Please Keep Me Anonymous with Sam Ryder

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0:35Shop the Breezley Collection now at lululemon.com. Hello all and welcome to Shag Marinoid, please keep me anonymous. On this week's episode, we have got the wonderful Sam Ryder. Oh, just what a, genuinely, what a, just a lovely bloke. He really is. in this industry it's not always that you meet really lovely people and you know I don't want to shatter your dreams here but there's quite a lot of dickheads and there's quite a lot of people who seem really lovely but you can kind of see through it but he is genuinely just a he is genuinely lovely top bloke we've got him before he's jaded I don't think he'd ever be jaded though do you?

1:14I don't think he will I don't think he will but he tells me about how he spends half his time over here and half his time in America and I think that might help quite a lot although then I don't know what if America breaks and before we do I don't know. He's a very talented guy and he's a really interesting guy. We talk a little bit about his past and how he got into singing. I don't know these stories and where it all came from. It's just really interesting. Well, it's weird because the first time we met him, we were promoting our TV show while he was just coming back from the Eurovision success.

1:39Yes. And it was on all the same stuff together that week. It was madness. In one day, we were on like five things together and we just kept seeing him at these different stuff. So it's nice to actually sit down and have like a proper chat with him. Yeah. And he's dead funny. And I tell you what, he's a bloody Sun 41 fan, same as me. Oh, yeah. There's a little bit of rapping in this episode. There's definitely a bit of rapping. Very exciting stuff. And he reads out a fantastic, please keep me anonymous story, which, yeah, was... What's weird about this and what I think we'll find weird about doing these is like, we've got these people on and, you know, he's like, obviously Eurovision fame and he's a very serious musician.

2:11He's a very, very talented man. He sang a little bit forward and it's like goosebumps singing. And then you go, oh, same as the TV show. By the way, read this story about someone shitting themselves. Okay. because it's normally just me and you. There is a moment where these people are reading these stories and I'm like, S is weird this side. They are pretty warned about it though. They are pretty warned. Yeah, I think so. I think they sent them beforehand, but I don't think they read them beforehand. We really enjoyed talking to Sam and we think you're going to enjoy it as well. Yeah, and thank you so much for all the lovely messages so far about the Jordan Stevens episode that was out last week.

2:44Glad you all enjoyed listening and watching that. Thank you. And yeah, enjoy Sam. We had a fight about the jingle. Jingle. We couldn't settle on a jingle. Jingle. So this is the jingle. Jingle. We hope you like the jingle. Jingle. Babadoo, babadoo, babadoo, babadoo. Jingle. Hello, you're listening to Shagmardinoid. Please keep me anonymous. Yes, you are. It's me. It's Chris Ramsey. It's Rosie Ramsey. And it's also our very special guest today. It's Sam Ryder, everyone. What's up guys? How's it going? Chris, you were meant to do a full on intro to sound. Do you know what it is, right? I just want to start talking.

3:27I just want to start talking. Because what do I say? I mean, you are possibly our most, as a nation, our most successful Eurovision guy ever. Would that be fair to say? I can't say. I'm just buzzing a beer. But have we actually won it before? I'm going to straddle the fence hard. We have won it before. Yeah, well, to be fair. But the mania, I was just, we've been sitting here for a while waiting for this to start recording. The mania that week that you came back from Eurovision, It was crazy. And we happened to be promoting a TV show at the same time. Yeah, I remember that. We were on the same shows.

3:59We saw each other about five times in one day. We were doing the rounds. You might not remember, but it was on BBC Radio 2. It was Zoe Ball's morning show. I don't think you'd slept because you'd done Eurovision the night before. Yeah. And you must have come back or was it the day before? No, no, no. Because I remember as soon as I flew home, I could tell the record label were buzzing because they let me stay at the Langham, never stepped through their front door before in my life. Nice. And I was just like, you know Jack on the Titanic when he gets to go to the big room with a buffet. That's a nice hotel.

4:30It actually wasn't a buffet, was it? That gives me a wave in there. I mean, he gets to put the tuxedo on that don't belong to him. I saw the service man. It was fully blown Saturday. That was me at the Langham. And then I think we went to go on radio the next day and I was just, yeah. Well, that's where we saw you. Yeah. It's crazy. And you were like, I remember, I mean, it's nice to see you're not as hyped. You are like buzzed. You were so buzzed in a brilliant way. The energy coming off you was unbelievable. Yeah. I hate PR. I hate doing all them interviews. And we met you in the morning and you literally gave her your jab in the arm.

