Niall Horan thinks Raye is "unbelievably gifted".
Niall Horan has praised Raye
The 'Heaven' singer thinks the UK is "very lucky" to have so many strong female artists making their presence known in the charts and hopes to see artists such as the 'Escapsim.' hitmaker go global this year.
Asked who he's listening to at the moment, he told the Official Charts Company: "I can't say up-and-coming because we've known about her for a long time, but I keep hearing Escapism. on the radio in the States and being asked about Raye.
"She's unbelievably gifted, it's mad to see what's happened with her career. She was born to do it. Outside of her writing, she's finally having her moment that she's been waiting for for a long time. I'm buzzing for her!
"I'm also excited to see what happens with Holly Humberstone over the next couple of years globally; I think that could be really cool.
"There's so much good s*** going on, especially in the UK. You just want to see a lot of these artists - like Griff - go global. We're very lucky, it's amazing how gifted everybody is these days."
Niall shot to fame when he was put into One Direction on 'The X Factor' in 2010 and he's been using his experiences on the talent show in his new role as a coach on 'The Voice' in the US.
He said: "I didn't think my experience would make that much of a difference, to be honest, but the longer I spend on the show and having shot a lot of it already I can see 'The X Factor' in me come out. The way I deal with the artists, the way I make my decisions.
"I'm thinking about it as if it was me on stage, which makes decision time really hard. I have empathy, coming from a show like that and being that young. It's so hard. But it's good fun, I've really enjoyed it."
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