Tom Odell feels he held himself back on his debut album ‘Long Way Down’.
The ‘Another Love’ hitmaker is gearing up to release his eagerly-anticipated second studio LP ‘Wrong Crowd’ and admits he often avoided experimenting on his first record due to a lack of confidence as a new artist.
However, after receiving several accolades for his music including the BRITs Critics’ Choice Award in 2013 and the Songwriter of The Year prize at the 2014 Ivor Novello Awards, the recognition made him feel "liberated" and he felt he could do whatever he wanted to do.
In an interview with Zane Lowe on his Apple Beats 1 Radio show, he said: "[Hype and winning awards] I think ultimately it has put me in quite good step. I am bulletproof now anyone can say anything it doesn’t affect me. It liberated me to do what the hell I wanted. One of the things with this album if I look back retrospectively with the first album for whatever reason. Maybe due to a lack of experience but I held myself back. I wanted to have some lush strings on one of the songs, but I didn’t."
The 25-year-old singer/songwriter also claims he’s a "weirdo" and is really proud of ‘Wrong Crowd’, which is released on June 10, which he wrote over an 18-month period.
Of his next LP, he said: "I am definitely a weirdo, I am a beautiful freak. I am really proud of the album and I wrote over 18 months. What’s interesting is those writing trips were me on my own in an apartment. Every two months there are three songs. It wasn’t all written in one go. "
Tom Odell: I held myself back on Long Way Down