5:00That lasted the entire day of just positivity. Oh, mate. I was just buzzing. Life looks like it's been treating you guys well. You're looking glowing and healthy and happy and lovely. Thank you for saying that. We've genuinely been looking after ourselves. Yeah, yeah. Do you know what we're doing? How old are you, if you don't mind me asking? I'm 36 and I've just been doing the same thing. I've just recently stopped washing my face with Carex. So I'm trying to take care of myself. What do you mean? I just didn't realise you shouldn't do it. His face were hand sore. I used to wash my hair with, well, I literally, my mum would only buy, bless her, she'd only buy the, like, the shampoo from Tesco's that would let you know what flavour it was by putting a picture of the fruit on top, like the apple.

5:45Yes. You know what I mean? And I just, it was body washing. Are we talking like Christmas Stockland level shampoo here? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was massive. Brilliant. The sort of thing that you get at Costco. £49. So you've stepped your game up. Yeah, I've stepped my game up. You can tell, actually, because you do look lovely. Thank you very much. I would never have been able to guess your age. You're like ageless. I don't know. 300. Is this going to sound awful? If you'd have said like 50 odd, I'd have gone, right, he looks amazing. But if you'd have said 25, I'd have gone, yeah. Like, yeah.

6:13He looks like a man. He looks rough. Yeah. 28. What the hell is that beard hiding? Yeah. 26 years of washing your face with carex man crawled in here yeah yeah I'm going to do it myself you know what we've been looking after ourselves just so you get to a certain age when you're like oh right I'm not like my metabolism doesn't do anything for us anymore and yeah and we're not as busy actually are we which is really nice so we're quite we're quite enjoying being married we had a lovely little conversation about being married yesterday didn't we we well we came out of a restaurant half cut and we walked along holding hands in London telling each other how much we loved each other.

6:51Oh, this is sweet. It's nice because it doesn't happen very often. It really doesn't happen very often. We're two kids, man. Yeah. Honestly, being around them is graft. So what's changed? What, like, how, because you, I mean, Sam, thank you so much for having us on your podcast. Thank you for coming and letting us interview us. Let me tell you why I'm going to get my podcast posted. Listen, before we talk, though, because people haven't got very good attention spans, we know this, and people will drop out of this podcast at some point. So, Sam, you have got an album coming out called Heartland, and that's coming out on the 17th of October.

7:25But the leading track on that album, Better Man, is out now. I love how you guys say that. Better Man. Better Man. Yeah, I love that. Better Man. It's such a tune. Mate, thanks so much. Really lovely. Appreciate it. We're not allowed to play it. Would you sing the chorus for us? It's actually Mental High. Let me see. Oh, okay. You love me like I'm better than I am. All I love is making me a better man All I love is making me a better, better, better man Oh, yes! I'm not going to lie, I got a tingle there. I'm not going to lie, that was sexual. That is... I hate how good of a singer you are. I hate this man.

8:06No, it's your job and you're a good singer, but she's a really good singer as well. And you know what, as a non-singer, and I think all the non-singers out there will understand, it really pisses me off. Like, I could be in a room singing. You know, I'm just trying. I'm just no tune whatsoever. I just belt down something I've heard and she'll come in and just like, like hit it. And I'm like, oh, do you have to do that? You know, I feel the same when I'm at the gym. Seeing as we're chatting about taking care of ourselves, right? The human body, right? We're all composed of the same atoms, but why do I feel like a different species when I'm at the gym?

8:34When someone's lift, like bench pressing actual weights and I'm like, I'll just take those plates off and just have the bath. You know what I mean? What's different with me? We're all good at different things. all of your strength is in that voice yeah that was genuinely here's a question when did you realize that you could sing how old were you i was well i started singing like oh i started playing the flute as the first instrument i saw sorry you could yeah the coolest thing about there is there is a little thing that i claw at that's cool about that is that the reason i wanted to play there's an episode episode of antiques roadshow where someone was uh bringing their family's tarot cards in.

