He was down for everything, and in all the madness he never lost his down-to-earthness, humor and cheerfulness.Ĭapaldi: Getting to meet everybody at radio stations and play shows made a really big difference. He was on the road tirelessly in the United States. When he was in New York, we rented a tour bus for his top fans, and he narrated the history of New York, but in his own Scottish way.īriegmann: Our biggest asset was Lewis himself. That’s why we thought that it was really important, whenever we had the opportunity, to get him in front of people. Seven weeks at No. 1, that’s comparable to “Uptown Funk!” and the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe.” At that point, Greg and Steve knew they could say to everybody, “We’re coming to you with a song.”Īsciolla: very much has that FaceTimey, selfie-type of vibe going on, whether it’s on his Instagram or his videos. Before the album was out, we were putting on arena shows. for to arrive in America as a concrete hero. We’ve always really had to prove our value in the U.K. market, which had a very positive impact on airplays and streams.Ĭockle: In my experience, British acts - whether it’s Amy Winehouse, Mumford & Sons, Florence + The Machine - work in America when the excitement and energy from the U.K. But we had to consolidate everything so it was really a combined plan, and that’s what we were able to do.īriegmann: We shot a video especially for the U.S. April 1, we pushed the button across every single area: Spotify was very helpful, and then traditional radio started to kick in Pandora was very early Sirius was very early. That’s when the whole thing started to gear up. He played his first show in America in February. Shayan Asgharniaīarnett: The first thing we had to do was to get him. Lewis Capaldi photographed on Jat Capitol Records in Los Angeles. He released “Bruises” in May 2017, and that connected for the streaming partners to take him seriously. The amount of work that was done in 2017 in Glasgow to make sure he was hailed as their man from their city was enormous. People were super conscious not to miss any steps, to make sure that he wasn’t put under any undue pressure to become famous overnight, and we just kept releasing music. Ted Cockle, president, Virgin EMI: There was nothing more than a hunch and a belief that something about the way this chap sang felt a little bit more special than most. and us, and we knew from the beginning that the collaboration would not be a sprint, but a marathon. When you hear him perform, you can tell that this is somebody who can convey his emotions in a unique way, touching people around the globe.įrank Briegmann, president/CEO, UMG Central Europe and Deutsche Grammophon: We had a lot of excitement among Capitol, Virgin U.K. Lieberberg: The confidence was there - his personality, the way he handled social media. There was magic in the marriage of his voice and the music and the unassuming pop star. Rosa Asciolla, head of artist and label marketing, North America, Spotify: There was a lot of excitement around Lewis. Globally, he was someone that we wanted to take a chance on in 2017. Here’s how one of 2019’s biggest No. 1s came to be. Of course, both Capaldi and Barnett had some help. Lewis did it brilliantly - and very much in 2019 style.” “And it had been a while since a song like this has been as big as this. “The American public always has had a strong connection to heartbreak songs,” says Capitol Music Group chairman/CEO Steve Barnett, who led the effort to launch Capaldi in America (along with Virgin EMI/Vertigo in the United Kingdom and Universal Music Group Central Europe). It wasn’t propelled to viral popularity through a TikTok clip or meme, it boasted no big-name feature, and Capaldi - a ginger-haired 23-year-old with no heartthrob aspirations - was an unknown stateside and, by his own admission, an unlikely pop star.īut to Capaldi’s team, the reason for the song’s success was fairly simple: Its emotional content deeply resonated with a ready and willing audience, thanks in large part to the talent and commitment of the artist himself. (It also reigned for multiple weeks on Mainstream Top 40, Adult Top 40 and Radio Songs, and it topped Adult Contemporary for one week.) Yet it was by no means an obvious international hit. “Someone You Loved” - an anthemic ballad about burning heartbreak - hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late October and held the top spot for another two weeks in November. What Capaldi didn’t realize then was that five months later, he would be pretty famous in the United States, too.
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