You might know him as the “baby
faced one from The Wanted” but since they went their separate ways last year,
Nathan Sykes has reinvented himself, and is preparing to launch a fully fledged
solo attack on the charts.
Joining The Wanted as a teenager
Nathan has been immersed in the pop world for over five years now, and after
weathering a celebrity relationship and consequent split with pop princess
Ariana Grande, a worrying operation on his vocal chords, and demise of The
Wanted, at the age of only 21 years old he’s already witnessed the highs and
lows of the music industry. But, undeterred, his love of music has won above
all, and this year sees Nathan release his long-awaited solo material.
Before Christmas we sat down with
Nathan’s team for a sneaky listen of what’s in store, and were, to be
completely honest, not expecting what we heard. One thing’s for sure, this boy
can sing. Through the catchy pop beats and funk-tinged melodies one thing was
constant – Nathan’s soulful vocals that you’ll no doubt next hear at the top of
the charts. Here, we sit down with Nathan for his exclusive first interview and
shoot as a solo artist.
You were the youngest member of The
Wanted, how have you grown as a musician and a person since the beginning of
the band to now being solo?
Having the opportunity to start in
the music industry at the age of 16 is quite rare and I was pretty much thrown
into the deep end on both levels if I’m honest. When I first started in the
band I was also taking my A-levels, was doing coursework in any spare time and
the majority of the band were five years older than me so I had to mature a lot
quicker than I would have if I had been going to college everyday. On a music
front, I wasn’t the most confident song writer but grew quite a lot throughout
my time in The Wanted and ended up writing two singles which I think has given
me the confidence to write the majority of the album and be strong with my
ideas and vision for the record.
Was going solo always your end goal?
No. My end goal is to be in the
music industry and to be successful for as long as I possibly can be. Music is
something that I’ve been doing for as long as I can remember and I really hope
that I’m lucky enough to be doing it for the rest of my life.
How nerve wracking is it going it
alone, what are your biggest fears and, on the flip side, excitements?
There is no one to hide behind
anymore! It’s so exciting though. I can’t wait to get back out on stage again.
The Wanted were huge, with a big fan
base in America also which means that fans always want a piece of you. Have you
had to learn to be more guarded in order to keep some privacy in your life?
To be honest I’m quite a guarded
person anyway and can be quite quiet at times but I have always had a great
relationship with the fans and I’m looking forward to keeping that going with
both old and new ones. After travelling, being on the road and recording in LA,
always going back to family in Gloucester makes it quite easy to keep grounded
amongst the madness and everyone back home is always really supportive.
THERE IS NO ONE TO HIDE BEHIND
ANYMORE!
We’ve heard some of your solo
material, and we’ll admit, it’s not what we expected, there’s definite funk and
soul there. Did you feel the need to break away from more classic pop as that’s
what people were used to from The Wanted?
I’m not going to be one of those
people who tries to claim they are not making pop music when they actually are
so whereas parts of my sound may not be traditional straight down the line pop
music or the pop music people heard from The Wanted, I’m still classing this as
a pop album. It was never my mission to do something unexpected, I just wrote
music and didn’t set any limits and if I’m completely honest I have even surprised
myself!
How important to your career do you
think it will be to change people’s potential preconceptions?
I think that’s one of the most
exciting parts of creating this album is when people have heard the music they
have always said that it’s not what they expected. From being one fifth of a
group to being a soloist, there is always the chance to surprise people as they
are only now seeing 100% of me for the first time. It’s like a second, first
impression and whereas I don’t necessarily think it’s important to change
people’s perceptions, I do think it’s exciting that people won’t just see me as
“the young one in the wanted” and can have to freedom to judge me as an
individual and not just “that bloke from that band”!
Give us some insight into the album,
what will it sound like and when can we expect it?
I think the album has got quite a
wide variety of music within the genre if that makes sense. While I’ve kept
this as a pop album, I have tried to make something for everyone and have
elements of soul, funk, Motown, dance, straight down the line commercial pop,
some more stripped back acoustic tracks and there are a couple of piano ballads
on there as well. I just wanted to make an album that people can really enjoy
and that will also translate really well into a live show as I feel that having
a great live show is just as important as having a great album. When can you
expect it!? I think that you will probably get the album towards the end of
2015 but we are looking to get my first single to you all within the first few
months of the year!
Lyrically, what has inspired the
tracks on the album?
I have tried to keep the album as
feel good as possible but I think I had quite a lot of raw emotion in 2014 so I
ended up baring my soul in a few of the tracks! My favourite moment on the
album is the transition between possibly the most feel good track I have that
has a bit of a throw back vibe to it to a ballad where I basically pour my
heart out over the space of four minutes! While the majority of the tracks have
a “love element” to them, I also touched upon the time between the end of the
wanted and the start of my solo music when I knew that timing was everything
and that I needed to take my time to create something that I have dreamed of
making and something that I could be really proud of.
How important is it to be authentic
in your music? Can music fans see through fakery these days?
I think it’s wrong when people label
music as fake. As long as people are doing the music they believe in and the
music they are passionate about then surely it’s not for us to decide if their
music is fake or not?
Where do you think you fit in the
current music scene, and who else is inspiring you currently?
I hope to fit in quite smoothly and
not get in anyone’s way! The music industry is a big old world and I think
people can be fans of many different artists without declaring themselves to a
certain individual or band. Personally, I think Sam Smith’s and Ed Sheeran’s
music is so good! I could go on forever about music that I love but while I
love all of the older stuff like Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke etc I
also love how Labrinth has taken influence from those guys and made the most
amazing track with “Let It Be”. I’m also really inspired by Ryan Tedder, Jamie
Cullum, Boyz II Men and John Legend.
You’ve been working with some great
producers. Did you know what you wanted your sound to be before starting this
record, or has it come from spending time experimenting in the studio?
I’ve been lucky enough to work with
some of the best producers in the industry and although I wasn’t completely set
on what I wanted my sound to be at first, it didn’t take too long to find the
sound. At the start of the process I made a list of dream producers and song
writers I would love to work with which included Harmony Samuels, Babyface and
Diane Warren, all of whom wanted to work with me, which was amazing. Having
already worked with Harmony on the track “Almost Is Never Enough” with Ariana
Grande, he really helped me create the sound and he’s now the Executive
Producer on the album and together we have created some of my favourite tracks
on the album.
Working with Diane Warren and
Babyface was two of the most surreal days of my life. There is never a dull
moment with Diane and she is one of my favourite people on the planet and the
session with Babyface produced probably the most honest and emotional song I’ve
ever written!
Fashion and style obviously play a
huge role in music these days, how are you planning to incorporate fashion into
your solo career - will fans see a new side to you?
Fashion is something that I’ve only
recently taken a real interest in and although some of my choices in clothing
my be suspect at times I feel like I am slowly getting better! I think that
it’s important that how you look represents you as an artist and with a new
style of music and with a new chapter starting in my life, with me growing on
an artist and personal level, fans may see a development in my fashion as well.
To date thus far, what are you most
proud of?
I would say that I am really proud
of the way that I have surprised not only myself with the music on this album,
but the people who I work with too. About a year and a half ago I was
undergoing surgery on my vocal chords and it’s amazing to personally think that
I have never sounded better and I can’t wait to keep improving and hopefully
surprising myself and others again and again in the future!
Nathan’s debut single is out this
spring and the album will be out later this year.
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