TikTok sensation Katie Gregson-MacLeod takes on Harry Styles at Ivors

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Katie Gregson-MacleodImage source, Megan Henderson
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You might have heard Katie Gregson-Macleod on TikTok

"I feel like I've won a fan contest."

Just last year Katie Gregson-Macleod was a student working in a coffee shop in Inverness.

She's now signed to the same record label as Adele and is drinking buddies with Lewis Capaldi.

It's all after her song Complex blew up overnight on TikTok, racking up millions of views.

She's now been nominated for best song musically and lyrically at the prestigious Ivor Novello awards, in the same category as Harry Styles, Tom Odell and Florence and the Machine.

Image source, Getty Images
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Harry Styles has been nominated three times at this year's Ivor Novello Awards

The 22-year-old can't quite believe how much a 45-second snippet of a song, that was saved in her drafts, has changed her life.

"It just feels like this amazing affirmation from the industry and from writers that I regard so highly," she tells BBC Newsbeat. "I still can't really believe it."

Katie's song Complex has now been played by DJ Jack Saunders on BBC Radio 1, and pop star Camilla Cabello has even performed her own version.

The musician says she never thought she'd make it this big despite the fact she's been gigging for years and "committed to the grind".

"The industry felt like this huge hurdle to overcome," she says.

"For me, TikTok was a chance for me to put my work out there in a way that was able to reach far more people than I'd ever dreamed of in Inverness.

"It really means that anyone can have that moment, which is lovely."

She's been getting some tips on how to deal with the overnight success, from her new pal and fellow Scot, Lewis Capaldi.

"The first time we met, I remember he said something along the lines of it's OK not to feel as excited and as happy as you feel like you should all the time," she says.

"It's OK to feel weird about everything or numb, even though everyone is telling you it's the best thing in the world."

'Don't change for the internet'

But what advice does she have to other young people trying to break into the music scene?

"Work at the writing and really sticking to your guns and performing live.

"TikTok is something that will hopefully boost it but there has to be something there to boost and you can't change who you are for the internet."

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