Tom Grennan Interview

With the recent release of his second album Evering Road, pop singer/songwriter Tom Grennan is quickly becoming a popular artist in the United Kingdom and in Europe. His album debuted at #1 in the UK, and he has two singles—“Little Bit of Love” and “Let’s Go Home Together” (a duet with Ella Henderson)—moving up the UK chart.

Grennan has a powerful, soulful voice that immediately stands out when you hear his music. He sings with energy and passion, and he’s also a talented songwriter. Notably, he co-wrote all the songs on his new album (except for “Let’s Go Home Together”).

Evering Road is an excellent collection of songs that feature strong melodies, heartfelt lyrics, and a mostly positive outlook. Most of the songs have a big-sounding production, with strings, horns and soaring background vocals. Named after the East London address that Grennan shared with his then-girlfriend, Evering Road includes songs about love, heartbreak and redemption.

	SPECIAL FEATURE: STREAMING AUDIO
	Here’s an excerpt of our interview with Tom Grennan, about how he co-wrote his UK hit single “Little Bit of Love.” He also discusses his album, Evering Road.

Grennan’s new hit “Little Bit of Love” is a good introduction to his music and style. A high-energy song with an uplifting melody and hooky chorus, this single appears headed for the top of the UK chart and has the potential to become a worldwide hit. His other current single, “Let’s Go Home Together,” is an appealing duet with hit UK artist, Ella Henderson.

Grennan, who is 25, grew up in Bedford, England (near London). When he was 18, he went to university and started to focus more on his singing and songwriting. After college, he was offered a label deal, and in 2018 he released his debut album, Lighting Matches. The album reached #5 in the UK, and also charted in Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and Belgium. It was also during this period that Grennan demonstrated that he’s a charismatic, energetic live performer, and he began to headline shows and play festivals.

During the past year and in the midst of the pandemic, Grennan wrote and recorded the songs for his new album, Evering Road. Besides the songs “Little Bit of Love” and “Let’s Go Home Together,” other key songs include “Sweeter Then” (which has a big gospel choir), “This Is The Place” (released last year as a single), the distinctive ballad “Second Time,” plus the opening songs “If Only” and “Something Better.”

Here’s the video of Tom Grennan’s hit, “Little Bit of Love.”

Grennan is set to launch a headlining tour of Europe and the UK, starting this fall. He also has plans to tour in the U.S.

We are pleased to do this new Q&A interview with Tom Grennan. He discusses the making of his album Evering Road, and how he co-wrote his hit “Little Bit of Love’ and some of the other songs on his album.

DK: I read that you were born in Bedford and now you live in London. How did you get started with singing and writing songs?

Tom Grennan: I was born in Bedford, and my love for music came when I was drunk at a party and I started to sing on a karaoke machine (laughs). I then joined this little band in Bedford, and we did covers. Then everybody moved to university—I was in a band and I was going to go to London and to university. And it wasn’t until I went to London that I started writing songs. I was just writing about my life—writing about the good times and the bad times.

Then in my second year of university, I started to gig. And in my third year I got signed, and it was a pretty mad snowball from there.

DK: You released your first album, Lighting Matches, in 2018. What was it like to record your first album and become a success in the UK and Europe?

Grennan: With my first album, it was me finding my feet and finding my voice, and I suppose saying hello to the world. It was a collection of songs that I wrote, and thankfully they made an album. But it was a good learning process—I was kind of thrown into the deep end. As soon as I had finished university, I signed a record deal, and now you’ve got to go write an album. So that’s what I did.

DK: You’ve just released your new album, Evering Road. Can you talk about the making of this album?

Grennan: Evering Road is all about a road that I lived on, and it represents love, heartbreak and redemption. It’s me standing up saying…Listen, I’m sorry for what I’ve done, I’m holding my hands up, and I’m being so so honest [about this relationship]. And I’ve made mistakes. But I’m a human being, and want to right my mistakes. I want to say…Sorry, and to say thank you. Because if I didn’t have that time and that experience, I wouldn’t have been able to grow into the person I am today.

Here’s the video of Tom Grennan & Ella Henderson’s hit, “Let’s
Go Home Together.”

DK: I like your new hit, “Little Bit of Love.” What inspired you and your co-writers (Dan Bryer and Mike Needle) to write this song?

Grennan: We met during an evening session. I went down to the studio and we spent all night writing it. It’s all about unconditional love, and I wanted to write a song that represented me…realizing that I do deserve love. No matter who you are and where you come from, everybody deserves that little bit of love. So I wanted to write a song that represented that. I wanted it to be uplifting, but also have meaning behind that.

DK: I like that many of your songs have a lot of energy and emotion, and with a positive attitude. What the message that you want to convey with your music and your new album?

Grennan: I think with this album, the message is that it’s a breakup album, but it’s not like…Ahh, let’s cry about it and feel sorry for me. It’s kind of going…Listen, I’m coming over the hill, and I’m gonna take everything that I’ve done and uplift myself and say, “I’m gonna be better.” So I believe that the message is…Listen, better times are coming if you believe in yourself and believe in the better times. Be happy, and keep smiling and dance, man.

DK: You also have a duet hit with Ella Henderson called “Let’s Go Home Together.” How did you hook up with Ella for this song?

Grennan: Ella rang me. She had that song for about four years in the pipeline. And she was like, “Do you want to jump on this song?” And I was like, “Yeah, let me hear it.” As soon as I heard it, it was instant for me. I was like, “How is this song not released yet?” I’m not going to take any credit for writing that song because she wrote that song. I’m just so proud to be on it. It reminds me of the good times we had…when we could go out and be with whoever we wanted to be with. And take somebody home if we were gettin’ on, do you know what I mean? And now that’s been stripped way. We can’t go out, we can’t do that. So it reminded me of those times. I’m just proud and honored to be on it.

DK: On your album, I noticed that several songs have big arrangements and production, and “Sweeter Then” has a big gospel choir. Was it your goal to create a big, full sound that has a lot of energy?

Here’s the video of Tom Grennan’s single, “This is the Place.”

Grennan: I think so. For me, I wanted to make a sound that uplifted people. And gospel music, soul music and pop music are what uplifts me. I wanted to put that into my album. So I wanted to get as many singers and musicians as possible—I wanted a choir, I wanted strings and I wanted brass. I wanted the big sounds that could fill a stadium. And get people dancing, man.

DK: Besides the songs we’ve talked about, what are your favorite songs on the album?

Grennan: I like “Love Has Different Ways To Say Goodbye,” because it wraps the album up so nicely, and the music is quite cinematic. And I love “It Hurts.” Even though it’s a sad song, it’s still uplifting to me. I love that song and the production. Dan Grech, who produced it, really found a different sound with that song. I thought it was gonna be a ballad, but he’s got some mad, booming drums on it. And it’s still got that soul element to it, which is great.

DK: I read that you’ll be starting a big concert in Europe and the UK soon. Is that true?

Grennan: That’s been postponed, but I’ll be doing shows in September in the UK.

DK: After you’re able to tour in the UK and Europe, will you be touring in the U.S.?

Grennan: Yeah, there’s a whole U.S. tour planned. So I’ll be coming as soon as I can get the green light.

DK: Thank you Tom for doing this interview. Is there anything that we haven’t talked about yet, that you’d like to mention for this article?

Grennan: Just that I can’t wait to meet people, and I hope that people are loving my album and connecting with it.

Here’s the link to Tom Grennan’s site: https://www.tomgrennanmusic.com/