Lewis Capaldi's schoolmate reveals star always wanted to be 'as big as Ed Sheeran'

Virgin Radio

26 Feb 2024, 16:25

Musician Jack Cochrane, an old schoolmate of Lewis Capaldi, has revealed the 'Wish You The Best' star always had his sights set on getting his music known.

Speaking in an interview with The Independent ahead of his band The Snuts’ releasing their third album, Millennials, Cochrane revealed Capaldi “was always saying” he wanted to make it big.

“Lewis was always saying ‘I want to be a pop star and I want to be as big as Ed Sheeran,” the indie rock band's frontman said.

“My whole thing was ‘I wanna be a rock’n’roll star like The Libertines’,” Cochrane added. “He’s just gone in this crazy skyrocket direction.”

Cochrane recalled inviting Capaldi to perform at a local charity night just as his career was taking off after the release of his first single ‘Bruises’ in March 2017. “He’d just brought out his first single and the place was stowed out. His manager was like, ‘No cameras!'” Cochrane said.

But one result of his meteoric rise to fame was Capaldi struggling to adapt to all the attention and pressure which came with it. In June 2023, the ‘Someone You Loved’ singer told fans he would be taking an indefinite break from touring in order to focus on both his physical and mental health.

“It’s happened so quickly for him and he’s the OG of having to feel the pressure of what that’s like in this new way,” Cochrane sympathetically reflected, referring to how much of Capaldi’s rise to fame played out online through social media platforms such as TikTok.

“He was first to be super funny on the phone and doing a lot of videos, but it’s been hard to watch him having to deal with everything that’s come with his rise. I find it really intense to see.

“Doing as well as he’s doing and as talented as he his, he should be really happy and enjoy that. But something somewhere’s happened that’s skewed that and I think that’s pretty s*** man,” he said.

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