singer – that lemon life

‘I passed my goal a long time ago’

Hola everyone.

And welcome back to my blog and a new week. I hope you’ve all had an amazing weekend and that you’re doing well.

Today, I’ve got to share something very very special with you, guys. Something I haven’t really discussed with you in the past. I’m of course talking about the interview I did with the one and only Lewis Capaldi. And yes, I really mean THE Lewis Capaldi. The Scottish dude who’s currently at number 1 with his debut album and who recently sold out his tour in the UK within a few minutes. That guy, yes.

Some of you might remember that I briefly mentioned going to his concerts in Brighton and London and meeting him in the past (here’s the link if you want to check that one out), but I’ve never really talked about the interview itself. Which, in all honesty, I don’t even want to do, because it doesn’t feel right in any way. The opposite of professional, actually. But now that some time has passed, I thought it would be nice to finally share the finished piece I wrote about the interview with you.

But before you jump right into it, I want to add one thing: The interview I did with Lewis was my very first big one with a musician and even though it’s been about 8 months since I met him, I still can’t wrap my head around it. It still feels like a dream. Because, I mean, it’s Lewis freaking Capaldi. The guy I’m confidently calling the next Ed Sheeran. And I literally sat in a room with him, chatting for about 45 minutes, cracking jokes, the whole deal. Absolutely unbelievable. I’ll never ever forget how nicely he and his whole team treated me. It was my first step into an industry I’m hoping to become a full member of in the future and they all treated me like I had been part of the team for years. I can’t put my feeling of gratitude into words. I’ll never ever forget that interview. Never.

So, and now that you know that, I’m proud to finally share my Q&A with Lewis with you. It was definitely one of the funniest, nicest and most interesting interviews I’ve ever done and if you haven’t become a fan of this guy until now, you really need to ceck out his new album ‘Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent‘ and become one immediately. He really deserves all the attention he’s been receiving and so much more. He’s really a one-of-a-kind artist, especially once you get to see his Instagram and Twitter pages and experience his humour. And just so you’ve got an idea of what I mean – on his Wikipedia page it says that he plays ‘sunglasses’ for an instrument. Lewis, we all know you wrote that, just admit it. And, on another note, his twitter name is Lewis Crapaldi, because some hater called him that and he loved it so much, so he quickly turned it into his own joke. Yep, that’s Lewis. You just gotta love him.

And now, without further ado, please enjoy the article down below. And, as always, please don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts and comments down below. I’d love to know what you think. Until then I wish you all a fantastic week and, of course, thanks for reading. x

‘I passed my goal a long time ago’

At the young age of twenty-two, Lewis Capaldi’s career couldn’t be more fairy-tale-like. Within less than two years the Scottish singer-songwriter went from singing in karaoke bars and self-releasing his heart-wrenching debut track ‘Bruises’ to supporting the likes of Sam Smith and Rag’n’Bone Man and selling out one tour after another.

I caught up with Lewis before his sold-out show at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire to talk about his most recent experiences with success, staying true to himself in the age of social media and handling all the attention he’s been receiving.

A few years ago, did you think you would end up where you are now?

No. I mean, I was kind of always doing this, but I didn’t think I would be doing it to this level. I did think I would be playing music, but my goal was to play 350 capacity rooms around the UK and, if I was lucky, 100 capacity rooms in Europe. And not even to necessarily play my own songs. I just wanted to play music and be able to make money off it. And so far it’s been very nice, but to be playing shows this size is a very weird thing. To have someone come to my room to ask me questions and write down what I’m saying so people can read it is a very weird thing. And having people outside in the queue know who I am is very weird. And it can all go away very fast. I’m not saying I would be okay with it, but if it did go away, I would still be playing music. I passed my goal a long time ago.

That must feel pretty amazing, right?

I’m pleased with it. But I’m sure we’ve all done amazing things, but have been too close to them to realize how amazing they are. That’s when you need to take a step back and go ‘oh, that is kind of amazing’. Sometimes I’m really bugged down about things going wrong. I think, as people, we are kind of drawn to focus on the things that go wrong rather than the things that go right.

Why did you start your career by releasing your music yourself?

Nobody wanted to sign me. *laughs* I’m joking. I just think the first thing you release should come from you. If you want your first piece to be exactly how you want it to be and how you see it, you should release it yourself.

Sounds like music means a lot to you…

I approach it as I approach everything else – I don’t take it too seriously. If I’m having a shit time and I write a song about it, I’m able to work through it, but it’s not like therapy. I don’t agree with people who say it is. But being able to look at things from that angle and seeing they aren’t necessarily as bad as they seem is good. Sometimes a good song comes from a bad thing. But I don’t want to put too much weight on things, even with music. It feels more like an old, familiar friend.

Which part of being a musician do you enjoy the most and is there something you hate?

I love playing live, that’s the main thing. That’s where I came from, that’s why I’ve done most of it. I’ve played live more than anything else. But I fucking hate being in the studio. It’s the most boring fucking thing ever. And I don’t know if that comes across in my music, but it’s just so tedious. Not so much being there with a producer and coming up with ideas, that’s fun. But the actual recording of the vocal is the fucking most boring fucking thing you’ll ever do in your life. For me, I record music so I can go and play it live.

