Since he shot to fame in 2016, Lewis Capaldi has played TRNSMT twice, had two headline tours and supported Sam Smith. We caught up with the Scottish singer-songwriter to talk new music, writing songs and social media.
What can fans expect from your debut album?
The album is still in the pipeline: it might be early next year. I’m recording just now, doing bits here and there between touring. There’ll obviously be moments when its stripped back and just a wee piano and a guitar, but moving forward it’s more of a full production. The next couple of songs will be fuller and lead in to the album. It’ll be a kind of hybrid between slower and more stripped back, and more full.
What’s it been like rising to fame so quickly?
Everything is just crazy. Things haven’t stopped, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. If things weren’t hectic I’d be worried: it’s 100 miles an hour. I think people say it, and it sounds cliché,
but you hope that something will happen and people will cotton on, but you never actually see it happening.
To support Sam Smith or Niall Horan, I think it’s wild. This time last year, I had one song out and even now I only have a few songs. It’s all sort of happening so fast and I’m just holding on and riding the wave.
You’ve been writing songs since you were 12, what advice would you give to budding songwriters?
Just keep writing songs, that’s the main thing. I used to stick anything I wrote on Soundcloud, which is how one of my managers found me. I’d write it, record it on my phone and put it up the same day. It’s a good exercise and by the last song, I uploaded there was a massive improvement across that time, which is good to see. You don’t have to put them online as much as I was if you don’t want to be as embarrassed as I was, just keep a log. Even if an idea is bad, you should finish it.
You’re constantly posting on Instagram; do you think it’s important to keep humour in your posts?
There’s a lot of seriousness online and I think it’s such a weird thing, putting a photo of yourself up every day like I usually do. To take the mickey makes me feel better about putting that out and just having a laugh. I think the fact that there are people who follow me, and pay attention to what I’m saying, perhaps I should say more meaningful things, but I just think its funnier to use it like that.
