Calum Scott

Europe fell head over heels for this man that we introduced you to about two years ago, right after the release of his cover of «Dancing On My Own». Calum Scott, who will be opening for Pentatonix this summer in the U.S, proved that everyone was right to believe in him. His debut album «Only Human» was a success especially in his home country and Calum is now taking over the world. We sat again with the artist, two years after our first meeting, to talk about this first record.

n The Move: Hi Calum! We are really happy to have you again with us. Are you happy to be back in Paris?

Calum Scott: So happy! I love Paris, I love France. It’s been a while, last time I was here was for Taratata. So yeah, I’ve been excited to come back.

On The Move: The last time we had an interview together was in January 2017 and you told us you wanted your debut album to be versatile, because you wanted to show you could do more than singing sad songs. Do you think you managed to do this with «Only Human»?

Calum Scott: I feel like I’ve put an album out that is the best reflection of me. I’m a fun guy, I enjoy my life, I love what I do, I love the people around me but I am very sensitive. I do cry a lot and I do get upset and angry, that’s just me, just me as a person. So I feel like I wanted to reflect myself like that in my album, show the fun side of me and the pop side, and then slow it down and show the somber side, the sad, heartbroken side of me that a lot of people can relate to. I’m very proud of this album.

On The Move: Tricky question! Is there a particular song in the album that you love more than any other track?

Calum Scott: Oh no it’s like picking my favorite child! (laughs) I mean «You Are The Reason» is a big song for me. Every time I sing it, people have such a beautiful reaction to it and they seem to be really engaged with the song because it’s a song about love and not just love romantically but also love for your family, for your friends. So I think it has always been a special song. And for me, my reason was my grandma and she passed away a few years ago, she helped me grow to be the gentleman I am today and I think by having her tribute to my music kind of immortalizes her. She’s part of my album, she’s part of my story, she’s part of my future so even though she’s no longer with me, she still is if you know what I mean. That’s why it’s such a special song but there are so many songs on the album that have a special place in my heart, it’s hard to pick!

On The Move: How did your duet with Leona Lewis come about? Is she someone you wanted to collaborate with for a long time?

Calum Scott: Yes! And I followed her music for so long, I saw her on the X Factor in the UK and then she went on to do global things all around the world and I’ve been such a huge fan of her so when we were introduced by email, we started talking and we just got along straight away. We were texting and when she came to London, we recorded the music video and the song. She was just amazing. Such a sweetheart, so funny, so talented, her voice is insane. It was a privilege to sing a song with her and she was singing one of my songs, it was very surreal but an honor. I was like «oh my god this is Leona Lewis», like I can’t really take it in and now we’re friends, we text all the time so yeah it’s awesome.

On The Move: Will there be another collaboration between the two of you?

Calum Scott: I hope so. She sent me some of her work when I sent her «You Are The Reason» so I can only say that me and Leona, it won’t be the last time that we’ll be working together.

I’ve put an album out that is the best reflection of me

On The Move: For us, the song that really stands out is «Give Me Something», it makes you want to dance. You also try something totally different with this one, there’s even a John Newman kind of vibe to it. What can you tell us about it?

Calum Scott: Yeah for sure, I mean like we said earlier, I definitely wanted to show that I can do upbeat, feel-good music as well. One of the things that I wanted to do is to show people that I have a strong confident side. The reason why we went kind of a bit more John Newman was to have a bit more attitude, a bit more attack because people might expect that it was going to be a song full of piano and an album full of ballads and every song is going to be sad and at the end of the album you’re in tears so I wanted to show people that I can do more! When I sing that song live, everybody moves and it’s so amazing to have that power that I can make the room go still and everybody watches and I can also make people move around and dance. It feels great.

On The Move: Like «Rhythm Inside»!Calum Scott: «Rhythm Inside»! Yes! Such a cool song!