9:14Why do I remember this? Who knows? But one of the pictures was of the devil sat on a little tree stump with a flute. And I was like, being a kid, I was like, that looks cool. I'll play that instrument. God, it wasn't as cool as that. Nice. So instead of like the devil, like Beelzebub on top of an old gnarled tree stump, it was me in my Catholic school uniform, bowl haircut, just trying to play Greensleeves. So the flute's the one you're blowing from the side? It goes out to the side? It's very like... It's like a snorkel at night. degrees right 45 degrees yeah but yeah anyway my flute teacher knew i was useless but didn't really tell my mum because the money was coming in about from my flute lessons yeah and uh well you knew you're useless and then when my mum found out like she sort of went he's you know even i can tell that he's got no hope here right she went to the teacher and she was like well i can i'll teach him to sing instead because she didn't want to lose the uh the slot i don't think so you got taught to sing well it was you've got you can't be taught i say i don't think i don't think anyone It was more like my mum was like, no, I don't want him having lessons anymore.

10:16But he's allowed, if you say he's got a good voice, he can sing in the choir at school. So that's when I started singing there. But I never had lessons. My lessons were really listening to Steve Perry from Journey. Yeah. And Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden. I just have their CDs and I just listen to them over and over again and just try and sing along. Try and work it out. So would you say those are the kind of people that you mirrored your voice of? Yeah, definitely. When you're young and you've got no sort of, to put it bluntly, identity of your own, which is the average teenager from time immemorial, you just follow other people.

10:51So for me, the first vocalist I remember badly copying was Derek Wibley from Sum 41. So I put his voice on and just like, it sounded like not even a wish version of him. But that was it. Is he like the annual? What? Cause I'm into deep. Exactly, yeah. He ended up marrying Avril Lavigne. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They've just done their last tour. I know, I was there. Were you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Having the best time, man. Wow. So good. Do you remember the song Fat Lip? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you remember the video for Fat Lip? Yeah, in the skate park. Yeah, yeah. Nevertheless, I'm a dress for the occasion.

11:29It's number 42 and now here's the situation. If the beat moves your feet, then don't change the stage. Make your bed to be living on a permanent vacation. Well, I'm a disaster. Microphone master. Put on the tape and rock the ghetto blester It's not about the money cause it tells the resorts About sweating all the bitches in the biker shorts Sick

11:48How long into that rendition were you cringing? Just dry as sticks Dry as sticks There's an image of Rosie's vagina now in the back They all that wood All that kiln dried firewood I'm just happy you've got something that I enjoyed I've got nothing else Rosie you can do the rest of this I'm just going to sit back and chill that was great your social guys out there looking for the cut down they just got that straight away they've just fucked off their work days done oh it was actually it was actually a longer version as well oh thank god there is a whole song we won't do that let's not we've peaked what I was going to say was obviously you do mirror yourself like nowadays right everybody sounds like somebody but when we were younger I remember as a female singer it was like Mariah Whitney all the very like the warbling type of thing that's gone now I think the warbling no no but that's true the warbling like I never really thought of it of like so when you were listening to those singers that was how you kind of that's what I used to copy oh they're warbling yeah the big ballads but now everybody sings with a really cute voice and everything's really cut off oh you want to go and but back in the day it was think about me every night oh yeah when I see it's amazing but now all the young kids sing like that trends whereas when we were younger it was end up yeah but I miss that because like objectively everything is difficult and it has its own sort of technicalities to getting good at anything and to be honest even like I was listening to an artist called Phoebe Bridges on the way here amazing voice definitely not like a Mariah Carey voice by any means but technical like it's not easy to have that tone and you're kind of it's more what you're born with yeah like you can't sound like those singers but but there is a part of me that looks back at when when you put a whitney record on your or an aretha record and you're like that is everest it's the it's the iron man triathlon like you yeah you to to get to that point is so difficult and i love that there was an era that really championed it like where everyone was like if if i can't reach that level i'm kind of not in the game yeah i quite i don't know i have a certain nostalgia someone that was i wasn't really around for it but i kind of wish i was yeah i don't think that i don't think that exists now yeah but like again like my favorite mousing like lou graham or something like that or like I said Steve Perry Stevie Wonder MJ like these male singers that just Michael Bolton even I was listening to earlier it's just like really so difficult you can't just like go and sing that you have to live it like because your lifestyle has to make sure it fosters the voice it's not just you can't just be a human being going about daily business you have to live to sing.

