When you hear him perform, you can tell that this is somebody who can convey his emotions in a unique way, touching people around the globe.įrank Briegmann, president/CEO, UMG Central Europe and Deutsche Grammophon: We had a lot of excitement among Capitol, Virgin U.K. Lieberberg: The confidence was there - his personality, the way he handled social media. There was magic in the marriage of his voice and the music and the unassuming pop star.
Rosa Asciolla, head of artist and label marketing, North America, Spotify: There was a lot of excitement around Lewis. Globally, he was someone that we wanted to take a chance on in 2017. Here’s how one of 2019’s biggest No. 1s came to be. Of course, both Capaldi and Barnett had some help. Lewis did it brilliantly - and very much in 2019 style.”
“And it had been a while since a song like this has been as big as this. “The American public always has had a strong connection to heartbreak songs,” says Capitol Music Group chairman/CEO Steve Barnett, who led the effort to launch Capaldi in America (along with Virgin EMI/Vertigo in the United Kingdom and Universal Music Group Central Europe). It wasn’t propelled to viral popularity through a TikTok clip or meme, it boasted no big-name feature, and Capaldi - a ginger-haired 23-year-old with no heartthrob aspirations - was an unknown stateside and, by his own admission, an unlikely pop star.īut to Capaldi’s team, the reason for the song’s success was fairly simple: Its emotional content deeply resonated with a ready and willing audience, thanks in large part to the talent and commitment of the artist himself. (It also reigned for multiple weeks on Mainstream Top 40, Adult Top 40 and Radio Songs, and it topped Adult Contemporary for one week.) Yet it was by no means an obvious international hit. “Someone You Loved” - an anthemic ballad about burning heartbreak - hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late October and held the top spot for another two weeks in November. The 22-year-old Capaldi also recently announced his second North American tour of 2019 for this fall and his March 2020 tour of the UK and Ireland sold out in mere seconds, making him the first artist in history to sell out arenas prior to the release of a debut album.ĭivinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent can be bought here.What Capaldi didn’t realize then was that five months later, he would be pretty famous in the United States, too. The man was born to breathe life into power ballads.”Ĭapaldi recently made his US late night television debut, performing ‘Someone You Loved’ on The Late Late Show with James Corden back in June. “He wields those vocal cords like a velvet sledgehammer. “His voice is an undeniably powerful instrument, a rich and textured soulful roar that sometimes quivers with fragility,” writes Stereogum in their recent piece titled, Look Out America, Here Comes Lewis Capaldi. As one of the biggest stars coming out of UK, Capaldi is primed for crossover success in America.
‘Someone You Loved’ is from Capaldi’s debut album, Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent, which is the fastest selling UK debut of 2019 with 90,000 albums sold in the first week. That is the real achievement here, the dream of a slightly chubby boy from Scotland singing sad songs lives on.” I still think it must be some kind of elaborate joke I’m not in on! Thank you to everyone who bought it, streamed it or shouted it at a stranger in a park, I’m thinking my record label surely can’t drop me in the next 6 months after this. “When I found out about this today, I thought it was a joke. Stateside, the single is now at No.15 on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped Spotify’s Today’s Top Hits.Īfter learning of the song’s continued success, the singer-songwriter had this to say: The song continues to break records throughout Europe, going Platinum in 14 countries and topping the UK official singles chart for a nearly unprecedented seven weeks. The official video follows the previous visual ‘Someone You Loved (Video)’ which starred Peter Capaldi (of Doctor Who fame and the singer’s cousin), which heightened the awareness of organ donation.įollowing the release of Capaldi’s breakout singleback in November 2018, ‘Someone You Love’ has now been certified as Platinum by the RIAA. In the visual, Capaldi wanders the streets, following his lost love as his friends and strangers try to stop him from chasing after her.