Platinum-selling British singer and songwriter, Calum Scott is jetting to South Africa this weekend for his Only Human world tour.
Scott made his name when he was a finalist on the ninth season of Britain’s Got Talent in 2015. Although he did not win, he used his fame and toured the UK and released a number of singles before working on his debut album, Only Human.
Speaking from Manila in the Philippines ahead of his concert, Scott said he still could not believe he was coming to South Africa.
“I can’t even put into words how excited I am to be in South Africa for the very first time in my life. It’s incredible. There are certain times in my life where things don’t really sink in, this South Africa tour is one of those times,” he said.
Scott will be performing in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town. Although he is on a world tour after releasing one album, Scott has always dreamed of touring. “Writing and recording the songs for this album was an incredible and emotional adventure but it was always with the aim of performing them to as many people as I could so I had to go on tour.”
Known for hits like You Are The Reason which features Leona Lewis, Scott said that South Africa made it onto the list of countries to include on his tour because of social media.
“One thing I try to make sure is that my fans know that it is me on my social media, not someone in some office halfway around the world. So I see a lot of what my fans send me and where they send their messages from. I’ve always seen my fans from South Africa messaging me asking me to perform in their country and I told them one day I will, and now it’s happening,” Scott said.
Speaking about his album, Scott said the goal was to write new music and not create an album.
“Throughout the entire writing process, I never really thought about the album as the goal - I just wanted to write some really great songs. Songwriting for me became my therapy, my way of articulating my feelings and processing them, learning from them. As soon as I became more honest with my writing it just flowed out of me like a river,” he said.
He wrote around 70 songs which made choosing the songs for the album difficult. The good thing, however, is that he already has some songs he can bank for his second album.
When it came to the lyrical content of the album, Scott said he wanted honesty. He said, “The content is incredibly honest and painfully real. I wanted my debut album to be a real account of my life, the highs and the lows. The lows especially make an appearance throughout the record because the emotion was so raw and powerful to tap into. For me, it’s imperative to write songs that are relatable because those are the ones that could potentially make a difference in the world.”
Scott said that when it came to the sound, he wanted to keep the sonics organic by using recorded instruments. He included electronic sounds to make the album relevant to current times.
Scott said his South African fans can expect an emotional rollercoaster as he tells his stories. “I want to make people dance, laugh and cry”.
Concert dates:
Durban - Friday, November 9.
Cape Town - Saturday, November 10.
Joburg - Sunday, November 11.