What's touring with Ed Sheeran like? Calum Scott spills beans on mentorship

Gulf News

British singer Calum Scott, who will open for Ed Sheeran concert at the Sevens Stadium tonight and tomorrow, claims he’s living his best life in Dubai. And the reason for his happiness? His mentor and guide: Ed Sheeran.   Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/music/whats-it-like-to-tour-with-pop-icon-ed-sheeran-calum-scott-spills-the-beans-on-being-mentored-from-the-best-1.1705664427484  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #Dubai #CalumScott

Transcript

00:00I'm sure over the course of this tour, the next six months, he's really going to be a massive

00:06inspiration, a massive teacher for me. So I am taking notes as we go.

00:13What have you observed about Ed Sheeran? I mean, at close quarters,

00:17I think you are one of the few people who are going to be on the road with him for six months.

00:22And that kind of gives you the ringside view of what it takes to be Ed Sheeran, I suppose.

00:27Oh my God, 100%. As soon as I finished my set, I went straight out and was sat there,

00:32ready and poised, waiting for him to come on stage. I sat there with notes like,

00:37how does he do it? But yeah, I just want to use him as a mentor as well whilst I'm on the road

00:44with him. He had a lovely 15, 20 minutes with me backstage before I went on stage and just was

00:51talking to me about all things normal, you know, talked about his Christmas and packing for the

00:58tour and his kids and stuff and was asking me about my New Year's Eve and Christmas and things.

01:03So it just felt really nice to just, you know, a superstar like Ed Sheeran, just

01:08us talking about how we pack our suitcases was just really nice just before I went on stage.

01:14And he's given me some great advice about how to manage my nerves a little bit better. And

01:19I'm sure over the course of this tour, the next six months, he's really going to be a massive

01:26inspiration, a massive teacher for me. So I am taking notes as we go. I want to graduate from

01:32Ed Sheeran school, that's what I want to do. What I found fascinating about his journey is that

01:38he's a very self-made man. I think Callum, somewhere along the way, you are self-made as well.

01:43You didn't have godfathers protecting you, shepherding you, telling you what to do, right?

01:47A hundred percent. I look at what Ed's done in his life and not that it's comparable from my

01:54life at all, but the ethos he has and the work ethic and the journey as well. I mean, Ed worked

02:02really, really hard and always has done, but people think like, oh, well, it was that one song

02:08that broke him. But he's been constantly pumping out music ever since his biggest hit. And I think

02:16that's the same with me. Ever since I released Dancing On My Own, my version, I've been searching

02:21for that next song. And I was worried for a little minute, is that going to be my biggest song? Am I

02:25going to be a one-trick pony? And, you know, especially after Britain's Got Talent, there was

02:30no, you know, like you said, Simon Cowell had kind of gone off and done another show. And I was left

02:37kind of like, well, what do I do now? And I've been working so hard since. And when I wrote You

02:43Are The Reason and put that song out, that kind of, for me, really solidified my place in music

02:49culture. And I still work so hard to try and find the next, you know, what's going to be the next

02:55big song that people walk down the aisle to or dance their first dance song to. So, yeah, I see

03:02a lot of what Ed Sheeran has done and the kind of person he is. And I see a lot of myself inspired by

03:08that and following those footsteps a little bit.

03:11Now, in this age of Tinder, Bumble, etc., where love is like a questionable currency,

03:16how do your songs fit in? Like, do you also question, like, should I be writing,

03:20should I go dark on myself or anything on those lines?

03:24Do you know what? I think from the dawn of time, people have written about love, about

03:30relationships, make-up, break-up. And I think that's what people resonate with, because,

03:36you know, it's something we all have in common. It's either being in love or not being in love,

03:40you know? And I think, you know, Dancing On My Own is about heartbreak, unrequited love.

03:47You know, You Were The Reason is about being in love with somebody so much that they're

03:51everything to you. And I think, you know, these are songs that I am a part of that reflect,

03:57you know, everybody's life. I think that that resonation and people being able to relate to

04:03songs, for me, is my bread and butter. That's what I've always wanted to do, is have a song

04:07where people go, that's my journey, that's my story. I've never thought about writing a song

04:13about finding love on Tinder. I think that's maybe a little bit too far. But I like the

04:19traditional kind of, you know, finding love across the bar or something like that, you know,

04:25locking eyes with somebody. But maybe there's a song in there. Maybe I should tell Ed, like,

04:30maybe we should be writing a song about Bumble. Maybe that's the next big hit.

04:35You said that he helped you get over your stage fear. What was the tip he gave you?

04:41The best advice that Ed gave me was, because I said, I've never performed to this amount of people

04:47with this amount of music. You know, last year, I performed in Wembley Stadium in London,

04:52but it was for one song and then I came off. You know, it was the same with the current

04:56singing at the King's Coronation, one song off. So for 40 minutes, to sing to people

05:03in a stadium is quite a different beast. And Ed said, do you know what he said? Don't think of it

05:09as individuals, because when you're thinking of tens of thousands of individual people,

05:14it's scary for me even. So he said, just think of it as one big blob that you're entertaining,

05:20like one big, massive blob. And I was like, oh, OK. But I kind of understand what he means. I

05:26like to see the lights in people's eyes. I like to see people. I like to see the joy or the tears

05:31and just the emotion. And when you're in a stadium, you can't see past maybe the 20th row,

05:39right? So I think I'm going to have to, like, entertain the blob, as Ed Sheeran said.

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