Tom Odell

Tom Odell has never fit the picture people have of him. “There’s been a perception of my music as a ‘major-label creation’,” says the singer-songwriter with a roll of his eyes. In his early career, perhaps because he arrived on the scene armed with a Brits Critics’ Choice Award, an instantly ubiquitous single (‘Another Love’) and a major label deal, critics doubted his authenticity – as if his knack for a good hook was somehow a mark against him. Even last year’s excoriating, beat-driven album Monsters – on which he pushed boundaries, experimented with new sounds, and opened up about his struggles with crippling anxiety – was dismissed by some as an attempt to stay relevant. “I don’t care if people don’t like my music, but anyone who
was like, ‘It’s a major-label creation,’ I’d be like you have no idea how hard I worked on it.’” says Odell. What’s more, no one ever seemed to know where to put him. “Alternative people think I’m pop, and pop people think I’m alternative…”