Calum Scott: Why he's proud to shout about Hull with his new album during Pride month

Calum Scott and the Humber Bridge
Calum Scott uses images of the Humber Bridge in his promotional material.

Seven years ago he was working in human resources for Hull City Council. That must now seem a lifetime ago to the singer Calum Scott, who has just released his second album, Bridges, and is about to start a summer of concerts across the world.

His music has been streamed 7.5 billion times across the world. Earlier this year his collaboration with Lost Frequencies Where are you now? reached the top five in the UK singles charts.

It was back in 2015 that Calum Scott got his big break on ITV's Britain's Got Talent and his cover of Robyn's Dancing On My Own went on to become the biggest British breakthrough single in 2016.

This was followed up by his debut album, Only Human, which went on to sell four million copies and topped the Apple Music charts in more than 20 countries.

Calum was working on his new album through lockdown at a time when, like so many of us, he admits he was lacking motivation. The pandemic restrictions brought so much of the entertainment industry to a standstill.

Calum says: "This album for me feels like a little bit of a coming of age album. It definitely challenged me, pushed me out of my comfort zone, but made me feel like I was digging more into what I wanted to say including my LGBTQ journey and mental health, which I'm obviously a massive advocate of as well.

"I've always had an issue with my sexuality until I started writing music and I realised that actually music was a vessel for me to be able to not only get off my own chest how I was feeling about my sexuality."

Among the songs on his new album is a cover version of 'Boys in the street' which is a devastating account of a father's struggle to accept his openly gay son, a song which Calum originally shared for National Coming Out Day.

"In the past I've written about my own experience of coming out and I've heard from people in the LGBTQ+ family about how it's helped them to finally accept who the are. If I can help to inspire that kind of positive change in the world, that's really everything to me."

As well as his new album Calum is also preparing for his world tour which includes 25 dates across the United States and Canada, 14 shows across Europe and performances in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

He will also perform across the UK including his homecoming show at the Bonus Arena in Hull on 8 October.

The release of his new album coincides with Pride month with some of the songs touching on Calum's own experiences of being open about his sexuality: "This album for me feels like a little bit of a coming of age album.

"It definitely challenged me, pushed me out of my comfort zone, but made me feel like I was digging more into what I wanted to say including my LGBTQ journey and mental health, which I'm obviously a massive advocate of as well.

"I've always had an issue with my sexuality until I started writing music and I realised that actually music was a vessel for me to be able to not only get off my own chest how I was feeling about my sexuality."

Listen to James Webster's full interview with Calum Scott in which the singer speaks more about why he is so pleased to be releasing his new album during Pride month and which celebrity he has invited to enjoy a famous Hull patty and chips:

Calum chose pictures of himself at the Humber Bridge to promote his new album and tour Credit: Capitol Records

All the publicity pictures for Calum's new album and new tour feature the singer standing in front of the Humber Bridge, giving the singer the chance to share more details of why his home city is so special to him.

Calum Scott speaking to James Webster at the Humber Bridge Credit: ITV News

As I met Calum, under the Humber Bridge, what is obvious is how proud Calum is of his home city.

It is something he often speaks about as he travels the world performing and promoting his music.

His city is also proud of him. While we were filming people were chatting to him, interested in what he is doing and happy to see his success.

I also think back to the previous times I interviewed Calum, all the way back to those early days following his performances on Britain's Got Talent, to his concerts in Hull performing tracks from his first album to now.

He grows more confident but it always feels like his success is something that continues to take him by surprise as the number of times his music has been bought and streamed continues to grow.

Not only is he a talented musician but he is also a superb ambassador for Hull and our region as a whole.