Lewis Capaldi Talks Crotch-Activated Fireworks & Working With Frank Ocean’s Producer

Stealing the MTV PUSH: Ones To Watch 2019 spotlight today is Glasgow’s own Lewis Capaldi.​

At only 22, Lewis has already made his name heard in big places. Making it on the BRITs Critics' Choice awards shortlist of 2019, and his track ‘Bruises’ quickly garnering over 28 million streams, making him the first ever unsigned artist to reach 25 million plays on the platform, it’s clear that this artist has something special to offer the music world.

Watch our exclusive MTV PUSH: Ones To Watch 2019 spotlight interview with Lewis Capaldi here:

Oh, and he was chosen as our one of our MTV PUSH: Ones To Watch for 2019, here’s how he felt about it: “To be included in this feels amazing, it’s definitely something that comes as a surprise. If someone asks me to give it back, I’m not going to be doing that.”​

Growing up, Lewis listened to the likes of Queen and Fleetwood Mac (because his parents were always playing them), by the age of 11, he was ready to put on a show like these stars. But how could he play without songs?​

Lewis explained what got him songwriting: “I started off playing my own songs, just because I saw it as a means to an end almost of ‘right, if you want to play gigs, you have to write your own songs.’ I mean, they were absolutely terrible.”

Lewis has now had his single ‘Someone You Loved’ enter the top 20 on the UK iTunes charts, and has amassed over 7 million monthly listeners on Spotify. But how did he gain such widespread success?​

“I’d been playing shows from like 11 through 20, but I never recorded or released any music like properly. When we released our first single ‘Bruises’, which was at the end of March last year, and it just kind of [hand explosion]. Within two weeks I’d gone from playing in a pub in Bathgate, where I’m from, to the week after being in America doing meetings with labels and stuff like that.”

Lewis touched on getting to work with the producer of his dreams, Malay, who’s worked with the likes of Frank Ocean, Lorde and Sam Smith: “When I first started out they were like ‘Is there anybody that you like that you want to work with, and we’ll see what we can do?' And I went, ‘I like Malay’ who’s Frank Ocean’s producer and they were like ‘not going to happen.’ It did seem so like, high-in-the-sky sort of thing, do you know what I mean? It still does, that it happened.”​

In 2018, Lewis joined fellow Capitol Records label partner Sam Smith on tour. But another highlight of the big year was playing his headline London gig:​

“That was another highlight as well, with playing Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London. I think I might well be the only person, or singer/ songwriter whatever, to have had: a string quartet, big sexy guys, and crotch-activated fireworks at the same gig.”​

To vote for Lewis as our MTV PUSH: One To Watch of 2019, like the Instagram below: