Love Lives - Singer-songwriter Tom Grennan: ‘I need to live like an athlete so I can perform’

Episode Date: October 26, 2023

This week on Love Lives, we’re delighted to be joined by Brit award-nominated artist Tom Grennan to discuss his latest album, What Ifs & Maybes, and navigating life in the public eye.The Little Bit of Love singer talks to Independent TV’s Olivia Petter about how ditching destructive vices allowed him to focus on music, and how his love of family, football, and furry friends helps keep him grounded following his dizzying rise to fame.Catch Love Lives on Independent TV and YouTube, as well as all major social and podcast platforms.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/millenniallove. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Acast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. will not die hosting the Hills after show. I get thirsty for the hot wiggle. I didn't even know a thirsty man until there was all these headlines. And I get schooled by a tween. Facebook is like, and now that's what my grandma's on. Thank God phone a friend with Jesse Crookshank is not available on Facebook. It's out now wherever you get your podcasts. Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com I was just a 21 year old who was in a position where music was happening, going out was happening, alcohol was happening and I was consumed by all this.

Alcohol was happening and I was consumed by all this. Hello and welcome to Love Lives, a podcast from The Independent where I, Olivia Petter, will be asking different guests about the loves of their lives. Today I am thrilled to be joined by the brilliant two-time britt award nominee musician tom grennan he has two hugely successful albums under his belt several awards and a new highly anticipated third album called what ifs and maybes i'm really excited to chat to tom all about his career in music and the loves of his life so let's get started hello hello that was an amazing intro thank you yeah thank you Hello. Hello, that was an amazing intro. Thank you, thank you. I mean it's amazing your career which I can't wait to talk to you about. So it all happened super, super quickly for you. I think you were performing in pubs to like 20, 30 people and then five, six months later you were playing in front of 75,000 people at Wireless with Chase and Status. Can you tell us a bit about how you got into music and how this kind of all happened for you? Because originally you were thinking

of maybe going into football? Yeah, football was like the dream when I was a kid. And then I realised I wasn't getting any better at football. So I played for a few teams, got dropped from a few teams and had to make a decision of what I wanted to do. And I thought I really love acting, got into National Youth Theatre and stuff like that. And music was never a thing at that point. So I was like, I want to go and do acting. Some of the music boys at school heard me singing at a party and they were like do you want to join

this band and help us do their A-level band thing I was like do you know I'll give it a go and I gave it a go and I loved it and I saw the reaction of of people and how I made them feel when singing my voice didn't sound the way it sounds now but there was something there and I loved it. So we did the band thing for a while in my hometown in Bedford and it was a bit like remember Skins? Yeah of course. Yeah of course like we used to like put on little gigs around Bedford and like the whole school would come and like everybody it was a bit like that yeah but then them lot were like oh we're gonna go to uni and study so i was like oh well i thought we had an amazing band we weren't amazing but um then i was like well i don't really

know about music all i can do is sing i never wrote songs before i never played a guitar or an instrument so i was like well i know that i want to get out of Bedford, so I applied for different unis and doing acting and that's what I did. And I moved to Twickenham and did physical theatre. Loved it, gave me the chance to like, I don't know, just be creative, meet creative people. But I really loved what music did. So I picked up a guitar at uni, kind of like hibernated for my first year of uni and just learnt to play guitar, only a few chords.

And then I started to write songs. I had this little notepad from when I was at home from different things I'd write in, but these weren't songs in my head. These were just like words to help me get through a period of time where I first like realised what my mental health was. I was attacked in Bedford and had my jaw broken

and stuff like that. And I didn't, yeah, it was bad. And it really like, I don't know, taught me about myself and these are the little notes I was writing. Anyway, I went back to the notepad when I was at uni and realised that these words I was writing were actually song lyrics. So these little notes that I've been learning on guitar, I started singing the words that I'd written down and then they became songs and I was like, right, this is what I want to do. And that's what

