the internet."

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"Cowards"

"'Cowards' is actually one of my favourite tracks on the album. Although it's not credited, Etta Bond came down to the studio while I was recording it, and I asked her to say one word. That's her saying 'Hi!' She's one of my favourite artists out right now, and it's an honour to have her involved even in that small way. Chris Loco produced this one, the don. It's about how we act like cowards when we start out in a relationship to stay cool."

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"A Moor"

"I first shared this track back in 2013, and I only decided last-minute to add it to the album. The album felt like it was missing it. 'A Moor' is almost an antidote to what I'm talking about in 'Bloodsport', 'Cowards' and 'I Can Change'. I wanted to present the positive side to all of that stuff."

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"Young & Stupid"

"I guess this follows on quite well from 'A Moor'—it's pretty much what it says on the tin: 'I'm young, and I'm stupid.' I wrote this with Sounwave, who is a genius! It's about that feeling of taking risks and living life to the full. Sometimes you have to embrace your naivety and just run with it."

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"You're A Man Now, Boy"

"Well, this is the title track of the album, and again it's produced by Justin Broad and Paul Herman. I feel the same as I did when I was a boy, but apparently I'm now a man and this song sums that up. But nothing has really changed: I'm still into Jurassic Park and comics, and I'm still scared of ghosts. I don't feel like I'm 'growing up'—I'm just getting older."

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"Last Romance"

"For me, this song is about just saying 'fuck it!' If you love someone, romantically or otherwise, you just have to go for broke and take on the world. Nobody else will understand why or how you love somebody except you and that person. The album starts with 'me' and ends with 'we'."

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