Lewis Capaldi wants Someone You Loved to topple Frank Sinatra and become ultimate funeral song
The haunting track stayed at No1 for seven weeks and was streamed an incredible 287million times around the world and sold 823,000 downloads
LEWIS Capaldi reckons he’s going to rake in the dosh after writing the ultimate FUNERAL song.
The canny singer admits he penned the poignant chart- topper Someone You Loved in the hope it would become a farewell favourite.
His haunting track stayed at No1 for seven weeks and was streamed an incredible 287million times around the world and sold 823,000 downloads.
Earlier this month the Co-op released their Top 10 funeral chart which featured Frank Sinatra in the top slot with My Way and Ed Sheeran’s Supermarket Flowers at No6. And Lewis maintains he’s gunning for Sinatra’s crown.
He says: “Every songwriter wants to write the perfect wedding song. Well, I set out to write the ultimate funeral song.
“Think of the royalties that could make in the long run because not everyone gets married but everyone snuffs it.”
Lewis’s incredible career shows no sign of kicking the bucket anytime soon.
The 22-year-old from Whitburn, West Lothian, releases his first studio album Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent next week.
He also sold out his entire UK arena tour — including two nights at Glasgow’s SSE Hydro and Aberdeen’s TECA next March — within minutes.
Later this year he will open for his funeral song rival Sheeran on four of the megastar’s live shows.
But despite being on top of the world and entertaining his two million social media followers with hilarious updates on his toilet habits, the star is currently in therapy to deal with crippling anxiety.
Lewis, who still lives at home with parents Carol and Mark, explains: “The first time I had a panic attack I thought I was actually having a heart attack.
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“I was at home and I was sitting up at the piano quite late when it came over me and didn’t know what was happening.
“I was like, ‘Mum, wake up — I’m having a f***ing heart attack’. She was like ‘No, you’re not, but I’ll take you to see a doctor anyway.’
“We went to the hospital and they checked me out and said it was just anxiety and my heart was fine.
“After that it was all about just trying to understand them. But I get pure twitchy when I’m having one. People think I’m on drugs.”
He adds: “So I went to see a cognitive behavioural therapy specialist. He’s been talking me through ways to deal with it because when it first happens to you, you think you’re going to die.
“I never thought it could be such a physical thing. I was thinking ‘Surely your mind can’t give you such a physical response’. But it does.”
Lewis believes his panic attacks stem from a childhood of constantly being worried he was sick.
Speaking to The Scottish Sun after playing an intimate gig at the Glenmavis Tavern in his home town, he says: “I think it’s to do with being a hypochondriac from a very young age.
“If I had a cold, I would I tell people a hundred times a day I feel s***e. It’s just the way I am.”
However, the talented Scot maintains he’s not buckling under the pressures of fame.
He says: “It’s not the stress from doing the job because I f***ing love that. Weirdly enough I’m fine with gigs. Even supporting huge acts I have no problem with.
“I just get anxious when I’m about to be busy.
I was like, ‘Mum, wake up — I’m having a f***ing heart attack’. She was like ‘No, you’re not, but I’ll take you to see a doctor anyway.’ We went to the hospital and they checked me out and said it was just anxiety and my heart was fine."
“It’s all quite new but it definitely started last year at the same time I became busier and had a lot more stuff on to worry about.”
That’s why he launched the LiveLive initiative, with a small charge from every ticket for his 2020 tour funding a team at each venue to help with stress-related issues.
He says: “It’s the same team that are helping me.
“I’m being taught how to deal with it and to minimise it coming back. It’s about how I manage my time and my stresses.
“I am lucky that I’m not shy talking about it. I can be sitting in a room with just four people when it strikes and I’m not shy at telling them ‘By the way I’m having a panic attack’. They will ask ‘Can we do anything about it?’ and I’ll go ‘Naw, it’s fine’ and I will get over it.”
But surely there must be many bright sides to his new-found fame — like women and being loaded?
He scoffs: “Both of those things are untrue. The money will come in at some point but right now I’ve not seen much of it.
“And I haven’t felt the touch of a woman in many years.
“Yes it’s flattering when people message me asking if I’m single, but jumping on a plane with me every two days to somewhere doesn’t really lend itself much to being in a relationship.”
The other question his fans all want to know is how he is able to write such heartfelt songs for someone so young?
He confesses: “I was in a relationship for nearly two years but I have always been good at over-romanticising a situation.
Bum deals will help me to clean up
LEWIS has hatched another money-making masterplan with his own branded toilet paper.
The thrifty singer sells “Lew roll” through his official website after keeping his social media followers constantly updated on his “movements” from around the world.
But now he plans to cash in with more lavvy-inspired merchandise.
He says: “Anyone who follows me on Instagram or Twitter will know most of the stuff I talk about is s****ing and my a**e . So I decided to become the king of merch and get Lew rolls out and now I want to get plungers made.
“Maybe I’ll do customised toilet seats next too.
“Hopefully my a**e can be my fortune.”
“So if I meet a girl in a pub one night, I’ll be like ‘Boys, I’ve found the woman for me’.
“In reality she doesn’t want anything to do with me and is telling her pals, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I kissed that guy last night — what a state he was in’.
“But my imagination will run riot and I’ll be like ‘That’s given me another song’.”
However, he insists Someone You Loved wasn’t based on any one person.
He says: “It came out of me being bored writing about the relationship I had come out of.
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“So I set out to make sure it wasn’t about one person. I didn’t make it personalised. I kept it as general as possible.”
And Lewis praised the powerful performance of former Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi — a distant relative of his dad’s — in the video promo for the song made to raise awareness for organ donation charities.
Lewis says: “The scene where Peter feels his late wife’s heartbeat in the donor’s body was so incredibly emotional. It’s his performance, rather than the song, that makes that video.”
But when the royalties do finally roll in from his “funeral song” he plans to buy the family home for his parents.
He says: “I would like to pay my mum and dad’s mortgage off, which I think would be a nice thing to do.”
And Lewis jokes: “I just hope the royalties roll in for years to come, because like it or not we all snuff it eventually.”
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