Lots of impressive things can be accomplished from bed. Frida Khalo created masterpieces while confined to her covers. John Lennon and Yoko Ono famously protested the Vietnam war with a bed-in. Breakfast at Tiffany’s writer Truman Capote told the Paris Review in 1957: “I am a completely horizontal author, I can’t think unless I’m lying down.”
However, it’s not where I normally get most of my work done. But as the Zoom opens for my chat with Brit-Award nominated singer Tom Grennan it’s where I am, and strangely enough, it’s also where he is. He’s just touched down in Hamburg as part of his first Europe-wide tour since 2018. I don’t have the same excuse of travel exhaustion, for me it’s just Monday and it’s raining outside. But, despite the unorthodox nature of the setting, it becomes the perfect place for the intimate conversation which follows as we discuss pivotal life-points, changing for the better and self-actualisation.
“How am I going to say this without sounding egotistical?”, he answers me when I ask him how the tour’s been going. “I don’t feel like there’s a better performer out there right now,” he shares. “As a showman, I believe I’m at the top of my game.”
While still bordering on egotistical, Tom’s words aren’t without merit. In fact, he’s actually working extremely hard to ensure that this tour, and his previous UK arena tour, are the best they can possibly be. One way in which he achieved this was by ensuring that ticket prices for his shows remained low. He dismissed all VIP and platinum ticket options across the tour, a move which the recent Ticketmaster scandal highlights is a growing necessity.
“Cost of living is unbelievably high right now and a lot of people are struggling,” he tells me when I enquire about his motivation. “I wanted people to come and enjoy themselves and not have to worry about not being able to afford to heat their homes for a week afterwards or do their food shop.”
It seems that this move worked and Tom created the euphoric atmosphere he was aiming for. “There was a different energy in the room,” he tells me when describing his show in Manchester. “Everyone was there for the same reason: to let go of what’s troubling them and have fun. I was exactly with that energy too, I was so in the moment. At one point I noticed this young girl who had her eyes closed while I was singing and tears were just streaming down her face. I carried on looking at her until she opened her eyes so she knew I saw her and we just had this beautiful moment.”
This couldn’t sound more different to Tom’s first gig. “It was like a scene from Skins,” he tells me. “Everyone from school was in this manky pub and people were flying over tables and jumping around the place. There was a fight in the garden but at the time it was grungy and cool.”
Another way in which Tom is ensuring these tours are successful is by pushing himself to perform under the best conditions. He does this by following a strict diet and exercise regime which includes saunas, cold baths and some pretty crazy-sounding compression socks which apparently take the toxins out of your blood. “I had one drink to celebrate the 02 gig and that was my first drink all year”, says Tom. “Some people might think that’s crazy, but it’s what I need to do to get the best shows.”
However, Tom wasn’t always like this. He tells me about playing a gig in Dublin a few years back. “I’ve got a lot of Irish family, so the party went on all night. I had a show the next day in Belfast and I remember sitting on the train because I’d missed the bus. No one knew where I was and I still hadn’t been to bed. I got to the show and then anxiety hit and I remember not being able to look at the crowd,” he explains.
This experience wasn’t enough for Tom to alter his ways, but a change was on the horizon. “There was a moment where I realised that this was going to ruin my chances of ever becoming a successful musician”, says Tom. “My anxiety lives inside me – and the way I can control that is doing what I’m doing. I believe that these are the most important years of my life. If I can carry on with how I’m going now I can look back when I’m 40 and realise that I did it the right way and hopefully still have a career.”
This moment wasn’t organic, however, and was rather orchestrated by the pandemic and Tom’s own Mum who brought him back home to Bedford over lockdown. “She packed my bags and told me I was leaving,” he says smiling. “Mums always know.”
Lockdown then became an opportunity for self-reflection. “London was a lot of partying. A lot of egotistical movements,” he explains. “I was living in this bubble where I thought everything was going my way, but really I was sabotaging myself.”
Back home Tom threw himself into exercise and became part of a supportive online community. “I went from surrounding myself with destructive people to people who just want everyone to win. I saw a different doorway and walked through it – I’m still in it now.”
This change in approach to life didn’t just benefit Tom’s health, but his music also. “My writing got so much better”, he tells me. “I became so much more creative.” The fruits of his labour? His new album What Ifs & Maybes which will be released on June 9th.
On making the record Tom explains: “It felt like I was more aware of what was happening. Before I was writing songs, I was like: ‘This is long’. I was tired in body and mind. This time I was focused and prepared. I was vocally in a pocket where I’ve never been before.”
I ask him if he has a favourite song, “All of the tracks are gems and I love them all for different reasons,” he replies, but names ‘Before You’, an up-beat ballad which displays his impressive vocal range as a song that shaped the album. “For me that’s the seed that got planted then branches grew and flowers came out,” he says.
Another stand-out track on the album is love song ‘HERE’. Tom himself features wearing Sony Headphones’ Linkbuds S. “It was great listening to ‘HERE’ back on these headphones,” says Tom. “The sound quality is so great. They make you hear every song like it’s supposed to be heard.”
These headphones also feature prominently in Tom’s own shoot with House of Solo, a testament to their versatility as they evidently work with multiple outfits. “The earth blue marble pattern is a great style statement,” says Tom. “They’re just not like other earbuds.”
On the whole album Tom states: “This record is just full of colour and life. Full of moments, it’s a record when I listen to it, I want to move, I want to go out and get what I believe in. I want to dream – I want to feel how that record is feeling every day.”
As we end the call I decide to go back and listen to the album before starting to write. And his closing statements aren’t wrong, the joy in the album is infectious. It finally drags me out of bed on a grey and rainy Monday.
Pre Order album here