14:55Basically shut up until you sing because you can't use any of that fuel until you're warmed up. So I sound like an absolute bag of bricks at the minute just because I was talking when we were filming a show all this last weekend. So you lose all the top end. Oh my gosh, that's... It's gone. But that's your instrument. I always say this. The voice is a muscle. Whenever I'm doing a show, I steam my throat every single night. Nebuliser. like these are the things that because you've got it's like you wouldn't go weight training and not warm up or cool down before before and after it's you've got to look after it so that's what i mean yeah it's all those things you have to live and breathe it so like i've got some friends that are in musical theater and those guys are the closest i think left to that generation because they're eight shows a week the the vocals are insane i went to see evita the other night and rachel's vocal just incredible but like to get that it is being silent for the day it's steaming nebulizing like sleeping diet yeah you can't do anything apart from live to sing for that two hour window i'm really trying to stress i'm sorry i'm really embarrassed because i uh i tried out some new material from a new stand-up show on saturday night i did 25 minutes and i had a sore throat and i feel pathetic all of a sudden but no you're you're actually the same and i was going to say I mean, I did have nine beers.

16:20You're getting older now. When you go on tour next, you're going to have to start warming up. I love it when you keep reminding us I'm getting older. I do really appreciate it. You are. You're going to have to start warming up your voice. You're going to have to do scales and stuff. No, because the difference is I talk all day. I've always said this. It's not the same. Is it not? No, because when you shout, you don't shout all day. My support act is an annoying prick. I shout at him all day. No, you don't. There's your vocal cords, right? There's your vocal cords. the minute you shout you're doing that and they're slapping off each other and you're damaging them so to warm them up you've just got to sort of like lubricate them and then the minute that you do shout they're warmed up right okay so you do actually need to or you'll come into okay here's a question about music right um because i'm writing a new tour and what i said to someone the other day you can't practice comedy without a crowd you can't do it but when you're writing a new song obviously a lot of people you collaborate with and you'll be sitting and you'll be in the studio or whatever is there a moment where you go this is a banger or do you have to wait for a reaction from a crowd or do you have to play it for more people like i can't stand with a hairbrush and practice stand up in front of the mirror i used to think i could yeah you kind of do it you need the crowd you walk up and they'll tell you if it's good or not dolly parton answer this question she's not here but i can give her some evidence so do you know it's a banger when you've written something yeah dolly parton when she wrote i will always love you she stayed in the studio and wrote another song so for me that's always the evidence that suggests no no one knows because if you'd known this probably one of the greatest love songs of all time that's been recorded um if you'd known that you'd be like i'll take the rest of the day off yeah when you you'd be like yeah of course i'm gonna just take a breather have a walk in part like go and have a dinner and drink or just just enjoy the fact that it's done you don't go and write another song same with the Beatles and um uh let it be yeah like those moments I don't think anyone knows no right people decide after the fact yeah but what I'm really into in music at the moment is kind of realizing that from the early 2000s but even kind of the late 90s to a degree we've been in this stage up until this point now that co-writing has been king essentially so it can be anywhere from two three up to sometimes 11 writers involved in a song and for me i'm really interested in where that ends and how we go back to maybe it just being someone writing their own music the i guess the the rebellion that you'd have against that or is that it will take longer to write stuff but i quite like that idea i think the amount of music coming out every single day is crazy now compared to even the amount of songs there was this mad statistic which please check if it's right but i saw it the other day that was like i absolutely in one day on spotify globally more songs are released than an entire decade of like the 70s or something like that.

19:28What? Oh, that doesn't surprise us though. What is that just, and I'm not - This democratisation of being able to record people who have their own systems in their bedrooms. Some of the songs that my children listen to on Spotify, I mean, some of the stuff that can be released that shouldn't be released, that I want to march into the building that released it and burn down the ground. And a release is a strong word. They've just farted it out under the airwaves. And literally farted. One of them is called Mr. Poopypants and it's just a song about shit. so are you bundling that into there because in which case that statistic isn't worth the paper it's printed on right so it's like um basically the amount of stuff coming out is is just mad so how do people sort of cut through and also how does it sound different because now that's the amount of songs that humans are making but now we're adding into the equation about songs that ai's making so i'm like what's the in my life always when i do anything i always kind of look for the open goal and going back to like Eurovision and a bunch of stuff that I've done in the past I was always that was an open goal at the time no one wanted anything to do with it so I always try and look for these things that people aren't focused on for me at the moment in music it's writing completely as one person and putting a record out so I'm interested in that even to the point of like using all the old equipment like tape machines and things that I'm into that's super nerdy about i love that no i love that and then you can know as well in yourself that you've done it all yourself and that you can be really proud of what you've done yeah yeah it can just is but it and it doesn't even have to be for like the to be happy in yourself that oh i didn't need anyone else it's nothing to do with that it's more like because arguably other people will help make it better but it's giving yourself time to really lay down the foundations of what your work is as an artist what it sounds like so when other people come in they're like oh I know that I'm stepping into your world that you've created because if you don't set those boundary lines you're kind of grouped together with a bunch of people writing a hit record which to me is it's all well and good but it's quite boring now because everyone releases songs that sound like hits now everything sounds hitty you're totally right yeah hey friends Olivia from Oli between new routines and the ultimate group project known as parenting, you need science-backed solutions that work with your life.

