British singer Calum Scott dropped by the Hard Rock Hotel New York this week to talk with Audacy and CHANNEL Q's Corey Crockett before kicking off his North American tour.
LISTEN NOW: Calum Scott at the Hard Rock Hotel New York
After taking in some of the sights on his return to New York City, Calum tells us his neck has been feeling a little strained from gazing at all of the tall buildings. “It's been a little minute, but I love it… Everything is like, literally upwards,” he jokes. “But it's so cool, man, especially with Times Square right out here,” he adds, “constantly just firing things at you. You're like, ‘Oh my God!’ It doesn't matter what time of night… crazy!”
Being on the road is where Calum feels most at home, he says. “I love performing live. It's always been my favorite thing to do,” he admits. “I think tour bus life is chaotic, but there is some beautiful things that happen on the road. You become so much closer with your band and crew because you're literally having to live opposite bunks with each other.”
“Every single night I perform, I just absolutely love it,” Calum continues, which is exactly the mind frame to have before his shows kick off in the U.S. and Canada in just a couple of weeks. Grab your tickets HERE.
Calum Scott - The Songbook So Far tour dates:
10/3 – Montreal, QC – MTELUS
10/4 – Toronto, ON – Massey Hall
10/6 – Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre
10/9 – New York, NY – Beacon Theatre
10/10 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore
10/13 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
10/14 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
10/15 – Highland, CA – Yamaha’ Theater
One of those stops will obviously be in Philadelphia, a city where Calum has fostered a very special relationship over the past few years. Following his Britain’s Got Talent run in 2015, Scott released his own version of Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own,” which was a hit during the competition although he ultimately came in sixth that season. Years later, during the Philadelphia Phillies’ run to the 2022 World Series, a dance version of the song was used to hype the crowd and has been a staple in the city ever since.
“It's been a couple of years now, and they used it for two years consecutively, which is just crazy,” says Calum. “I first heard about it because three years ago, the Boston Red Sox had adopted it from Kyle Schwarber, I believe, and then he moved to Philly. He brought that song along with him… and the Phillies used it for the whole year. I was like, ‘That was so great. I'm so grateful to be a part of that moment with you,’ and I just assumed that they would retire the song.” As luck would have it, they brought it back. “I think going back to Philadelphia after everything that's happened the last few years is just gonna be electric,” he adds.
“I went to a restaurant in New York last time I was here, and the waiter was like, ‘I've been playing it cool, but I'm from Philadelphia,’ and he was like, ‘You realize you're a god there?’ He was like, ‘You should be going there, and you'll walk into a restaurant, people just give you food for free,’ and I'm like, ‘I'm not a dog. Just put it on the floor.’ I think it's just super lovely that they, obviously the people of Philadelphia, have adopted that song and adopted me as a consequence and I am just super grateful.”
Initially, the song was chosen by Calum first because he’s a huge fan of Robyn, but also with the goal of finding his “original voice.” “I was like, ‘I'm not proficient enough for any instrument to be able to play my own music,' and I wasn't writing songs at the time, so I was kind of living off of karaoke versions on YouTube,” he explains. “I wanted something that felt like I could put my own stamp on it, and I found this beautiful piano ballad orchestral version of ‘Dancing On My Own,’ and I was just like, ‘I love the song.’ I recorded it, I played it to my mom, she sat crying. And then I realized that I hadn't changed the pronouns and then I kind of wanted to make that intentional. So, when we rerecorded it, I kept it as is. I'm so glad I've done that because that has resonated with so many people who have spotted that. They've gone, ‘I'm so glad… because it's sung from the perspective of a gay man.’ At the time, you didn't get a lot of that really, so I'm very proud of it. I suppose at the time it was a brave thing to do without me realizing.”
“I've sung it maybe thousands of times now, and I never bore of singing it, because there is a lot of things embedded in that song that continue to give me inspiration,” Calum says of the track. “It was the song that I took to the ‘Britain's Got Talent’ audition, and it was the song that I got my golden buzzer from Simon [Cowell] with -- but it was also the song that my sister had me singing in my room. All this, and then the Phillies adopting the song and Tiësto making the remix and it being the birth of my career... There's so much attached to the song.”
Ultimately, at its core, he believes the song is about “that unrequited love, and it's that search for something that you can't have, that you see other people getting quite easily. I remember being in the club and being stood there with my little vodka and Coke and watching everybody else couple up and pair off and I always felt like I'd never got that. Also, I suppose, on a much deeper level as a gay man who had a bit of a rough time coming out, I kind of put myself back and didn't discuss my sexuality. I was always wanting to fit in with everybody else and never felt like I did.”
The positive results of opening up in such a way have been “tenfold,” Calum says. “I really struggled with talking about my sexuality until I started writing about my music. I wrote a song on my first album called ‘No Matter What,’ and that was my coming out story. It was how I told my mom, and then ultimately how I told my dad years and years later.”
“Music has always been a therapy for me, but it wasn't until I released that song and just watched it gain momentum and watching people comment on it and say, ‘Oh my God, I sent this to my son and we now have a lovely relationship.’ Or, somebody messaging me saying, ‘I sent this to my mum and dad and this is how I came out.’”
To this day, Calum says he still receives messages on YouTube. “If I read through them,” he admits, “I'd just start crying, because to have that influence and to be able to be that voice for people, that was the kind of voice I needed back then, you know? Now, my obligation is to make people feel seen and heard and that song really helped me with it.”
Don’t miss Corey Crockett’s full interview with Calum Scott above and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists right here on Audacy.