Lewis Capaldi

“I never really think, ‘OK, I’m going to write a song,’” Lewis Capaldi told Apple Music. “My creative process is basically: I sit down with a guitar and or at the piano, and I just start to write.” But the amazing thing about Capaldi is that he’s become one of the most popular young artists of his generation by preserving his songs in that raw, unvarnished state, to provide the purest representation of the pain and longing coursing through his lyrics. Amid the hyper-paced, totally wired world of late-2010s pop, this unassuming Scottish singer-songwriter and former Up Next artist—born 1996 in Glasgow—stopped the internet dead in its tracks with his DIY 2017 single “Bruises”, a stark, piano-based breakup ballad that introduced a voice imbued with the sort of soulful grit and deeply felt heartache you wouldn’t expect from a baby-faced 21-year-old. “Bruises” was Capaldi’s ticket to international major-label deals and tours opening for pop A-listers like Sam Smith and Niall Horan, but he would swiftly join their ranks with his equally rustic 2018 single “Someone You Loved”, another tear-jerking expression of sorrow—inspired by the death of his grandmother—that went to No. 1 in the US and UK, and has since become one of the most-streamed songs of all time. Those singles formed the foundation of Capaldi’s chart-topping full-length debut, 2019’s Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent, which fleshes out his sound with lush orchestration and gospel gravitas but, through songs like the suicide-themed “Before You Go”, retains his fearless flair for dredging up the messiest of emotions.