It’s been over a year since you were crowned BBC’s Sound of 2017. What was the effect of winning on your career?

“I got a lot busier [laughs]. There were lots of eyes on me. It was quite overwhelming. I felt I had to get my sh*t together, ASAP. I was – and still am – a new artist; people were comparing me to former winners like Adele and Jessie J. When you win something like that you think, “Well, I need to make the type of music people think I should. ” I had to retract and figure things out.”

Your new single is about youth violence in London. This has been an issue for 20 years but nothing’s changed. Why?

No one’s bothered to put funds where they need to be. For people in charge, it’s been more important to put up fancy new buildings. This issue is [urgent], children are losing their lives. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t affect a lot of people who have the power to do something.

Run Run is based on your experiences growing up, isn’t it?

Yes. The first verse is about the only time I’ve seen a gun. It was at a party; two boys broke into an argument, one brought out a gun and everyone ran. I was terrified. But the situation disappeared like it never happened; no one was bothered. The second verse is about my house being robbed. The boys who did it tried to return when my mum came home because they’d left something. Those incidents stuck with me.

You often talk about social issues in your songs. Is this a deliberate plan?

I never planned to be like, “I’m a social activist in my music.” Not all my songs will have a social message. I don’t want fans to be upset if I write a song about being in the club with a guy and wining on him – that’s part of my life as well. I like to wine [laughs].

There’s a big discussion right now about colourism [prejudice against people with darker skin] in the music industry. Has it ever affected you, directly or indirectly?

Growing up, one reason getting into music seemed far-fetched was because of my skin colour. The only [black women] were fair-skinned, like Beyoncé. If you don’t see yourself represented it’s hard to believe you can achieve those things.

One of my early sessions was with a production duo of two black boys. One asked if I wanted to be an artist or a songwriter – I said an artist. He was like, “Don’t do that, focus on being a writer. Your songs are really good but look around, there’s no black girls in this thing. It’s just not going to work out.” I found it sad but it made me want to break those barriers. The lack of dark-skinned representation gives me fire though; it’s a badge of honour when girls tweet me and say it’s amazing to see someone like them on the TV.

Ray BLK: “Getting into music seemed far-fetched because of my skin colour”