Turning 18

When ArrDee performed at Wembley Stadium in front of 80,000 people, there was a moment where he looked pretty emotional.

He joined his hands together After finishing his hit Home For My Heart, and looked out at the Capital Summertime Ball crowd.

" I had My Family , my little cousins, my auntie and uncle in The Crowd and dedicated [it] to them, " he says.

" Sometimes I struggle with genuinely soaking in The Moment because I'm so focused on The Performance .

" So moments like that, where The Beat of The Music stops and I get a second to take a Deep Breath and take it in, it can be surreal. "

With five Top 10 hits in the UK, it's easy to forget that ArrDee, real name Riley Jason Davies, only really hit the Big Time two years ago.

" That trajectory was steep. And I was young when I first came in, " he tells BBC Newsbeat.

Now 20, the rapper celebrated Turning 18 while the country was dealing with the Covid pandemic.

" By The Time The World got back to normal, I was a teenager thrown into adulthood.

" But the trajectory of fame [is something] that I couldn't have possibly imagined, even though it was manifested. "

And it turns out manifesting is something ArrDee is big on.

While it might be something that's seen as A Cool trend now, ArrDee was already a believer when he was 14.

" But by The Time I grasped the concept of it, I'd already been doing that from quite a young age and that's probably props To My mum.

" My mum's always been heavily into that, being In Touch with your spiritual self as well as your physical self. "

One of the tracks which propelled ArrDee to the big Time Was Body by Tion Wayne and Russ Millions in 2021.

The chart-topping tune also featured rapper Bugzy Malone , who ArrDee credits as being an inspiration.

" He was one of The First rappers I saw Growing Up once I fell in love with UK rap, " he says.

ArrDee is from Brighton but says The British rap scene is historically London-centric.

So seeing Bugzy, a rapper from Manchester, succeed while keeping his core identity gave him the belief he could also make it.

Bugzy's business interests - Such as a clothing Brand - have also provided a template for ArrDee on developing things alongside The Music .

But he's recently fallen foul with one of his own brands, alcohol Brand Litty Liquor .

After one person complained to Ofcom, who ruled they were " likely to encourage excessive consumption of alcohol".

ArrDee tells Newsbeat " nothing is ever forced" on him to advertise and accepts the decision by the regulator, calling it " a learning curve".

" It was something that was never intentional. We'd never implied for anybody to drink irresponsibly. "

While ArrDee's fame and name have grown over The Past two years, he's keen to keep evolving while staying close to his roots.

He says he's " not into acting famous" preferring To Live in his Home Town where " everybody's friends with everyone".

" Keeping the same people around me that believed [in me] before it all took off.

" I feel like it's hard especially at my age to navigate when you're making new friends post-fame. "

And ArrDee says he wants to make The Next few years count and " make The Steps to get to superstardom that I know it will all eventually lead to".

" I've got a pretty good grasp on myself as a person now" he says, but understands with more attention he'll have to adapt.

" For a long time, I was trying so hard to not change and not grow with the fact that I'm in this new limelight, " he says.

" But if you don't ever change, then there's no room for growth. "

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Source of news: bbc.com