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23:11Prices and participation vary while supplies last. Not available on third-party ordering platforms. Text Extra. Tell us about Nashville. You've been living in Nashville. Do you live there half the year? Yes, yeah. It sort of works out about that, yeah. Is that since we last saw you or has that been a thing for a while? But I've been back and forward there for 14 years. I remember on mine and Lois' first date we were walking down Oxford Circus. We were on our way to London Dungeons, actually. Quite romantic. That's quite a good first date. Mate, it was well fun. It worked out for me. You'll get a cuddle.

23:44I did, yeah. Yeah, I was all a breeze. I remember, just before we tell that story, I remember once I was in York doing a gig and they've got York Dungeons as well. And I thought I might pop into, I got to York really early. I don't think I've told you this. And I thought I might pop into York Dungeons. Just for a quick fight. Just maybe, you know, get a bit of routine. On your own. Yeah, yeah. Because I was there really early for this gig. I'd been traveling up the country on the way back to South Shields. And I went into the Greggs around the corner from the York Dungeons. and one of the characters is in there in full gear getting sausage rolls.

24:16Really? Put us off. Full gear, blood on our face, the lot, full thing, head to toe. Put you off the dungeons or Greggs? Bit of both. But I didn't go to the dungeon. I didn't know that story. She went to eat sausage rolls and I thought they're going to jump out on someone stinking a sausage roll. I reckon they should have a little panic button at the till if someone comes into London Dungeons on their own. Yeah. Just for their own sort of satisfaction. They should report to the police. You're off for it, just make a little list. Do you know what? That's annoyed me. that's really unprofessional it is really unprofessional isn't it come on love you're ruining the mystique of the darkness yeah I don't like that at all you shouldn't be rocking around York in your character in your character I don't like that anyway your first date sorry yeah so and I remember she was asking like what do you want to do with your life like just questions on a first date like what are you into what do you want where do you see yourself in 10 years so is this a job interview with your first date yeah yeah yeah kind of the same what do you want to do with your life yeah and I was like I'd just been to Nashville for the first time on tour and I'd fallen in love with it.

25:12So I was like, I'd just be a cool answer. I want to be a songwriter in Nashville. And that's it. Like she was stoked about that. And I was, and I was like, oh, I'd love to take you one time, which is a bit intense on a first date. But again, we got engaged after six months. Okay. I found my audience. Okay. You know, you know. Okay. And then, yeah, we just went to Nashville together and both fell in love with it and kept going back like year on year and just staying with friends. And so we've built a lovely little community of friends. and just people that we love and yeah, just really close people in our life.

25:48That's amazing. Like Live Live. Beautiful. And is it, I'd love to go. Is it? Amazing. Is it? Amazing. And if you are ever in the area, please come over for a cup of tea. Listen, we will. I can't wait to stand outside the front door that you've locked and you're pretending you're not in playing that clip through your letterbox. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You literally said, come in. Bang, bang, bang. We know you're in there, dickhead. You said, this is ridiculous. Yeah, yeah, yeah. hotel down the road. We're not them people actually. Somebody once offered us, a person in the public eye offered us to go stay at their villa.

26:17Yeah. And for years we were like, was he being serious or was he taking the piss? We never ever took him up on it. And I bumped into him and he went, you didn't come. Why didn't you come? Yeah, and he was like, you never ever came. I was like, because everyone's full of shit. Of course I don't turn up at your villa. You should do it. We did something very similar recently. Me and like someone, and I'm going to shout her out, Missy from Mississippi said to us, when you're on tour ever in America and you're passing by Mississippi, come and stay at our place. And we were just like, shall we? And I'm so glad we did.

