There’s a song called ‘Roaring Twenties’ on the album which is about Broadway and about how homesick I was despite loving being out there, so it was a bittersweet experience. There’s a lot of amazing female artists coming out right now and I was really enamoured with their production styles and their lyrics so I was stealing a lot from a lot of different people but also going back to roots with jazz and folk music and rock and classical – I try to use it all. “Like Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Sza – that whole album is so beautiful – Dua Lipa, Kehlani, Cardi B. I was listening to a lot more newer stuff and trying to learn why I liked this stuff so much.” Like what? “It’s more of a mish-mash but there are some more modern productions. Is it a poppier feel for this one or more of a mish-mash? There’s a song ‘High Hopes’ which is about that, ‘A Letter To My Mom’: Hey look ma, I made it. So a lot of the record is talking about that. I used to make cardboard cut-outs of guitars and paint them and do the strings and tie yarn around them and then just sit in front of the mirror and act like I was singing Blink 182 songs or David Bowie or Queen songs. I dreamed of all this, being a rock star in a band. But it’s also talking about where I saw myself as a kid to now. The cultural significance of the Mormon faith in who I became as an adult is huge so being able to use these themes like ‘Pray for the Wicked’, ‘Swear to God I’ll Never Repent’, ‘Mama Can I Get an Amen’, ‘Hook It Up’ is cool. It’s, I guess, two counts: it’s a lot of my religious upbringing which I love bringing into my art because I can’t deny it from my history. There’s a lot of Broadway on this album.” What is the theme of the new record? Is it a very personal album? I was singing notes higher and lower than before. It was fun, because I had an extra aspect to explore and discover and figure out where I land perfectly. I was singing these other songs written by other people for other people, trying to mirror what they did in some way so by the time I got into the studio I realised my vocals had ended up in different places and opened up parts I didn’t know existed. The fact that it wasn’t my own music was also different. “All of it was ‘hands’ while I was recording, yeah! Just vocally I was trying to push myself because my vocals definitely got stronger on Broadway because of the stuff I was singing for the show. What did you take from Broadway into it? Were you really ‘jazz hands’ in the studio? And I used it all for the album.” Yes, so your new album ‘ Pray for the Wicked‘ is out on June 22. She helped me get my tongue unstuck which is I guess a thing? But it’s really just about stomping your foot down and bellowing out the note and hoping that you hit it, that was the main lesson I learnt. I worked with a couple of people to help me – cool name drop – like Cyndi Lauper’s vocal coach. So I’m screaming top of my lungs, getting all this emotion out, then I have the highest song I have to sing so I’m just like, ‘I hope I hit it’. The schedule is gruelling on its own but vocally it is so exhausting because for me, as lead Charlie Price, I have three arguments back to back. I will say that Broadway are some of the most talented and hard-working singers. You’re known for having amazing range but was it a different style of singing? Did you have to have vocal training? I still don’t think I nailed it, but it was fun.” She said, ‘Just show me what kind of Northampton accent you can do,’ and I did it and she said, ‘OK, that’s a little Australian, but a good start.’ But I’m so glad I did it. I only had an hour of diction and accent training with this girl, Amy- Jo Jackson, who is amazing. Then I’m usually happy at the end because I’ve done something I’m so scared about and the reward is so much greater because of it.” I’m really freaking out, I don’t know if I can do it,’ and he said, ‘Trust me, it’ll be OK.’ I’ve learned that if I jump headfirst into something I’m terrified about, I subside all the anger and anxiety and fear so I can just get through the whole process. The day before, I called my manager Scott and said, ‘I don’t know if I can go. It’s been two years since the last record and you’ve been pretty busy. It made the Biggest Weekend even bigger, it was so great.” I love doing that, I love terrifying myself. On the drive up from London we were talking about the setlist and I said, ‘Well, I don’t want to play those two songs so let’s play one we’ve never rehearsed, that we don’t really know.’ So we listened to it about 10 times and then got on stage and played it and it went OK. You just got back from Wales: The Biggest Weekend.
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