Calum Scott hangs with Corey Crockett to talk new music!
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00:00Here from the Hard Rock Hotel in New York, I'm Corey Crockett from Odyssey's
00:07Channel Q with a talented singer who's about to be across the U.S. in just a
00:12little bit. Callum Scott, hi, welcome! Corey Crockett is possibly the best name I
00:17think I've ever heard. You should be in like Hollywood with that name. I was born with a
00:20radio name, my parents knew. Corey Crockett. I like that. The boy who lived.
00:27So welcome, how you enjoying New York so far? I love it, I love being back in New York, it's
00:31been a little minute, but I love it. Everything's up, I have a strained neck
00:36from just, everything is like literally upwards, but it's so cool man.
00:41Especially with Times Square right out here. Literally just outside, it's crazy.
00:44It's crazy, it's like the whole, that whole area is just on drugs
00:50constantly. Just firing things at you, you're like, oh my god, it doesn't matter
00:53what time of night. Crazy. How do you like being on the road, is it a lot or do
00:57you enjoy the travel? You adjust to the chaos I think. I love performing live,
01:04it's always been my favorite thing to do. I think tour bus life is chaotic, but
01:10there is some beautiful things that happen on the road, you become so much
01:13closer with your band and crew because you're literally having to live opposite
01:17bunks with each other. Literally to an extent where I'll close my curtain and
01:23my pianist will sleep opposite me and he'll close his curtain within 15
01:27minutes, he's like, and I'm having to just shove my hand through and be like, stop.
01:32But it's beautiful, you're a little family on the road and yeah, and I love
01:36performing for my fans. Every single night I perform, I just absolutely
01:40love it. You've got a handful of shows in North America kicking off in just a
01:43couple of weeks. I want to ask you, one of those stops is in Philadelphia. Yes.
01:48Your relationship with that city is really incredible. When did you find out
01:53that the Philadelphia Phillies, the MLB team, had adopted your song Dancing On My
01:59Own? Well, it's been a couple of years now and they used it for two years
02:02consecutively, which is just crazy. But I first heard about it because of three
02:09years ago, the Boston Red Sox had adopted it from Kyle Schwab, I believe. And
02:15then he moved to Philly and then he brought that song along with him. And
02:19there was another song that was going on at the time and, and Kyle was like, we
02:23should play this song. And it just kicked off. And the Phillies used it for
02:27that whole year. And then I was like, that was so great. I'm so grateful to be
02:31a part of that moment with you. And I just assumed that they would retire the
02:34song. And they brought it back. And it's just crazy. Because then like now I was
02:39talking to a Phillies fan yesterday. And he said that they, like the fans are
02:44like, we want it for a third year. And I don't want to upset anybody because I
02:48know that the baseball industry can be a little bit superstitious. And I don't
02:51want to step on any toes. But I think going back to Philadelphia, after
02:56everything that's happened last few years, it's just going to be electric.
02:59Yeah. Are you excited to go back?
03:00Yeah, so much. I went to a restaurant in New York last time I was here. And the
03:05waiter was like, I've been playing it cool, but I'm from Philadelphia. And he
03:07was like, you realize you're a god there is that you should be going there
03:10and just you'll walk into a restaurant, people just give you food for free. And
03:13I'm like, I'm not a dog. Just put it on the floor. I'll just be. But no, I think
03:19it's just it's super lovely that they obviously the the people of Philadelphia
03:23have adopted that song and adopted me as a consequence. And I am just super
03:27grateful.
03:28I want to ask you about Dancing On My Own because that's a song I use so often
03:32because you do one of my favorite things, which is when an artist covers a
03:37song by an artist of a different gender. Yeah. And you keep the pronouns and the
03:42gender of the characters in the song in your rendition. Is that something you
03:47think about when you choose that song?