26:47She's a legend. Family's amazing. They're flying over to our Wembley show. We've made really good pals with them. Oh, that's cool. And of course, at the beginning, and Missy won't mind me saying this, you're worried. Like, where are we going now? What are we stepping into? But yeah, on this occasion, amazing. Missy in Mississippi as well. She's got a Julie Essex vibe going on there. Mate, she is lovely. She's such a legend. We should have done that. Wembley show you have a Wembley show Wembley arena on the 6th of November you guys should come yeah well if we're down if we're down yeah how often are you in London these days not very we just try and duck in do the job get out we like to duck in we like to come the night before chill in a hotel we like a late start early finish meal on the night back home the next day mate how nice is a hotel by the way oh I know I know it's so obvious I am just fucking love hotels I just do love it I'm starting to notice all these little things about them like when they're good and like if they're I don't know if the door's solid do you know what I mean just like there's a heaviness to the door and just stupid shit like I just love them what the room service menu is like yeah yeah yeah I love a mini bar what wine is that in a mini bar I love it and I think it's because we grew up crisp sheets so we grew up watching things like Home Alone 2 and stuff where you know he gets his dad's credit card and he goes in the mini bar and there's room like room service for me refrigerator with a key never seen one in my life yeah yeah well we were talking about this when you were a kid and you go on holiday it was literally you'd open the fridge and your parents would be like don't move that can't come on, get charged but now you can you're an adult and you go I'm going to move that do you know what I'm going to fucking drink this so you guys came from when you were starting out would it be safe to say that you didn't expect to get to where you are now at all God we I mean yeah yes and no I think I've always had this weird warped thing from being a kid of just sort of like very naively just like I'll do something yeah I don't know I think you're the same yeah so like when I first started stand up I remember there was a thing in my head and it was always just like oh well when I do my DVD like I'm talking six or seven gigs in when I do a DVD when DVDs were still a thing so I always it wasn't like I think early on I adopted the idea of a vision board but it wasn't a physical thing in your mind it was just I'll do that it was like I'll definitely do a DVD I'll definitely be in a sitcom I'll definitely be on telly it was just something in my head but I never saw the podcast coming never saw this coming this was a real surprise when this took off and became a big thing you guys are natural it's amazing thank you but I like the idea because I was the same we're starting out when I had no reason to be confident whatsoever I was like if you would have asked me for example like 15 years ago do you reckon you'll play Wembley yeah 100 % yeah it's happening but you would have asked me two years ago do you reckon not chance how now it's funny that you get this kind of it's like this big injection of deluded optimism yeah when you're a kid you have to live off as long as possible yeah it's brilliant but as you get older there's like it's like a rocket going up into like it's got to burn through all of that and then when you get into your so i turned 31 by the time sort of a record deal came along and like all those like opportunities sort of got it to the next level but it was that point i was like this is probably not going to happen do you know what i mean the last little fumes and dregs of that optimism do you know what this is gonna this is gonna sound really dark right but i remember i got with comedy and stuff i got quite a lot of things like early i was on telly quite early i was only early 20s and i was doing like bits of telly and stuff like that and i remember thinking now how am i gonna sustain this yeah i remember things like people like mickey flanagan and john bishop got it really laid on in their lives and i remember thinking oh but now that we're like I'm not bothered that much about turning older because I'm like, oh God, if this success can keep going into me later life towards like, I'm not going to, hopefully I'm not going to burn out before I retire.

30:40Hopefully I can actually walk off into the sunset. There's not a moment where I'm like, I don't want to get older. It's like, oh no, I'm happy to get older while this is still happening. If this could just run out at the same time and then I retire, I'm good. I've got a problem where I've had naive optimism when I was younger. I'm not that ambitious. Yeah. Genuinely. Okay. And I've done quite a lot of amazing stuff, right? Like we've done amazing stuff. so now if it all went I'd be like well it was lovely it's actually frightening how happy she is for it all and tomorrow it's really toxic imagine if like next week you just started working on bits in the garden and I was like yeah she's just actually buzzing for the like maybe that would happen I don't know she wants to get cancelled she'd fucking love it no I don't she'd fucking love it no there's different kind of people I watched the Celine Dion documentary right I watched that documentary and I've grown up I'm a huge Celine Dion fan.