On The Move: Even in the way you’re vocalizing, it sounds different…

Calum Scott: Yeah it’s like I’m exploring different parts of my voice all the time, when I do slow songs, my voice comes into a different place, I guess a bit more deep. It feels like I sing from my heart you know, and then when I sing the upbeat songs I feel like I give everything from my chest, giving everything I can. This is what I love doing. I love discovering new things and I get to do a job that I love everyday so I’m learning all the time.

On The Move: You worked with Fraser T Smith for this record. How was it to collaborate with a guy who has worked with some of the biggest singers in the world?

Calum Scott: A sweetheart! He has worked with Craig David, Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, Adele, Ellie Goulding, and to work with somebody like Fraser T Smith is like working with your idol, somebody that you’re just like «I’ll never get to work with that guy». I was like «this is big!» and for him to produce my entire album as well, for somebody like me who comes from a small city! I’m not from London, I’m from the North-East of England, so I’m from a smaller city than Fraser for sure and I kind of felt like a fish out of water when I first started this job like «I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t know anybody. What if people don’t like me?». I soon started to realize that my voice did the talking. People wanted to work with me because of the way I sing and the way I interpret my music and Fraser - from the very beginning - was such a sweetheart, such a nice guy, he had all of the time for me, he really listened and really understood where I wanted to go with my album. It was my first album so it was very personal. I only get one chance to do my very first album you know and I couldn’t be prouder, he has helped me all the way through and he’s a very close friend of mine now as well but for sure at the beginning I was like «I don’t know if I can do this» (laughs).

On The Move: You covered Bob Dylan’s «Not Dark Yet» in your album, why did you choose this song?

Calum Scott: It was kind of a happy accident. When we were creating the album I wasn’t really looking to put another cover in there because «Dancing On My Own» was already there, the Tiësto remix as well so I kind of thought, I want to show people I can write music. As I was writing the album, there were so many songs on there that I had written that were personal, «If Our Love Is Wrong» is very personal about my sexuality, «I Won’t Let You Down» is about my sister and how I try to tribute her on the album, «Hotel Room» is sort of my version of «Dancing On My Own» where I had my heart broken. So as I was writing these songs, I came across «Not Dark Yet» by Bob Dylan, I was listening to the song and I was like «oh my God this is really sad». It is about him basically near the end of his life but he’s reflecting on his entire life, reflecting on the places he has been to and I just think that for my album being only human and being all about life, how we experience life, to sing a song about death in the most reflective, most beautiful way kind of brings the album full. So I thought that might be a good idea and I covered the song and played it to my label and they were «oh my God this is what the album needs!» And there is no other song on the album with just me and the guitar, everything is piano or pop so it was a beautiful change and it’s Bob Dylan you know! (laughs) He’s a legend, I’m never going to be able to write a song like Bob Dylan’s are.

I knew that the music I wrote was not going to be about going to the club and getting wasted. it was going to be honest and very sincere

On The Move: You co-wrote most of the songs on “Only Human”. Did you focus more on your songwriting when you worked on this album?

Calum Scott: Yeah for sure I mean I definitely wanted it to be a part of every song in the album. It was so important to me to have such a huge fanbase from one song and I knew that when I’d brought the album out that it would have to be special, it would have to be my stories, my experiences, to make it personal you know, to make it Calum Scott. The debut album is all about me so that’s why I wanted it to be a part of every song. You know I wrote around 70 songs for the album because I was just writing, writing, writing, getting all this stuff off of my chest, writing about when I was young, writing about the future, the past, my parents, my family so I was just writing and it wasn’t until I was told to put the album together where I was like «oh God now I’ve got to take this down to like 12 songs» (laughs) but the thing that made it easy was the tie, the pattern through all the songs that are about how human we all are and how it’s okay to cry, to feel angry, jealous, upset because we’re not robots. We can’t just be programed to think a certain way, you know? We’re humans, and I think it’s a beautiful thing. We’re vulnerable and we’re not all made of stone, we’ve got a heart underneath but sometimes the heart is broken or it’s beating off of your chest. These are my experiences, songs that I’ve written and knowing how much reaction it has with the crowd is such a privilege.

On The Move: You entitled your debut album «Only Human» to encourage self-love and positivity, what was that journey like for you? How did you get to this point?

