How did you first get into music?
When I was about seven, my mum and dad divorced. My dad's full English, from Southeast London, so all his family, my Nana and grandad on his side, lived in Southeast London. My mum's family were from Spain and Greece, and so when the divorce happened, she took me back to Spain. We went there for about three years, I went to school at an all-Spanish school, and I learned how to speak Spanish fluently. We ended up moving back to England eventually, and I went back to school in the UK at the end of year seven, so I had a good experience of both cultures. Just before I went to Spain though, I went to a studio with my mum, because she was managing an artist, and I just fell in love with it. I saw the lights and the machine and I was just like “wow” - something inside me just told me that this was what I wanted to do. Shortly after that, we ended up going to Spain. For the first bit of it, we were just finding our feet, finding a place to live, and getting ourselves together. We had to spend a bit of time trying to get me into a school, so during that time, I would just go to sit downstairs at the bottom of our apartment block and make friends there. I was there writing songs and I ended up creating a group and managing the group and making plans like “Right, we’re going to go to Malaga because there’s no recording studios around here. We’re all going to save up some money and we're going to put it together and go to a studio and record.” So that’s where it actually started…
And you were eight years old?
Yeah [laughs].I was trying to be like my mum and be a manager, saying “we’re going to do this, you’re going to be the dancer, you’re going to be the backup singer, you’re going to be the producer”. In a weird way, going there made me find myself. And it’s funny, now my first song has that Spanish influence and has C. Tangana on it.
I was going to ask you about that - did your time in Spain influence your taste in music? Are you drawn to Spanish music artists now?
I love Spanish music but I didn’t intend to drop a Spanish song. I didn’t do it on purpose, it was just organic. We ended up making the record, Tangana jumped on the record, and we just put it out into the world. I just love the concept of it, the purity of the song and what it’s about, like being honest and young romance. I just think it’s a very cool song because the concept means a lot to me.
Can you talk more about that concept? Where did the idea come from?
At that time in my life I was going through a lot of personal issues that were coming out in the press. I was in a bad place and I didn't know which way life was going to go for me, and then I met this girl. I’d never met anybody that was so pure and such a good human being. She was like an angel to me and helped me find myself just by being pure and giving love that I’d never had before. I was so used to people taking from me, and I’d been so focused on myself and my music since I was young that I didn’t really give myself time to meet anybody - I guess I was just always scared of meeting fake people. So when I met this person with a really good heart, who’s a really good friend of mine now, it had a big impact on my life. That’s why I really love this song, it’s just a really pure song. That’s the best word to describe it. Even when you watch the video - it’s pure. It’s not me trying to do something for the camera, it’s just catching the moment. It’s pure, man.
Was there anything that you wanted people to take away from the song?
I think a lot of men and young guys my age will relate to this song. I wanted something that could connect with a lot of men and give the message that it’s ok for a man to be vulnerable. It’s ok to talk about your feelings and be pure with yourself. Don’t pretend to be something you’re not or try to tell yourself something that’s not true. Just be honest with yourself, be pure, and you’re going to feel better.
Are you going to release an album in the future?
Yeah, we’re working on it and in the last stages of it right now.
What’s the vibe of the album?
It’s very worldly, so I’m hitting on a lot of topics, cultures, and genres. There’s really great production, I’m really happy with the team. We went to Miami and got a big house and everyone flew in and worked on it. It’s funny because over the last few years when I’ve been posting on Instagram I’ve been producing for other people and I’ve been writing and directing, and when I just dropped my music out of the blue no one was really expecting it. People are starting to find out that I’ve got my own music coming out. So I’m really looking forward to this year - it’s going to be a good year.