31:31I've seen her like twice live. Love her to death. I watched that documentary because obviously her voice has gone, it's really sad. It's dead sad. And she's devastated about it. But then, because she's so ambitious, because she still wants more and more and more, even though, and I put myself in her position and I'd be like, well, I've done it. Let's put my track on. That's me. I'd be like, look how amazing I am. I've got all this money. I've done everything. So I think that's me. And as well, since becoming a mother, I think that's when I was like alright these are these are the most important things in my life now that my career don't get me wrong still very important but these are like my life and I don't know if that's just me but that's not I need to actually start being more positive to the universe because I'm just a bit like I have done that yeah we've sold out everything well you have a tremendous sense of balance like just sort of sitting here chatting with you like the way that you're running your life like coming into London doing the work Like making sure that you leave in time to have a nice dinner together.

32:31Like staying in a bloody nice hotel. Not just that, mate. It's walking distance from the station for the train home. That's what it's all about. I just think there's more of the life. I'm sure that's probably why everything's doing so well. People are like listening and they figure that out. I think happiness is so many more things than work. I think work is a huge part of your life and I think you should strive to do it. But actually, that's not where I get my happiness. I get my happiness from when my mom and sister come around on a Friday night and we open a bottle of wine randomly at five o 'clock.

33:00I get to put tracksuit bottoms on. My friends call them, in Nashville, they call them quitters. I'm going to put my quitters on. Quitters. That's amazing. But like, and what you're saying there as well, I'm having this thing at the moment where just thinking about work and what it is to sort of chase the dream, so to speak, of a singer and what those kind of goals look like. and it's very linear and at least it has been in the past like everything revolves around metrics whether you like it or not whether it's chart position ticket sales like places you've played and stuff like that and for me because the the whole entertainment industry i'm guessing and you guys probably have been aware of this for years but it's so um like changeable at the moment nothing is as it was in its kind of like um classic form whether it's tv music uh art in any kind so what I'm enjoying is that the realization that your career doesn't have to look like anyone else it's totally yours so there are things that back in the day I would look at and be like oh yeah but I can't do that because I'm a singer and and actually that's kind of your strength if you can do other things isn't that a gift like that you're able to yeah even try and think rightly or wrongly that you can dip your toe into that like I'm massively into cars and all of a sudden I've got into being asked to do some bits with like rally cars and stuff like that or like TV and like I don't know I'm just making a habit of being very grateful that your career can just look any way that you like it.

34:37Stand-up used to be exactly the same. Stand-up used to be the same. You would do the circuit, you would do the fringe, you would get asked to do the panel shows, you would do the panel shows then you would do tours then you would do maybe your own show and then you'd die. It was linear, it was done or anything else. Yeah but it was like done like strictly for example yeah yeah it was like a comedian going on strictly you know it was like one of your you know one of your sort of i think the one of the first coming i'm sure it was julian cliff i'm forgive us i'm sure it was julian clear or someone was the first comedian to go on but he was more less of a sort of circuit tour and stand-up and more of just a sort of name a famous name by then and it was yeah you're totally right it was like sometimes people put their they put this sort of path in front of you well you're a singer you can't do that yeah someone's like greyhound right yeah that's uncool for you i just do the singer just do something you go no i like rally car I want to do this rally stuff.

35:16And then the way the world is now and the way, like, as I say, it used to be do the panel shows and do that. Comedians can get big from anything now. TikTok, videos on Instagram, just absolutely anything, podcasts. And there's no like set path anymore. There's like multiple paths for everything. And I think that's much more exciting. And it makes the work so much cooler. So like you said, Wembley's coming up on November 6th. We go and play that show and then like doing this rally in classic car across Dubai for four days. And just like, for me, that's what makes the music almost more, this is what I'm talking about, about writing as well.

35:53Like having that space to just be like sat in a car and looking out the window in pure wonderment at this landscape and like thinking, I feel like Indiana Jones right now. Like just, you know, that makes you want to get in the studio then and pick up a guitar and write, not being on sort of this treadmill. You accidentally make a kind of a rat race yourself. Yeah. whether it be but you've got to you've got to do things that you enjoy as well because I think this industry becomes so much of your life that's why we live up north because this is this is my job but I think people who you know it becomes their full existence yeah the person that they are becomes their job their identity their whole life is surrounded by their job and that's right because I think people you know enjoy that it's just not what we wanted to do is it it's just that person We purposely stayed out in the countryside in Essex.