I did, wrote loads of songs, well like six or seven songs in my room at uni and was like, right, I need to go gig. So that's what I did and knocked on loads of doors, just every pub I could, every open mic I could. My friends set up like a thing at uni where I'd be playing every week and did that for a year. And luckily one day there was some people in a pub and they heard my songs and the rest is history. But it does feel like a long time a quick a quick time sorry like it's happened so fast but like I've been working and working really hard to get to to where I am now

and I've still got loads more to do so yeah who was it that saw you there a guy from Sony wow yeah so then this guy from Sony then kind of took my email. And then the next morning, I had like loads of emails from different labels. Wow. And different lawyers, different publishers, all that all that kind of stuff. And I didn't have a clue what to do. I was gonna say what did when that guy came up to you after the gig? We obviously like that's I presume that's what you kind of wanted to get out of it. But for it to actually happen like that, you're like, I've been discovered. Yeah, kind of. Like, I think for me, I never ever,

I didn't know really, like obviously I knew what a record deal was, I knew that, but I never had that in my thoughts. I was just singing because I liked making people happy, if I'm gonna be honest, like I never thought I want a record deal, I want this and that. But when I had them emails, then that popped into my head. I was like, oh, yeah, like, there's a record deal.

I can do that. And so I got signed in the end of my second year of uni. I wanted to finish uni, so I had a bit of time where I was going in the studio and then doing uni and things like that. I'd never really been in a studio before and then I met Chase and Status and we wrote All Goes Wrong. I wrote, I had that little song in my bedroom at uni and then we kind of expanded on the song and yeah it went mad. And so what was that like for you going from that kind of those two very very different levels and then suddenly having all of this attention on you

and your music and your talent what did that do just to you as a human being as your brain like how do you handle that? Um honestly I've I've I've not really thought about it. I've just done it and I've just put myself in it. Yeah. Because if you think about it too much, it probably sends you a bit mad. Yeah, definitely. But I've always thought, even when I was a kid, that I was going to do something pretty mad.

I never knew what it was going to be, but I always had this thing where, I don't know why I did it when I was a kid but I used to look at myself in the mirror and always talk to myself and say, you're going to do this, everyone's going to know your name and all this kind of stuff. Oh really? Yeah, I did when I was a kid, yeah. And I thought it was going to be like a football stadium or something like that but it turns out it's music.

But I feel like all of those things are connected in a way isn't it because if you're playing on a football field in front of thousands of people, you're on stage like doing a play or performing music it's all about performance I guess so maybe that's the thing that's kind of always sort of been within you. Definitely, I've always wanted to perform. I've always wanted to catch people's attention, whatever it is. And what was the fame like, the fame side of things? Because talking to yourself in the mirror saying,

everyone's going to know your name, that's one thing. I think we have a very different idea of what kind of celebrity and being in the public eye might be to what it actually is yeah do you look back on when you kind of first rose to fame back when that song came out now and think that you handled it in a way that is very different to how you handle it now and have you kind of learned different coping mechanisms? Definitely, I think when I was... I was like 21. Yeah, which is very young to be very, very famous and successful. I was 21 and I had...

I didn't really feel pressure, but I had like... I had a bit of money and I also had like the wrong people around me so what do you mean I mean people who I don't know some people took advantage of it also I took advantage of it so I'm not blaming them people like like I was just a 21 year old who was in a position where music was happening, going out was happening, alcohol was happening and I was consumed by all this stuff. So I was probably an egotistical 21 year old who thought the sun shines out of his a** or something like that basically. the sunshine shines out of his a** or something like that basically and I fell into I don't know a lot of a lot of problems it was just to do with like London life too so I moved home and and that was the best thing for me and now my coping mechanisms for I don't I hate the word

calling myself fake I'm not, you know what I mean, I still get the training, and I still do normal things, you know what I mean, just people come and say hello, and I sound, but now it's like completely different, like I need routine in my day-to-day, just to be, just to get myself on a level. I need exercise. I need good eight hours sleep. Like I sound boring, but like, I feel like to do this job at a 10 out of 10, you need to be an athlete.

