2 days ago
Tom Grennan: 'I've grown up in an Irish home - it's just not in Ireland'
Everywhere I Went, Led Me to Where I Didn't Want to Be is the new album from Tom Grennan. The "Bedford and Ireland" singer tells Harry Guerin about making it in the music business to album number four and the pull of home.
Harry Guerin: When you talked to RTÉ Entertainment in 2018 before your debut album, Lighting Matches, was released, you said you were looking for "longevity". Here you are seven years later with your fourth album.
Tom Grennan: I'm still looking for it, for sure! At the moment, things are going alright. I've had my head screwed on and I've known what I've wanted for many a year. But I think it took me a while to get to the place where I'm at now, where I'm like, 'Do you know what? Things are cool'. I'm just keeping busy and [I] just keep putting the songs out and see where they go.
Everywhere I Went, Led Me to Where I Didn't Want to Be is a brilliant album title. Where did it come from?
I was listening to Paul Simon. Paul Simon was a man who inspired me, and that title came from that (Paul Simon used a similar phrase to describe how he wrote Bridge Over Troubled Water). For me, that whole sentence just summed up everything about me, and where I've been at, who I've been, and who I am now. What I've done and what mistakes I've made - and how I've learned from them. Also, just being at peace with who I am. There was a long time where I was like, 'I don't want to be this person or I don't want to be that person'. Now, I'm kind of in a place where I'm like, 'Actually, there's loads of different sides of me'. I know what the good ones and what the bad ones [are]. It's a pretty deep album title. I wanted people to think on it and see how they related to it in their own life.
It's an interesting juxtaposition, though, because if I had to pick one adjective to describe the album, I would say it's joyous.
Definitely - and that's the album I wanted to make. I wanted to make a joyous album. I wanted to make an album that celebrated. Lyrically, if you wanted to sit down and investigate and go through what the songs are about, then there's thought and there's times for people where they go, 'Do you know what? There's a deeper meaning behind these songs'. But also, if you're a person like many who just wants to have a good time, then they (the songs) cater for everybody!
What headspace were you in after finishing the tour for your last album, What Ifs & Maybes, and then going into the studio to make Everywhere I Went, Led Me to Where I Didn't Want to Be?
I was just very much, 'I know what I want to do'. I was working with Justin Trenter (Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Chappell Roan), who's a massive songwriter, and various different [song]writers who I looked up to. I said I wanted to write an album that... I wanted it to be like a journey from being 21 in the music industry to 29 and how I navigated myself through that. But I want it to be the album that people go, 'He's a real popstar now!' I don't know whether it's done that yet and whether it will, but I think I put everything into it. I'm at a place in my life where I'm like, 'Well, it is what it is'. I'm putting out music that I love. Some people will love it, some people might not like it, but I'm cool with that too. Whereas back before, I used to be like, 'Everybody needs to love this'. I'm at peace with the fact that not everybody's going to like me.
You talk about the journey from being 21 in the music industry to being 29, what was the biggest ask during that whole time for you? What do you look back on and say, 'I thought I had a sense of something being like that, but in reality it was like this'?
I never got asked to do anything. It was more just like you're in this weird world and how do you navigate yourself through it? I got swirled up in it, and I also realised who I didn't want to be. There's a lot of fake people in it and there's a lot of smoke and mirrors in it - and not to get lost in it.
You're playing the 3Arena on 13 September. What have you planned band- and stage-wise for this tour?
It's going to be a big show! I'm not missing a trick on it! I'm going to put everything into it. Like I said about the album, I want people to be like, 'Wow, he's being very ambitious and very much believes in himself'. A lot of people coming to the shows have been fans from day one. I want them to also feel like not only have I done it, but we've done this [together]. People who would have seen me in a pub, and now I'm in these big arenas. And I'm there because of them, too. I want it to be a celebration for everybody and a win for everyone.
You did Electric Picnic last year in your Ireland jersey. Would you hope to be back next year?
At Electric Picnic? I'd love to! Wherever the wind takes me and wherever these songs take me, then I'll go! For me, I think that was a big moment. Somewhere where I consider home and it's across the sea - it's pretty special.
I was reading Ed Sheeran recently saying that as he gets older, he's feeling more of the pull of his Irish identity. Is it the same for you? I mean, when you talked to us in 2017, you described yourself as 'Tom Grennan from Bedford and Ireland'. Do you feel your Irish roots more powerfully as you get older?
I think it's always been powerful. It hasn't changed. I think, for me, I've always known who are my Irish roots and I've always been kind of drawn into them. And I think I've grown up in an Irish home - it's just not in Ireland. I'm someone with an English accent, but I'm very much Irish.
What's the one thing you'd really like people to take away from this album?
I think I want people to take from this record that it's ok to make mistakes, and there's always going to be a brighter day behind another door. Be happy with where life's at. Life is short, so try not to waste any minutes. Of course, we're all human, and anxiety will set in, but remember to smile when you can. And be very aware of your emotions because when you're not aware of emotions, that's when you can get lost. And I think that's where I was lost for a while.