And what about interacting with your fans?

Again, this is a very weird job. So having lots of human interaction online and during the shows is very important to me. And I mean, how often are you sat in your room, just randomly scrolling through Facebook and Twitter, bored out of your fucking mind? And I can just go and talk to people. It makes me feel more normal about everything. Suddenly it isn’t just a big, faceless crowd. And also, it can probably make someone’s day, so if I can make someone feel good, that’s just fucking sick.

Speaking of the internet – how do you stay true to yourself in the age of social media?

So many singers nowadays are very careful about what they do online. And I think, if you’re not a horrible person, you don’t really have to be careful. I was like this at the beginning, but I don’t want to not be myself because of that. I think it’s a hard thing to do for a lot of singers. But, again, this is a very weird job. The fact that so many people follow me on Instagram is a fucking weird thing. But you know what, it’s not that weird if you just ignore the fact that it’s weird. When I was growing up, I would have liked people to just be themselves as much as they can. That’s why, in the past, I always used to say: ‘if you don’t like a chubby guy singing sad songs you’ve come to the wrong fucking place’.

Also published in: The Sun & Brighton Life Magazine

Conor and me

Hola everyone.

This one is special. Really special. I know I already talked about him, but this is the post he always deserved and always will. This my story with a guy called Conor Maynard aka a guy I’ve only met once and loved before and since.

I think you all know who Conor is, at least I hope so. Because if you don’t, what the hell are you doing with your life? I kind of crashed into Conor about 4 years ago while I was on holiday in Cyprus with my parents. We stayed in a small house and I passed some time by watching TV. They had MTV and I loved it. I remember that was the time when Conor won the MTV award for best new artist and in every break, there was a small spot with him and his song Can’t Say No. And god, was I annoyed. But do you know what happens when you get to hear a song like 20 times a day for about 8 days? Exactly. First you get used to it, then you remember the words, then you hum it and finally you sing it loudly and dance to it. That’s what happened to me. I fell for the song.

And when I got home, I kind of kept him in my heart. At that time, I had a huge heartbreak and I just needed something to make me happy. So one night I was sitting in front of my laptop, surfing through YouTube when I got to his site. He had those series of funny little videos which he called “The Conorcles”. Actually they were just little vlogs, but sooooo damn much better. To be honest, Conor is one of the funniest guys ever. He has this totally amazing humor which makes it possible for him to laugh about himself. And honestly, he’s also just really really crazy.

I remember sitting in my room, watching, like, every single video and I laughed so loud that my mum came into my room to ask me what was so funny. Little did I know that I was laughing about a guy that would still be a part of my life 4 years later.

After I found out that Conor was a guy who had the same sense of humor as me, was just as weird and crazy as me and was also intensely cute, I started listening to his songs more and more. And oh my god, he has the voice of an angle, I swear. Next to Ed Sheeran, he literally has the most beautiful voice on this planet. Seriously. I don’t even know how so much talent can be stuck in one single person. But as we can see, it is possible. And I fell for him. Oh how did I fall. Actually, Conor and his music and videos really helped me with my heartbreak, so I really want to thank him for that (thanks Conor). And then it just escalated. I told literally everyone about him. Showed his videos to my friends. Listened to his songs 24/7. Tweeted about him. And finally I called myself a Mayniac, which I still do, of course.

And then June came. I remember it like it was yesterday. My mum and me had planned our second trip to New York. It should last for a week, starting at the 9th of June. It was April when I found out. I had just gotten home from school, when I checked my phone. I have this cool app called Bands In Town, that shows you every concerts in any city you want. And I had set it to show me all concerts in New York, because I really wanted to go to a concert there. And I had followed Conor there, so that meant whenever he had a concert in the city I had selected, I would get a notification.

I think it was about 2 pm when I got the notification. I looked at my phone and there it was. It said that Conor had just announced a concert in New York. On the 9th of June. The day we would get there. You can’t even imagine how much I freaked out. I started to cry immediately. I couldn’t believe it. It was close to being so crazy that it just couldn’t be true. I mean, how high are the chances that Conor would have a concert in New York exactly in the week when I would be there? I know, impossibly low. But it was true. I checked it like 100 times. And then I called my mum, half crying, half breathing like I just had had an attack. I remember that mum wasn’t so happy at first. Because it would be really stressful, because there wouldn’t be a lot of time to get to the hotel and to the venue. At the end it was incredibly stressful. But at the time we got into the taxi to the venue, all the stress and pressure got washed away. I think I already cried back then.

When we got there, we already saw a few people queuing up in line. I had actually bought Meet and Greet tickets, which was just the cherry on top of the huge ice cream bowl of craziness. The M&G thing also meant that I wouldn’t just be meeting Conor, but that I was also able to get into the venue before anyone else. But as you know me, I was too shy to go around the queue. But my mum isn’t shy. And wasn’t. So she literally just took my hand and walked right onto the street with me, passing every single person and getting right to the entrance. It was sooooo crazy, I couldn’t believe it. And then it all went down really quick. I ran into the venue, got my place in the second row and the two support acts came, sang and left.