And that's what I'm like trying to be. And- Yeah, but I think you have to, like so many musicians that I know like the touring is relentless it's mad traveling like that is crazy through different time zones that you have to be in really kind of fit condition mentally and physically and it's wild when you think back to sort of like the stones days of like the wild rock and roll like how did they do that I don't know how they did it.

I do not know. But some people can do it. Some people can run on them fumes. But for me, nah, I'm too lively anyway. I'm too bubbly and I'm too... So put all that other stuff involved and you get an extra me for like 12 hours and then for the next week I'm I'm dead and out and I wouldn't be able to perform I wouldn't be able

to do this kind of stuff I just wouldn't be able to function properly so yeah did anyone because obviously you would have probably met a lot of other people sort of more experienced people in the industry when you first started out. Did anyone kind of give you advice on how to tackle it? Not really, no. Again, like, I haven't really been around, and I'm not, like, famous people, if I'm going to be honest. Like, I've been to a few things, award evenings and all that kind of stuff,

but I don't chill with a lot of famous people so the advice really came from from from my family and my friends my real friends where that they were like you've got something that is special do not waste it I'd say my manager as well, like, but I call him a friend because he's one of my best mates. He dragged me over and he said, like, I've seen a lot of people waste this. And he said this one thing where like, I can get another one of you, yeah.

But you can't be enough. As soon as you've done it, then it's done. And that hit me. Do you know what I mean? There's a lot of people waiting in the queue and and yeah, and I'm not ready to to be at the back of it. I want to talk about your latest album, but before we go to that,

I want to ask you a bit about something you said about your second album, Evering Road. The album was named after the street where you lived with an ex. And I really liked what you said in an interview about this, because rather than framing it as like a breakup album or a heartbreak album, you described it sort of as like a thank you note. And I think that's such a healthy way to reframe previous relationships and you know we have this kind of very toxic dialogue around exes where we're almost encouraged to slag them off and criticize them and or you know in worst cases label them psycho and all that kind of stuff and actually to have a really healthy mindset on it and turn it into a positive thing and see like you know this was meant to come to an end when it did

and call it something and you know have that gratitude for it I think is a really helpful message to people so what kind of did you mean by that when you described it as a thank you note and why were you so keen not to frame it as a sort of breakup vengeance album because that time in my life taught me a lot about who I wanted to be and also who I didn't want to be. And unfortunately, people got hurt. I realised that a lot of the mistakes I made were causing the problems in that relationship. So the thank you is to the road, the thank you is to her, and the thank you is for that chapter of my life. for that chapter of my of my life um like it's one of those ones where people are meant some people are meant to meant to meet have their time and teach each other lessons and that's what it did and um i'll always be thankful for it and i think it's important not to look at anything

like a romantic relationship that's come to an end as a failure because no it's it's not like you said yeah it's a lesson and you can bring those lessons into your next relationships yeah um which brings me on to my next question to my next question you're engaged so congratulations thank you um and i know you've previously kind of spoken about the importance of keeping your private life to yourself in your line of work and i guess that kind of feeds into what we're talking about earlier about fame and you know obviously people in public eye get a crazy amount of attention when it comes to their love lives even though you know what you're doing has nothing to do with that um i can imagine that is incredibly maddening and frustrating how do you go about protecting your relationships from the public eye and keeping that to yourself?

Because it's such an unnatural thing to have to think about. Of course, you have to think about it. Yeah, it is a tough thing to always having to be thinking about just privacy in that world. Like most of my friends, if not all of my friends who are in relationships, they and their partners always are posting about, especially like the world we live in, like everything is just plastered on online you know whereas me like and my other half we want to keep it just it's our thing and my other half she doesn't she doesn't work in at this industry and I don't know she just and I want it to be for us and what people need to know they'll know and what they don't need to know is they won't know and again it keeps it healthy and it also kind of is real life because all this weird world that we live in

is usually not really real life. Yeah. And for me, that's real life. So, yeah. And also the second you kind of let it in in any way, it becomes a sort of unstoppable circus. So it's like, you know, I can imagine if you were to post one photograph

of you know your partner then it's like suddenly everyone wants more photos and they're commenting and there's a lot of horrible people out there and some people will just comment to be nasty and I don't need that and she doesn't need that. Speaking of kind of like online brouhaha, there was obviously something that happened at the Brits this year. I just wanted to get your thoughts on how you feel about that now. I know you kind of like apologised to Ellie Boulding and she tweeted being like, it's fine, like it's not a big deal, but like what do you make of the way that that was kind of...

Well, she tweeted that it was both of us who. Yeah. Who had the joke. Planned. Yeah. And it just went. Wrong. If you both agree to it, like it just seems it just seems so bizarre. Is it like you think the Internet is just looking to cling on to anything? I think.

Yeah, it was a joke between two friends, and I think, yeah, it was a joke between two friends and I think people are quick to try and cancel people. Yeah. And really, I should have known, but it's one of those things and it was a joke between two friends. I want to talk about the new album. You've said that you wanted to make something that helps people de-shackle, take risks and realise their dreams. I already mentioned earlier, I was listening to it all morning. It's like it's very upbeat. It kind of makes you want to get up and dance.

It feels like very lively. Tell me a bit more about how this new album came together and what you kind of wanted to get across with it and why it's different to your previous two. This album is the first album where i've really like felt i knew what i was doing i feel like i'm like we've just spoken about i'm i'm really just i'm a different person when i look back at them two albums like wow this this is like a completely different person but i'm happy i'm i'm in a place where physically mentally

everything is just i'm in in a good place and i think that really comes out in the music i really wanted to i feel like i well i really wanted people to listen to this album and just dance and have fun because I'm having fun right now. But I wanted to like put a message in it and just say like, spontaneity and taking risks and being able to feel comfortable in the uncomfortable risks and being able to feel comfortable in the uncomfortable is an amazing thing like I've always been somebody who's comes into a room and if there's like a door that haven't been through I'd always be like what's behind that door because if you open a door something great could be behind it you just need to kind of have that that risk in your hands be like do you know if I dream about something or I want to do something then it's only me who

who's going to make that happen and and that's what I want it to do I want people to listen to it and and feel like they can be who they want to be, do what they want to do, and express themselves in the way they want to express. There's a lot of colour in this album. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's saying a lot. Acast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend.

I'm Jessie Kirkshank, and on my podcast, Phone a Friend, I break down the biggest stories in pop culture. But when I have questions, I get to phone a friend. I phone my old friend, Dan Levy. You will not die hosting The Hills after show. I get thirsty for the hot wiggle. I didn't even know what thirsty man until there was all these headlines. And I get schooled by a tween.

Facebook is like a no, that's what my grandma's on. Thank God Phone a Friend with Jesse Crookshank is not available on Facebook. It's out now wherever you get your podcasts. Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com Okay, let's talk about the loves of your life. So the first one you've chosen, I have to admit, is not a subject I know very much about. So tell me why you have decided to choose football. I know it's such a cliche. I really don't know much about about. So tell me why you have decided to choose football.

I know it's such a cliche. I really don't know much about it. Why have you chosen football? I know obviously you said earlier that this was something that you really wanted to go into as a kid. Do you think that if it wasn't for music and kind of acting,

you would be playing football professionally? No. No, no, no. It wasn't good enough. It wasn't good enough. Do you still play? What is it that you love about it? Yeah. When playing football, it's like 90 minutes usually, right? And that is a time where I'm just in a different, I'm just in the game.

I'm zoned out. I'm not thinking about anything apart from scoring a goal or defending the ball. apart from scoring a goal or defending the ball. And I don't know, it's always been, for me, just a place where I also feel comfortable on stage. That is my home and I know it. And football is, again, even though I'm not that good, I still feel like I just, that's why I love it. And I know just a minute ago I said about being comfortable in the uncomfortable, but like football for me, like it's an uncomfortable place to be, but like I'm comfortable there. So I don't know, it just, it's competitive I love being competitive I am competitive

um it's time with your mates um you talk absolute nonsense and you then either win or lose a game and then watching football is on the weekend is is another like thing I love to do because, again, I'm not thinking about music. I'm not thinking about anything. I'm just thinking about what's happening with the teams I'm watching. Who do you support? I grew up and I've always been a supporter of Man United, but I have a massive love for Coventry City too. So, yeah, I would say I'm United, but I'm also Coventry.

