Calum Scott

“If you're real, you've never got anything to hide away from. You're not trying to fake anything, you're not trying to have this other persona - you're just yourself. And if I could be myself for as long as possible, I will.”

“I've been a huge fan of Adele, Sam Smith, and Ed Sheeran, and those amazing artists draw inspiration from their present and past experiences; they write songs from their heart.”

“'Britain's Got Talent' just gave me that platform that I needed to share that with the world and be recognized, and now I'm able to travel the world and sing my music in places I never thought I'd visit - Dubai, Mexico, Brazil, so many different places.”

“The heart wants what it wants, and you know, if you're not careful, you can find yourself in a situation where you give your heart away, and it can get broken.”

“I'm very keen on making the world a better place, whether that's changing people's attitudes or giving people the confidence to be who they are.”

“I'd like to think I'm a versatile artist without straying too far from who I am.”

“I come from a very normal day job, a very normal upbringing, so I had six or seven years working in an office nine to five in human resources. I had the normal life and kind of thought maybe this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life but still had that passion and that yearning for music.”

“I'm single, which is good because I can concentrate the hell out of my performances. At some point, I'm going to want to find someone to chill out with at the end of the night and talk about things.”

“I've used songwriting as a tool, I've used it as a way of being able to talk about how I feel.”

“I feel very privileged to do what I do, so I'm just going to keep working hard and enjoy every minute of it because it could be over just like that.”

“I had to be honest in my songwriting for it to be where it is, and it's always scary wondering if anyone will connect with that.”

“I tried to surround myself with people who have accepted me for being me. And I want to create that image to my fans as well. And that's the advice I give to them. To be happy for who you are, and to surround yourself with people who are happy for being you.”

“I'd gone through life being obsessed about my sexuality. People would ask about relationships, girlfriends, you start referring to people as 'they' so there's no judgment and you can be ambiguous. People around me knew, but I still struggled with talking about it openly.”

“I just wanted to sing, to get my voice heard. I knew I had to do everything possible to stay in the industry.”

“To be in the charts and hanging around with such huge names in the industry just feels like a complete privilege! I can't even explain how it feels - complete dream come true.”

“Most of my songs are inspired by both falling in love and heartache. And it was a turning point for me as a singer and songwriter as it dawned on me that I wasn't being honest enough about what I truly feel.”

“I purposely didn't change the pronouns in 'Dancing On My Own' so that it was from a gay man's perspective.”

“I remember when we were going to release 'Dancing On My Own,' and I went into the record label crying to them that I was terrified people wouldn't support me anymore if they knew I was gay.”

“If one less kid can grow up without hiding who they are along the way or having to believe that who they love is something that will make them lonely, then everything I went through will be worth it.”

“The creative process has been a little bit of an experience, really - to try and make that work for me. The only way I know how to do that is just to remain genuine, humble, and true to everything I know already in my life.”