It wasn’t until he was 16 years old that Victor Ray realized that he could achieve what he wanted in life—establishing himself as an artist.

Born in Uganda, raised in Newcastle, and now London-based, the singer-songwriter started his journey busking on the cold streets of England. “I was singing for as long as I can remember but I think it was during that time when I was just unsure what to do in my life. I had just finished school and I took a gap year. And then I was performing, and maybe like a few weeks or months into singing on the streets and doing little gigs in bars and stuff, I kind of realized that I could do that for the rest of my life – be content, make money and survive,” he explains to BET. “And I was like, ‘If I could do this, then I could do it on the biggest scale and reach the heights that seemed imaginable.”

Victor reveals that getting people's attention was the challenging part when he began busking. “It's so different from any other type of performance because no one cares. When I'm doing shows I'm playing to an audience of people who came to see me, but when I got on the streets, I had to kind of earn it. I had to earn people's attention and that was the hardest part. It's kind of liberating as well in a way 'cause it allowed me to make so many mistakes and just kind of practice, and practice and become a better singer,” he says.

Busking forced the artist to learn patience and showmanship. It even played a huge role in strengthening his vocal chords. These tools turned out to be effective as he blew up on TikTok, gaining over 3 million followers and over a billion combined views on the videos he posted. “TikTok and all of the short form media platforms have been so beneficial as marketing tools. Like I said, I've been singing for such a long time, but no one really knew until like two years ago when my stuff started to go viral. It just helped get more people's attention, you know?” he admits. “And now, I'm trying to use it in a way where it's an extension of my music. I'm trying to find a way to make the TikTok content, Instagram, and all the other ones feel very synergized with my music. Almost like little music videos in themselves.”

Soul and contemporary R&B drive Victor’s sound. His gentleness, vulnerability, storytelling through his lyrics, and instinctive talent all characterize him as one of the most breathtaking young talents of today. The 24-year-old writes all of his songs based on real-life experiences. He released his first EP, i was., in February of 2023, followed by a second, i felt., which arrived in September of that year. Earlier this month, he released his latest single, “Halfway There,” a story about falling for someone and being excited by the idea of that person even if you haven't thought it fully through. “It's just that kind of initial excitement around a new romantic interest and just kind of wanting to rush to the good part, basically,” Victor says of the track.

This song was written the same week he wrote “Comfortable,” which was dropped back in January. With fans calling for the release of “Comfortable,” he teased the single in December, and it quickly went viral on Instagram within a week. It speaks to the bitter truth about people finding themselves in situations they should know to walk away from but have grown too comfortable to leave. “That one is a little bit more of a deeper one,” Victor reveals. “It's kind of talking about toxic relationships and in a sense kind of me taking responsibility and accountability. A lot of the times I used to be content in such a really bad environment in a relationship just because the alternative, which was being lonely. So it's kind of me accepting that I play a part in the message that I’m kind of stuck in a lot of the time.”

He announces that he has two more eps dropping this year. “Comfortable” and “Halfway There” are the first two singles from his third project, which will be called, i tried. “All of my projects are kind of telling this overarching story of me up until now. I'm quite excited about them,” he adds.

He cites music from Kenya and Uganda as influences, but also Usher, whose last name, Raymond, partly inspired his stage name, Donnie Hathaway, and J. Cole. “J. Cole is like my goat, it would be crazy if I could collaborate with him. I think I could make some really cool music with The Weeknd,” Ray continues. There's loads of cool upcoming artists that I'd like to work with. Even Erick the Architect, a rapper who I think is amazing. I kind of see myself collaborating with as many people as I can. That's the goal.”

Victor just wrapped up his European tour in Paris on Friday (March 15) and just announced that he will be joining Teddy Swims on the road for his European leg of the “I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy Tour” starting in April of 2024. “Performing is like the ultimate completion of my storytelling in a way,” he explains. “It's what I'm most comfortable doing. So whenever I'm on the stage, I literally just leave everything there. I like to talk to my fans and explain some of the songs in a bit more detail. Whenever I write songs, I'm always thinking about how I'm gonna be performing it. It's a special experience for me so I love sharing that with the crowd as well.

Victor expresses his excitement for the future of his career and reveals the advice he would give people trying to make it into the music industry the same way he did. “Just do everything that you can and always try to be better than the last thing that you did,” he begins. “I think it's so hard these days 'cause you see so many people doing amazing things and it's easy to get disheartened. In my experience, I just literally kept doing, kept creating, and kept trying to beat what I did the last time. It’s all about consistency.”