03:50It wasn't something I thought about initially. But then when I had really
03:56tapped into the power of that song, I mean, I kind of didn't happen across it
03:59by chance. I am a huge fan of Robin. But the song came around because I was
04:04trying to figure out what my original voice was. And I was like, I'm not
04:08proficient enough at any instrument to be able to play my own music. And I
04:12wasn't writing songs at the time. So I was kind of like living off of karaoke
04:15versions on YouTube. And I you know, if you put in fly me to the moon, it comes
04:21on and you're you're gonna go fly me to them. You know what I mean? And I wanted
04:25something that felt like I could put my own stamp on it. And I found this
04:29beautiful piano ballad orchestral version of of dancing on my own. And I
04:34was just like, I love the song. I recorded it. I played it to my mom. She
04:38started crying. And then I realised that I hadn't changed the pronouns. And
04:42then I kind of wanted to make that intentional. So when we recorded it, I
04:46kept it as is. And I'm so glad I've done that because that has resonated with so
04:51many people who have spotted that they've gone I'm so glad that you because
04:55it's sung from the perspective of a of a gay man, you know, and you don't you
05:00don't you while you at the time you didn't get a lot of that, really. So I'm
05:05very proud of it. And I think I suppose at the time, it was a brave thing to do
05:09without me realising.
05:10Do you feel like because I think listening to that song, the the Robin
05:14version is beautiful, but yours has just this extra level of emotion. And it
05:19comes from that kind of wanting something you can't have that as a gay
05:23person sometimes is in every facet of life, right? Like there's this deep
05:28tension. Do you listen back to that now and hear that and feel what so many
05:32people I'm sure have said they feel when they listen to that song?
05:35Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've sang it maybe 1000s of times now and I never bore of
05:39singing it because there is a lot of things embedded in that song that
05:44continue to give me inspiration. You know that that it was the song that I
05:47took to the Britain's Got Talent audition. And it was the song that I
05:50kind of got my golden buzzer from from Simon with but it was also the song
05:53that my sister had me singing in my room. And so there's all this and then
05:57the Phillies adopting the song and Tiesto making a remix and it be my kind
06:02of the birth of my career. There's so much attached to the song, but
06:06ultimately at its core as a as a song, you know, it's that unrequited love.
06:11And it's that search for something that you can't have that you see other
06:13people getting quite easily. I I remember being in the club and being
06:17stood there with my little vodka and coke and watching everybody else couple
06:21up and pair off and I always felt like I'd never got that. And also, I suppose
06:26on a much deeper level, as a as a as a gay man who had a bit of a rough time
06:31coming out, I kind of put myself back and didn't discuss my sexuality. And so
06:37then I was always wanting to fit in with everybody else and never felt like I
06:40did. Sorry to go a bit deep. But you know what I mean? It's that it's that
06:44it's that kind of like level of being like, you know, wanting something you
06:47can't have, which for me was just finding happiness with somebody else.
06:50You have spoken about having a difficult time coming out. Has singing
06:55a song like that and in general being more out in your art? Has that helped
07:01you in your personal life?
07:02Oh my god, like tenfold. I really struggled with talking about my sexuality
07:07until I started writing about my music. And I wrote a song on my first album
07:11called No Matter What. And that was my coming out story. It was how I told my
07:15mum, you know, the story of how I told my mum and then ultimately how I told
07:19my dad years and years later. But there's a there's a there's a verse in
07:24there when I told my friends and I was abandoned. And it was really tough. And
07:29talking about it, you know, was was really difficult. I remember walking
07:33into my label and just bashing into tears saying I don't know if I want to
07:36talk about my sexuality because I had such a rough time when I was younger.
07:39And putting it into music kind of made it easier. Music has always been a
07:44therapy for me. But it wasn't until I released that song and just watched it
07:49gain momentum and watching people comment on it and saying, Oh my god, I
07:53sent this to my son and we now have a lovely relationship or, you know,
07:57somebody messaging me saying I told I sent this to my mum and dad and this is
08:00how I came out and I even to this day still get messages on YouTube. If I read
08:04through them, I just start crying because it's like to have that influence
08:09and to be able to be that voice for people. That was the kind of voice I
08:12needed back then, you know, so I just feel like now my obligation is to is to
08:17make people feel seen and heard and and that song really helped me with it.
