Tom Grennan is smiling. Well, wouldn’t you be? He’s had a glittering year, toasting 12 months since his ace third album ‘What Ifs & Maybes’ smashed into the charts. Tonight, though, he’s got a rare honour – Tom Grennan is about to switch on the fabled Christmas lights on London’s Oxford Street (with some help from Great Ormond Street Hospital) officially kicking off the festive season. Oh, and he’s got a new Christmas single on the way, released exclusively with Amazon Music.
“I love Christmas!” he beams during a quick backstage chat. “For me, it’s a time of year when I get to switch off and see my friends and my family. But to be here, switching the lights on with Great Ormond Street Hospital, while I’ve also got a new song out with Amazon Music… it’s pretty iconic!”
“I remember saying last week to my mum, I’m turning on the Christmas lights… and she was like, what?!” he laughs, incredulously. “So many iconic artists have done this, and now I’m there too.”
Joining a heady roll call of talent, Tom Grennan is ready to seal his place at the top table of British pop. New single ‘It Can’t Be Christmas’ is a solid gold festive bauble, too – a soaring, surging piece of Christmas pop that melts together some great lyrics, an Advent key change, and a bravura vocal. In true Christmas tradition, it was actually pieced together under baking sunshine – Tom flew out to Los Angeles in August to write it.
“I read up on other Christmas songs,” he notes, “and the biggest Christmas songs are all written in the middle of summer! So yeah, it was perfect. I flew out there, and started putting myself in that Christmas world… which, to be honest, wasn’t that hard because I love Christmas! It’s just having fun, at the end of the day.”
To Tom Grennan, Christmas means spending time with his family. “Growing up, I spent a lot of my Christmases in Ireland, and it’s always amazing going out there. Christmas is different in Ireland – for me, anyway! You’re putting the turf on the fire, having Christmas dinner out on the farm. Man, it was wicked! Those are some of my best Christmas memories.”
Granting an intimate array of fans the first ever performance of his new festive banger, Tom Grennan is in his element. Performing without a mic he’s keen to show off his vocal chops, and is clearly having a blast doing it. Could this be a new Christmas smash? Can Tom Grennan de-throne the streaming power of Mariah Carey?
In true Christmas spirit, however, none of that is mentioned – tonight is about giving back. Joined by a young girl called Emily, Tom switches on Oxford Street’s iconic light after saying a few words about Great Ormond Street Hospital, the place that treats his new bestie.
“I actually went down at the beginning of this year,” he notes. “I went to see a little girl… who is doing really, really well now, and just to see the work that they do and how much care, and how much joy they bring to little kids who are going through the worst… it was amazing, and I loved it!”
With the icy haze of Oxford Street’s lights illuminating the window behind him, Tom Grennan is just about to bid adieu to 2024, and welcome another year with fresh challenges. What challenges, you say? Well, his fourth album…
“I want to show people that I’ve got something to say,” he vows. “I’m creative. I’m not just this one trick pony. I wanted to take risks and I wanted to make the music that I really, really love and what I would listen to… and I believe I’ve done that this time. I really think I have reinvented myself and my sound, and I’m excited for it to come out, and I’m excited for it to really all happen.”
“I feel like this is the start of it,” he nods. “I’ve been at it for seven, eight years, and I feel like I’ve trained to get to where I am now, and I’ve absorbed the things I’ve got to absorb. And now it’s my turn.”
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‘It Can’t Be Christmas’ is out now on Amazon Music. Tom Grennan will host a festive Amazon Music City Session in London, where he will be performing the song alongside other hits on December 5th. The unique performance will be streamed on the Amazon Music UK channel on Twitch.
Words: Robin Murray
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