We take artists’ mental health very seriously and over recent years we have developed a number of resources to support the wellbeing of both our existing artists and those moving on.”) I didn’t see how I could make music and represent myself any more, my confidence was at zero.” (In response, Polydor said it was the first they had heard of Lanta’s feelings, “which we were very sorry to read – given the substantial changes in the label’s management and staffing since 2013, we can’t comment on them. “I think I have underlying anxiety issues but the whole experience definitely exacerbated it. After leaving, she says her self-confidence and mental health were shattered. She lived off the £25,000 advance she’d been given and then spent a year negotiating her way out of the contract. She spent three years with the label, “being a good artist, doing everything they said,” and changing genres so many times that she felt she lost her “creative compass”. Kimberly Anne, who goes by the artist name of Lanta, signed to Polydor in 2013 and found herself in a similar situation to Raye. Photograph: JMEnternational/JMEnternational for BRIT Awards/Getty Images Raye at this year’s Brit awards, where she was nominated for British single. These pitfalls mean that the majority of artists never make it – stats from UK music trade body BPI say that only one in 10 signed artists are expected to succeed commercially, although industry insiders suggest this is a generous estimate – and if the relationship does fall apart, any music an artist has made typically remains owned by the label.

A lack of commercial success might make a label reluctant to spend more money on an artist’s career, or if the album they made isn’t deemed to be good enough. Perhaps the artist’s creative vision is at odds with the label’s, or they’re sidelined after the person who signed them leaves the company.

She is far from alone, and the reasons for artists being stifled by the music business are numerous. One of her newest singles, Bed, with Joel Corry and David Guetta, is the biggest song so far in 2021 to be released by a British female artist. She had released one mini-album, five EPs and over 20 singles both as a lead and featured artist (and had written songs for other artists such as Beyoncé, Little Mix and Anne-Marie).

Major labels book