And then the moment came. Conor finally got onto the incredibly small stage – the concert was for like 500 people, maximum – and sang and danced his heart out. And so did I. I laughed, cried, danced, smiled, admired him, screamed, cheered and literally had the time of my life. And he was sooooo damn good, oh my god. I loved every single second of it and wished for it to never end. But unfortunately it had to end, but then the M&G part came and I got so damn nervous, you can’t even imagine.

Actually, I had prepared a little gift for Conor – I had written a letter and had bought him a cool bracelet which fitted the other ones he always wore and still does to this day (they are friendship bracelets). I remember that he smiled at me when I gave it to him and that he said “Oh I’m going to cry”, which is something I love so much. And my mum took pics, so this moment is literally captured on my phone. And oh my god. I remember when we took a pic together, he put his hand on my hip and I just put it on his back but my hand was half on his denim jacket and half on his shirt, which was kinda awkward, so I just slipped my hand completely under his jacket. I still laugh about it to this day. I think it’s so funny, I don’t even know why, it just is. Then I thanked him and got out of the concert area and sat down on a bench. I was shaking so much and my heart was beating like crazy. I think I sat there for like 10 minutes until my mum asked me to go and I was so not ready. Because I knew that Conor was like 2 meters away from me. I didn’t want to leave him. Thank god there was a small window in the door, so before we finally got out, I looked through it and took on last glance at him and said goodbye for the last time.

So that’s how I met Conor. It was like one of the best moments in my whole life and I’m so happy that I could be a part of this small, intimidate show. It was really special.

A few months later, Conor announced that he’d be publishing his own book and that he wanted to put a few pics with his fans into it. So he started a contest in which you just had to post your pic with him on a website and they’d chose the pics randomly. I bet you can already guess what I did. Of course I posted it a lot of times, because I really wanted to be in this book. Or at least have him see it. And of course I also preordered the book, no matter if I was in it or not.

I was in class when my mum sent me the picture. I can still see me staring at the phone, eyes wide open, with my teacher getting right into class. I was so excited, I threw my phone on the table. I was shaking like crazy. On the picture my mum had sent me was the pic of me and Conor. In his book. Right on the first page. I thought she was joking. I couldn’t believe that this was real and to be honest, I still can’t believe it. It’s just too crazy. And of course I showed it to everyone. Because like, this is REALLY special. Like really really special. I’m in Conors book (oh wow, I still haven’t realized it).

So far, there had been two really special things that happened with Conor – the concert and his book. And then my 18th birthday happened. I remember tweeting him that it was my birthday and that I’d literally go crazy if he tweeted me. But when I went to bed there still hadn’t happened anything. But it was okay for me. Because I mean, he’s Conor. The next day my class and I went to a trip to Madrid and my friend picked me up to drive to school. And when I turned on my phone, I got a notification from Twitter. It said that Conor Maynard followed me (!!!). And I was like “yes of course, suuuure”. Because I thought it was some fake account. So I just clicked the link to see who the fake guy was. And then I saw the blue verification sign next to his name. And I went crazy. Conor had followed me. He was following me. I couldn’t believe it. To this day I think that this was his special birthday present for me. And I couldn’t be more thankful for everything he did and does.

I still remember texting my mum that Conor followed me and her replying with “what does he want from you???” and I grinned like an idiot. I was sooooo freaking happy, oh my god. Actually, I still am, because – thank god – Conor is still following me. Which enables me to text him whenever I want, which is like SO DAMN COOL. And of course I’m texting him sometimes, for example when he releases a new cover or something. He still hasn’t replied, but I’m sure that he at least saw it and had a small reason to smile and that’s all I could wish for.

And now it’s 2016 and I’m still here. And I always will. Because Conor really means a lot to me. He’s more to me than an angelic, freaking amazing, unbelievable talented singer. He’s a guy who’s part of my life since 4 years now and I’m not planning on changing that and I hope he isn’t either. It really means a lot to me that I’m sharing this special story or let’s say relationship with him. I wouldn’t want to miss any of it. Never ever.

Oh and actually, after a wait of two years, Conor finally released some new music. His new album “Covers” is out today, which includes all his latest albums, two new ones and another original. I especially love his cover of “Don’t Let Me Down” by The Chainsmokers and of course his original called “This Is My Version” (I think this song is about his breakup with his long-term girlfriend Victoria, so it’s a little bit sad – okay it’s really sad – but so freaking amazing). So please, whatever you are doing right now, STOP IT. And go listen to Conors album. You won’t regret it, I swear. Conor deserves all of his fame and appreciation and a lot more. Because he really has a huge talent and he is an amazing person. And I’m just really thankful that I got to know him and have him in my life, even if he’s not physically next to me.

I really hope that you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. I think you noticed how important Conor and this memories are to me. If any of you want to talk to me about Conor or anything else, I’m here. Oh and here’s the link to his new album – spotify.com. And here’s the link to the official video for his new song: youtube.com. I really hope you enjoy Conors music as much as me and, as always, thanks for reading.