08:21And from that, you've also become such a big advocate of mental health
08:24awareness. Yeah. How did that come about for you?
08:27The same thing. I just started realising that my music was really ringing true
08:31in people's hearts. And, you know, especially songs like you are the reason
08:34that was being used as wedding songs and walking down the aisle and fast
08:38dances. I just realised that my music held a lot of weight with people and
08:43enough that they want to soundtrack their life to that, you know, and so I
08:48just started writing from the heart of things that I've experienced. And
08:51there's a song in particular that's kind of blowing up again for me at the
08:55minute, a song called Floors, which is about, you know, my sister comparing
08:59herself to everybody else online and and feeling like she doesn't feel as
09:03pretty or as good as everybody she sees. And, you know, I say this in my
09:07shows, it's like I wanted to write a song that reminds her but also myself
09:10and everybody else to give yourself a bit of a break sometimes and, you know,
09:14to love yourself flaws and all, you know, so mental health for me has always
09:18been an important thing for me to advocate for. And I just feel like using
09:23my voice and my platform, I'm, I'm able to amplify that voice now.
09:26In your own life, how do you take care of your own mental health? How do you
09:29prioritise yourself?
09:32Family and friends, there is nothing more grounding, good and bad than
09:36friends and family. I mean, my mum in particular is my angel. She's been mum
09:41and dad for me all my life. She is a she's just she's stunning inside and
09:45out. She hears all my music before the label does. She will tell me very
09:50frankly, if she thinks that something is crap.
09:52She's the best A&R.
09:53Oh my god, she's like, this isn't my favourite song that you've done. And I'm
09:57like, okay, doesn't matter that I cried into that song. We'll just can that. But
10:02it's important. It's important to have those opinions of people who have your
10:05best interests at heart, you know, and so friends and family for me and going
10:09back to my hometown in in Yorkshire is is is really great for grounding myself
10:13again.
10:14I want to talk about the new music, Roots, which you released recently. So
10:19fun, so upbeat. And it's it's a very relatable song. Where does that song come
10:24from when you're putting that together?
10:26Do you know what that song? I've never felt more content and confident in my
10:31life right now. I just feel like I'm in a great place. I feel like as a man, as
10:37an artist, as you know, a brother, as a friend, I just feel like I'm in a really
10:41great place. I don't know if that's my age or whatever, but I just I'm more
10:45centred now. And I feel like my music is kind of evolving and changing because of
10:49that, because I'm not afraid to let the song be what it is, you know, with with
10:54At Your Worst, which was one of the first singles from this from this third
10:58album, it just was a bop. And like before, I would have been like, no, no,
11:02we've got to get a cello on there. It's got to be I want people crying. But I
11:08just let the song do its own thing. And it seems to have really like resonate
11:12with people on a different level to just to just, you know, pure emotion.
11:17Lighthouse was the same. And you know, this this song Roots is, is another
11:21evolution of that I've just been like talking about, like, times of your
11:25childhood, or something that connects you to your past or to who's who's made
11:30you who you are today. You know, for me, that's my hometown and my friends and
11:33family. But you know, just watching the song, travel and watching people enjoy
11:38it. And it's a slightly different experience for me to see people dancing
11:41to my songs rather than crying. But it's really great. I absolutely love it. It's
11:46making me grow and develop as an artist.
11:48And for the art for the song, there's an image of a throwback picture of a young
11:52kid. I assume that's me. Was that fun to go through pictures and find that?
11:56Yeah, it was a little bit terrifying, because you're like sharing, sharing,
12:00like, I guess, a really vulnerable time, because that that kid had no idea what
12:05was going on. And then if that kid was seen by however many people have seen
12:08the artwork, I think he'd be terrified. But it's also really humbling to look at
12:13that image and be like, Oh, my God, like that, that kid would have never been
12:17able to dream up what's happened to him since and yet now I'm looking at it. And
12:20this has become part of my career. And you know, and this kid is like 10 into
12:25this 35 year old recording artist that travels the world and sings with Ed
12:28Sheeran. Like, what the hell's going on? You know what I mean?