And I don't know if you're allowed two teams, but I'm having one. I think so. Do you have any favourite football chants? Nah, I've not been that, I'm never that, I'm not really that like. I will just, I'll listen to people do it. But I'm not, I'm not like a laddy lad, you know what I mean? I'm not that guy. But I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm a lover of it for sure.

How often do you play now? Well, I've got soccer ready coming up. So at the moment I'm trying to play at least once or twice a week just to get in the mode for that. But like, we always bring a football on tour, so we're always kicking a ball in different venues. But yeah, once or twice a week, I try to get playing. I want to ask you a little bit about mental health, but I think that actually feeds into your second love, which is an animal. to your second love which is an animal and I I'm excited to hear about this because as a pet owner myself of a very ridiculous cat called Blanche Dubois I understand thank you she's amazing I need to stop I mean honestly I talk about her all the time um I'm surprised she's not here in the

podcast um but yeah I I know how special they can be and how much they can change your life. So tell us a bit about Marmite, the dog you adopted, rescued. Yeah, Marmite. He is a wicked dog. He is a Romanian rescue dog. He was found in a bin. Oh my God. I know. So sad.

But so happy that he's in my life. So he was found in a bin and he was shown, I was like scrolling through different charities and stuff like that and I found this one charity and I just loved the work they were doing. And I was like, I really want a dog. Have you got any dogs? And they were like, we've got this one. He was tiny and he's ready to he's ready to come

to England do you want to do you want to come and see him and then I saw him and I don't know we just loved each other straight away and turns out he's got the same birthday as me as well really yeah which is mad um but now he's like a massive horse. And because I'm so busy, my mum's had to look after my mum. But my mum and my dad, they love him. Oh, sweet. And he loves them. But he came into my life at the right point as well. This is the time when I was doing a lot of what I spoke about already.

He just kind of ground you a little bit. Yeah, he did. I had to kind of like just had this other life in my house and I was like, i cannot mess this up um and then luckily then lockdown happened and and i moved back with my mom and dad but he's wicked he is nuts um but animals are just good for the soul yeah they are they will love you unconditionally they won't judge you they don't care if you're a singer you know what i mean yeah you better walk me now yeah you better pick my up and you better play with me yeah um and that's what i like and how has having a pet kind of

helped your mental well-being generally because I think you know obviously you mentioned the responsibility side of things gives you I guess an important sense of having to care for someone and well something someone something something someone someone yeah um but yeah how has how has having a an animal kind of boosted your mental well-being if you think it has I, I'm sure it has. Yeah, definitely. I think just like you're happy, aren't you? Yeah.

You're not, there's never a dull moment, really. And if you are a bit sad, like the animals know about it. They do, don't they? My cat always knows. If ever I'm like a bit upset or I'm crying, my cat will come and sit on me as if to like give me a give me a cuddle yeah exactly it's really sweet exactly but um but I think being away a lot a lot um and him having to live at my mum's house is uh that's tough though do I mean because I'm like when I feel bad and my mum and dad because I'm just like, can you have this,

can you have my dog for a while, for a long while and, but I love it when I go, he's actually coming to mine tonight. Is he?

Yeah, I'm seeing him. Oh, sweet. So how big is he now? Not that, he's like that. Really? No,

he's not that tall, he's about that tall. Oh my gosh. Yeah, huge. Does he sleep on the bed with you? No, he doesn't. He's like that. Really? No, he's not that tall. He's about that tall. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, huge. Does he sleep on the bed with you? No, he doesn't. I was going to say,

it's picked up quite a lot of space. He's more of a guard dog, though. Oh, really? He's more like, he sleeps on the landing and, yeah, he's just protecting, as always.

He doesn't really like men, if I'm going to be honest with you. Really? No. That's interesting. I know a lot of rescue, actually actually my friend has a Romanian rescue dog and is the same, really doesn't like men. Doesn't like men, so. That's interesting. Yeah, so if a new person comes into the house, it's like, it's a process. Finally, tell us about your third love, which is your family. Yeah, family. I think everybody is,

everybody's family is, you can't choose them. Do you know what I mean? But the family that I've got are amazing and I love them dearly and they love me dearly. My mum, she is so supportive, always has been.

Me and my mum, we've got a special bond, me and my mum we've got a special bond me and my mum I'm her rock and she's mine do you know what I mean and yeah we've always just had that bond

I think sons and mums they all have a special bond don't they so yeah my dad is up there with probably the funniest man I've ever met in my life and just the most caring, sweetest soul and worships the floor my mum walks on. And I've grown up looking at that and witnessing that and well I'm lucky to that my mum and dad are still together because most if not every single one apart from one friend their mum and dad's are together so it kind of uh puts the foundation for for the relationships that I want and and the relationship that I have

um I don't I never want to to not be like my mum and dad so yeah got my dad my brother as well Caelan he's he's he's a he's wicked I call him a little g because he is. Younger. Yeah, yeah. Five years apart. And again, doesn't like this life that I'm living doesn't faze him. And he's just he's just a cool guy. That's what he is. I love him to bits. I know you feature your dad sometimes in your podcast and in like little videos that you do on TikTok and stuff. your podcast and in like little videos that you do on TikTok and stuff what what do they make of the kind of starry crazy attention side of your career and like yeah like do you ever bring them

to yeah yeah yeah my dad loves it he thinks he is famous if not he is he think like I went to I was on tour and he's like I I've got to go to the merch sign. I've got signatures to sign. So sweet. So, yeah, but they're cool. They love it. And they're just proud. And obviously, like I say about family,

I've also got my missus family that I'm really, really tight with as well. And they're like my well they are my family now yeah and I'm very very lucky that again like that I came into my missus life when all this was kind of happening and and they've had to kind of adapt to this life as well and they're again just so supportive and and again it doesn't really phase them my grandma and granddad i'm so close to my granddad grandma and granddad and i've got too many cousins and and i love it with it's a big family and and i think family for me is the most important because they're the people that when I say you can't choose them they're the

people that won't go anywhere and they won't judge you they won't they well they probably might judge you my mum would call me a dickhead yeah that's not judging you though I think that's bringing you back down to earth yeah yeah yeah exactly but unconditional love yeah and have there been any moments in your career where things haven't been going well or you've been acting in a certain way that you're not proud of and they have been the ones to really give you the kind of like hard talking to you? That's why I moved home. Yeah. When my mum came to London and was like, nah. Yeah.

Well, particularly, I think people who get famous and get successful really young in the music industry, you know, that's like a sort of well-known trajectory for a lot of a lot of people would you ever like given your own experiences of it if you had children would you ever be like wary about them going into music nah I think my mum and dad again like I've said about what look what the foundation what is there if if and when I have kids they want to do what i do then sweet like my my missus she was a dancer i'm a singer oh cool and yeah triple fret kids you never know a little musical theater you never know what will happen that's it for today thank you so much for listening if you enjoyed this episode of love lives you can listen to all episodes on all major podcast platforms you can also watch us on

independent TV, social media platforms and all connected devices I will see you soon, bye A-Cast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. I'm Jessie Kirkshank, and on my podcast, Phone a Friend, I break down the biggest stories in pop culture, but when I have questions, I get to phone a friend. I found my old friend, Dan Levy. You will not die hosting The Hills after show. down the biggest stories in pop culture, but when I have questions, I get to phone a friend.

I phone my old friend, Dan Levy. You will not die hosting the Hills after show. I get thirsty for the hot wiggle. I didn't even know what thirsty meant until there was all these headlines. And I get schooled by a tween. Facebook is like a no, that's what my grandma's on. Thank God, Phone a Friend with Jesse Crookshank is not available on Facebook. It's out now wherever you get your podcasts.