00:00I'm sure over the course of this tour, the next six months, he's really going to be a massive
00:06inspiration, a massive teacher for me. So I am taking notes as we go.
00:13What have you observed about Ed Sheeran? I mean, at close quarters,
00:17I think you are one of the few people who are going to be on the road with him for six months.
00:22And that kind of gives you the ringside view of what it takes to be Ed Sheeran, I suppose.
00:27Oh my God, 100%. As soon as I finished my set, I went straight out and was sat there,
00:32ready and poised, waiting for him to come on stage. I sat there with notes like,
00:37how does he do it? But yeah, I just want to use him as a mentor as well whilst I'm on the road
00:44with him. He had a lovely 15, 20 minutes with me backstage before I went on stage and just was
00:51talking to me about all things normal, you know, talked about his Christmas and packing for the
00:58tour and his kids and stuff and was asking me about my New Year's Eve and Christmas and things.
01:03So it just felt really nice to just, you know, a superstar like Ed Sheeran, just
01:08us talking about how we pack our suitcases was just really nice just before I went on stage.
01:14And he's given me some great advice about how to manage my nerves a little bit better. And
01:19I'm sure over the course of this tour, the next six months, he's really going to be a massive
01:26inspiration, a massive teacher for me. So I am taking notes as we go. I want to graduate from
01:32Ed Sheeran school, that's what I want to do. What I found fascinating about his journey is that
01:38he's a very self-made man. I think Callum, somewhere along the way, you are self-made as well.
01:43You didn't have godfathers protecting you, shepherding you, telling you what to do, right?
01:47A hundred percent. I look at what Ed's done in his life and not that it's comparable from my
01:54life at all, but the ethos he has and the work ethic and the journey as well. I mean, Ed worked
02:02really, really hard and always has done, but people think like, oh, well, it was that one song
02:08that broke him. But he's been constantly pumping out music ever since his biggest hit. And I think
02:16that's the same with me. Ever since I released Dancing On My Own, my version, I've been searching
02:21for that next song. And I was worried for a little minute, is that going to be my biggest song? Am I
02:25going to be a one-trick pony? And, you know, especially after Britain's Got Talent, there was
02:30no, you know, like you said, Simon Cowell had kind of gone off and done another show. And I was left
02:37kind of like, well, what do I do now? And I've been working so hard since. And when I wrote You
02:43Are The Reason and put that song out, that kind of, for me, really solidified my place in music
02:49culture. And I still work so hard to try and find the next, you know, what's going to be the next
02:55big song that people walk down the aisle to or dance their first dance song to. So, yeah, I see
03:02a lot of what Ed Sheeran has done and the kind of person he is. And I see a lot of myself inspired by
03:08that and following those footsteps a little bit.
03:11Now, in this age of Tinder, Bumble, etc., where love is like a questionable currency,
03:16how do your songs fit in? Like, do you also question, like, should I be writing,
03:20should I go dark on myself or anything on those lines?
03:24Do you know what? I think from the dawn of time, people have written about love, about
03:30relationships, make-up, break-up. And I think that's what people resonate with, because,
03:36you know, it's something we all have in common. It's either being in love or not being in love,
03:40you know? And I think, you know, Dancing On My Own is about heartbreak, unrequited love.
03:47You know, You Were The Reason is about being in love with somebody so much that they're
03:51everything to you. And I think, you know, these are songs that I am a part of that reflect,
03:57you know, everybody's life. I think that that resonation and people being able to relate to
04:03songs, for me, is my bread and butter. That's what I've always wanted to do, is have a song
04:07where people go, that's my journey, that's my story. I've never thought about writing a song
04:13about finding love on Tinder. I think that's maybe a little bit too far. But I like the
04:19traditional kind of, you know, finding love across the bar or something like that, you know,
04:25locking eyes with somebody. But maybe there's a song in there. Maybe I should tell Ed, like,
04:30maybe we should be writing a song about Bumble. Maybe that's the next big hit.
04:35You said that he helped you get over your stage fear. What was the tip he gave you?
04:41The best advice that Ed gave me was, because I said, I've never performed to this amount of people
04:47with this amount of music. You know, last year, I performed in Wembley Stadium in London,
04:52but it was for one song and then I came off. You know, it was the same with the current
04:56singing at the King's Coronation, one song off. So for 40 minutes, to sing to people
05:03in a stadium is quite a different beast. And Ed said, do you know what he said? Don't think of it
05:09as individuals, because when you're thinking of tens of thousands of individual people,
05:14it's scary for me even. So he said, just think of it as one big blob that you're entertaining,
05:20like one big, massive blob. And I was like, oh, OK. But I kind of understand what he means. I
05:26like to see the lights in people's eyes. I like to see people. I like to see the joy or the tears
05:31and just the emotion. And when you're in a stadium, you can't see past maybe the 20th row,
05:39right? So I think I'm going to have to, like, entertain the blob, as Ed Sheeran said.
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