Album ‘all killer, no filler’
MUSIC: Olly Murs sends fans ‘on a journey’ in Never Been Better
Getting the nod from The Modfather is a pretty good sign in one’s music career.
So when former Jam frontman Paul Weller offered up a song — Let Me In — for British dance-pop sensation Olly Murs’ latest album, Never Been Better, you can imagine the 31-year-old singer was pretty stoked to work with English rock royalty.
“It doesn’t get any cooler than that,” said Murs, who lives in Essex outside of London.
Turns out the two music stars met at a Paolo Nutini gig.
“I just ended up chatting to him and he said, ‘I’d like to send you a track for the album. Let me know what you think?’ So I was like, ‘Cool.’ So he sent the track over and I listened to it and I just said to Paul, ‘Look, I love the song. It’s SO Paul Weller, it’s so you, but is there any way I can write with you on it and put my style on it?’ And he was like, ‘ Yeah.’ So we went into the studio and we wrote the song, touched it up, and I think we wrote a beautiful song and it made the album and I’m really proud of that.”
Otherwise, Never Been Better also features guest vocal appearances by American singers Demi Lovato and Travie McCoy of raprock outfit Gym Class Heroes, and a song co-written by One-Republic’s Ryan Tedder.
We caught up with the charmer during a promotional stop in Toronto to find out why Never Been Better is “all killer, no filler,” and the joys of working with other pop stars.
Do you feel like your North American fanbase is catching up with your European one?
I’m always looking for steps forward. Everywhere’s been really positive so I can only just hope really that we can continue building.
There are some interesting dance elements on Never Been Better. Is that essentially the direction you wanted to go in?
I wanted it to be bigger and bolder and stronger than it has been in the past … I think lyrically, production-wise, songs, I think is better than the last three records … I wanted my fans to have an album that they could listen to from track one to the end and take them on a nice journey. Whereas I’ve felt the last three albums I’ve done kind of got lost after track seven and eight, like I filled the album a little bit.
Did you know Lovato or McCoy before they sang on the album?
No … but they were people that I really wanted to work with… They didn’t just do it for money or do it for anything apart from the fact that they really liked the songs. And that was important to me. So yeah, Demi and Travie were brilliant.
Do you have a home away from home?
L.A’s closest … It’s quite nice to go somewhere where you’re not necessarily recognized where you can have some sort of life. The U. K’s very difficult to go around anywhere because you get noticed a little bit, which isn’t terrible, it’s great. The day you don’t get noticed, I’m sure you’ll be worried.