12:31Well, and everything cyclical. So he's a fashionable kid, too. You're looking
12:33at I mean, he's got a Blue Jays how he was into baseball before I even knew
12:36what baseball was. Right? He's got the big shades. And yeah, I just I don't
12:41know where that style went. Unfortunately.
12:45We won't show the Phillies fans the Blue Jays.
12:47Yeah, yeah, don't don't don't do that. Yeah, yeah, cut that bit. And then you
12:51got a new song, my world. No one's heard it yet. Maybe some people in this
12:54room, but I have heard so can you give us a little preview of what to expect
12:57from from the new song?
12:58Yeah, so this one, I feel like I am always going to want to be able to write
13:03a song that says you mean so much to me. But it's hard to continue to write to
13:08that level. You know, with you the reason we stumbled on some some beauty
13:14that I think none of us expected. We were just trying to say like, you mean
13:17everything to me. And that was you are the reason. And since then, I've tried
13:21to write that song again and again. And I've tried to reinvent how you can say
13:26that to somebody, you know, but there's only so many words in the English
13:28language. And there's only so many melodies and so many keys. So it's
13:32tough. But we again, with this new kind of evolution of what I'm doing, and
13:36probably with my features with like lost frequencies and Kygo and Jax
13:41Jones, it's kind of influenced me to be able to be a bit more flexible and
13:44pull in different directions. So my world is is a ballad for the best part.
13:48And then there's this kind of beat that comes in that is completely
13:52unexpected. But for me, it just it just carries that message so well.
13:56Awesome. Yeah, looking forward. Yeah, yeah, it's really it's, it's a bit of
14:00a tearjerker. And it's a bit of a bop all in one.
14:03I mean, you can't get better than that. Well, everything in one song, like
14:06perfect crying and dancing at the same time. It's like, strange, but right.
14:10That's fine. I want to wrap here with what I'm calling our blatantly British
14:14question. So this is inviting you here to the States appreciate you taking the
14:17time to be here in New York. Daniel Craig wrapped up his career as James
14:22Bond. There's a story today from the BBC from Ben Whishaw, who we love queer
14:26British actor, big fan, that he thinks they're going to completely redo the
14:30cast. So who do you want to see as James Bond?
14:35Ooh, great question. There's so many people that I think would be perfect for
14:40it. I think Idris Elba would be insane for it. Just because like, I even
14:47watching him as Luther, you just you just get the sense that he would be
14:50incredible in that in that environment. I'll just throw myself into that. I
14:58think you should. I think you should. Would you be interested in doing any
15:01Yorkshire version of James Bond? Like, oh no, stop. You can hear from the
15:15laughter from my crew and my team that they believe in me as well. But I just
15:20say, yeah, I mean, I'd love to throw my hand at acting. I've had a couple of
15:24opportunities that have come that I've been too scared to take up, but who knows
15:28in the future? Well, and you did this song for the Garfield soundtrack. Maybe
15:31voice acting is an entry level thing? Yeah, I think so. I think so. It's funny, I have done a
15:37voiceover for a show that has not come out yet, and it is so funny because
15:42without giving too much away, there is a moment where I have to land on a tree.
15:47I'm a creature in this particular show, and I have to land on a
15:53tree, and the producers are like, I just need you to make noise as if you've
15:58landed on a tree. Yeah, exactly. So I'm in the studio, and I'm like, I don't know how you
16:09land on a tree, so I'm just trying to visualize that I'd go, but doing that
16:14without any context is quite strange. Yeah, so I mean, just look out for it.
16:20Well, this is the radio, so I'm gonna make that a soundbite. I'm gonna play it on my show.
16:23Wonderful. Be ready. Let's not listen to a single, let's listen to Callum,
16:28Landing on a Tree is a Bird. Yeah, well thank you for that. We got a little scoop
16:32here that you're making your voice acting debut. We'll see this in all the
16:36headlines. Thank you for taking the time to do this. Thank you so much. New music, shows in
16:40the month of October here in North America. Excited for it. Yeah, thank you so
16:44much. Thank you.