Lewis Capaldi

Pop’s billion-streaming heartbreak kid laughs through the tears

last april, Lewis Capaldi sold out an arena tour of the

U.K. and Ireland in 10 minutes — and he was just getting started. The Scottish singer-songwriter,

23, specializes in the kind of lovelorn ballads that draw comparisons to Adele, as do his streaming numbers: “Someone You Loved,” his biggest smash, has more than a billion Spotify plays. “People will hear my music whether they want to or not,” Capaldi jokes. And while his debut album is largely about a difficult breakup, he’s kept a sense of humor about it all. “If you’re going to analyze your own shortcomings in a relationship,” he says, “you have to have a laugh at yourself.”

JON BLISTEIN