Calum Scott: I can’t believe I’m here now. Because I dreamed of doing something like this, dreamed of having my own album, dreamed of having my own tour, and to finally do that now is really special. Like I said with «Only Human», the whole process of writing this album, I went through the huge highs of «Dancing On My Own», being heard all over the world, going on these huge TV programs, and performing in countries I’ve never even been to, in front of huge crowds. It had done so much more than I thought I was capable of and as I was going through these experiences I knew that this was going to be challenging as well. How do I write a song that’s better than “Dancing On My Own”? How do I write an album when I don’t know how to write music? How do I keep my fanbase happy? Keep them engaged in what I do? So there were challenges and definitely parts where I thought that maybe that was it, maybe that one song was it. I just had to keep on being confident, keep working really hard. So the process had ups and downs, the people I met along the way I had ups and downs with, I met a guy who I thought I loved, who broke my heart. Everything I went through while I was writing this album is reflecting the album. For example there’s this song called «What I Miss Most» which is about me missing home and missing my nephew, missing my family, missing the house I grew up in. I think that was part of me going through this like I’ve never traveled around the world so much since I’ve been doing what I’m doing so definitely the life I’m living now, the life I’ve led, has influenced the entire album. I’m looking forward to album 2 but I’ve got a lot more life to live to try and get another album written. I had my whole life to be inspired for my debut album and now I’m probably going to have a year to write another album but if it’s honest and genuine then it should be easy.

On The Move: Have you begun writing again? While touring perhaps?

Calum Scott: Yeah I’ve started to write music again, I’ve started to get in the studio again, I wrote a song not so long ago that the label liked and they’re feeling it, they’re vibing so I’ll continue to write. I mean I’m very busy with the tour, and I have a lot of promo for the album especially internationally so I’m going to be very busy but where I can I need to write because it’s like a diary, I get it off my chest, it makes me feel better so I need to write.

On The Move: As you said, each song is kind of personal to you, for example «I Won’t Let You Down» written for your little sister, or «Hotel Room» addressing the fact that you’re often away from home. Is this more difficult to write about personal topics or – on the contrary – it is easier than trying to write about what you think people want to hear?

Calum Scott: I knew when I started to write music that it was going to be personal, I just knew it. I could tell that it was the kind of music I would write, it’s the kind of person I am. I love very quickly and very easily and I get in trouble for that because I fall in love with people or I trust people, I become best friends with somebody within two days and suddenly they’re not my friend anymore, I get upset. I’m a very moving person. So I knew that the music I wrote was not going to be about going to the club and getting wasted. I knew that it was going to be honest and very sincere, very genuine and very heartfelt so that’s the kind of music I started to write and it was quite difficult at first talking about such personal things you know, my sexuality was a huge thing I had to write about, but as soon as I unlocked that door all these doors opened of being able to write from very personal experiences. At first it was difficult but then it became therapy and that’s why I wrote 70 songs because I was going and going and the label was like “you have to stop, we have to make an album, we can’t keep writing songs Calum, we love that you’re writing music but you need to stop” (laughs). But I will continue writing music that will hopefully speak to people’s hearts and make people feel better or feel more loved or feel more courageous, especially about sexuality because it was such a huge deal for me that if a young person listens to my album and goes “well he was really scared and he talked about his sexuality and he’s happier now then maybe I’ll do the same”. If that can inspire that then I will die a happy man. It’s the best gift I can give because music is medicine.

On The Move: Do you prefer listening to happy songs or sad songs?

Calum Scott: I guess because I write so many sad songs, I like to listen to happy music, I prefer to kind of dance around because if not I’d be crying when I’m writing and crying when I’m listening to music so I kind of feel like I need to laugh and smile more. But I love all sorts of music, on my playlist I have Adele, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith and then I have Whitney Houston and Queen and Diana Ross and then I have Calvin Harris and Kygo, I just have such a mix and match of artists.

Words by Pam Charbit with Ludivine Desumeur | Photo: Paola Leonardis exclusively for On the Move