23 NATHAN SYKES

COVER STORY

HOW DOES A BUDDING SOLO ARTISTESCAPE BEING BOYBAND BY ASSOCIATION?IT’S A PUZZLE THAT NATHAN SYKES, THE

YOUNGEST MEMBER OF BRITISH GROUP THEWANTED - CURRENTLY ON HIATUS, - IS

TRYING TO SOLVE AS HE EMBARKS ON THENEXT AMBITIOUS CHAPTER OF HIS CAREER.

words Sam moore photography LUC Coiffait styling JEFF awahgrooming CryStabeL riLey Editorial assistant adam dUnkLey

“His eyebrows are on fleek.” Thecomments section of a YouTube video is

not only an incredibly-divisive (andoften fascinating) public forum, it alsooffers a glimpse of the invention and

quick-fire expressiveness of the world’sEnglish-speaking youth. At times it’s

almost as much a visual curiosity as the video itself – and its diverse range of

opinions aren’t to be taken lightly.

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received over 1 Million views to date on YouTube), which followed the re-veal of his first ever solo track ‘More Than You’ll Ever Know’ back in March (770,000 views). And it’s not just music that’s been at a premium thus far: barring an appearance at the gigantic Capital FM Summertime Ball at London’s Wembley Stadium, Sykes has only performed at a handful of intimate tour dates in his native UK, whilst the campaign trail has seen him make guest appearances on prominent daytime radio shows from Los Angeles to London. It’s a relatively tentative promotional ap-proach for a musician who is accustomed to the intense and often-vampiric nature of the pop music industry.

‘On fleek’, for the uninitiated, is a syn-onym for looking rather good. Na-than Sykes is probably aware of this particular turn of phrase through its ubiquity in his Twitter mentions alone, whilst there’s little doubt that his management and PR teams are similarly on trend in an effort to un-derstand how the music-buying and video-watching public are respond-ing to the first few steps of the Sykes solo venture.

Indeed, a project still very much in its infancy, the potential of Nathan Sykes, Solo Artist is a sleeping giant that’s just beginning to stir: his debut single ‘Kiss Me Quick’ has just enjoyed its official release (its accompanying video has

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‘Kiss Me Quick’

Sykes is best known for being in The Wanted: the currently on-hiatus Brit-ish boyband who, over the course of five eventful years, recorded three albums, sold 11 million records, broke America (no mean feat, which they no doubt cele-brated with the subtly-titled track ‘Show Me Love (America)’), feuded with One Direction, briefly starred in the own re-ality TV series on E!, and generated the kind of passionate online following that record execs the world over would give their left arm for. January 2014, however, saw the five-piece bring proceedings to a halt – their third record Word of Mouth had charted at number nine in the UK two months previously, their lowest chart en-try to date – amicably going their separate ways, all the while perennially insisting that this was “a break, and not the end.” Having joined the band aged 16, it’s easy to envisage Sykes at the time refusing to accept that his own career had already peaked by the time he was 21. Quickly signing to Global Entertainment, he’s spent the time since writing an album in the U.S. and the UK with such notable pop songwriters as Dianne Warren (who’s written for the likes of Beyoncé, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey), Babyface (Madonna, Lil Wayne), Harmony Samu-els (Jennifer Lopez, Ariana Grande) and London-based LDN Noise, who co-wrote the brass-tastic ‘Kiss Me Quick’. With such creative firepower in the arsenal, Sykes is expected to deliver a strong debut album in the fall.

“I WANT MY MUSIC TOLIVE LONGER THAN I DO”

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runs a million times quicker than my mouth – I kind of put that into mu-sic,” he admits, a little flushed when SOUNDS gives him an opportunity to articulate what music means to him. “Music, for me, is an expression of everything that I can’t or don’t say… I’m always hearing stuff and tapping away, and some people might think, when I’m talking to someone, that, ‘Oh, he’s just not in this conversation.’ And it’s because I’m thinking of different songs and ideas, [so] I’ll be like, ‘Oh, I’m just off to use the restroom.’ But really I’ll be off making Voice Notes on my iPhone, like little beat pat-terns, top lines, lyric ideas. So I think it’s just an expression of what goes on in here,” he says, pointing to his neatly-coiffured head.

SOUNDS meets Sykes in a converted photography studio in Hoxton, east London shortly before ‘Kiss Me Quick’ drops to the expectant public, and, on an contrasting day that pings be-tween heavy rain and pleasant ear-ly summer sunshine, it’s clear to see that image is an important facet of his artistic persona.

However, sitting down with Sykes is far more refreshing than observing his media-ready behaviour for the camera, and, as such, he makes for a fine inter-viewee - despite (or, perhaps due to) his protestations that he’s “not the best talker on the planet.”

“I’m not the best with spoken word, so everything that’s in my mind – [which]

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from what I was doing with The Wanted, there was a chance that they’d go, ‘Ahh, I’m not too sure about this Nath. Not too sure mate.’ But they’ve been absolutely amazing. They love the music so much. I think that level of interaction is really key. I’m a similar age to a lot of the fan-base – I’m still only 22! So quite a similar age to [the fans], so I kind of know them on a friendship level - it’s really cool.”

By teasing just two tracks over three months, Sykes is clearly enjoying letting the excitement from his baying fanbase build; comfortable with this take-each-step-as-it-comes approach. After all, he’s still in the process of easing himself into the role of solo artist, rather than ‘band member’. “I think my experience of being part of a band is the main thing that I’ll take for-ward into this new chapter of my music career,” he muses as SOUNDS address-es the Wanted-adorned elephant in the room. “I started with the band at the age of 16 and I’ve learnt so much about mu-sic – not just as an artist and a performer,

Sykes is evidently keen to highlight not only his strong involvement in the songwriting process for his as-yet-un-titled album, but also his credibility as a genuine pop artist in 2015: from eu-logising about his musical upbringing (“My mum’s a music teacher – clarinet, sax, flute - so there was always mu-sic around the house. I started banging around on the piano from a very young age, and then I started singing at the age of four or five”) to his interaction with fans worldwide (“It’s really amazing that you can sit down on your phone, whilst in a coffee shop or something, and start speaking to someone in Brazil or Mexico. It’s incredible”). To expand upon that latter point, Sykes has 1.63 million Twitter followers and 312,000 Facebook likes: a sizable plat-form of influence. It’s therefore quite courageous to hear him compare this im-mense following to a friendship group. “I think the following that I’ve got is absolutely amazing,” he gushes. “They are so loyal. I think, because musically [the solo project] is such a departure

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joy it when they’re driving in their car or listening to the radio - [which] kind of ties into the interaction I was talking about before.”

‘Kiss Me Quick’ is an uptempo, big band-esque number that recalls Timber-lake at his most showiest, whilst the big vocal chorus of ‘More Than You’ll Ever Know’ – which relies heavily on Sykes’ powerful voice in terms of generating a lasting impression – subscribes to his own definition of his craft. “It’s been called soulful pop, but I think you can expect quite a varied album within that genre. There’s some really light-hearted, funky and playful moments, and then there’s some more deep, pouring-my-heart-out moments. I think everyone’s going to have a different favourite song off the album. I really tested myself vo-cally, because I think for the first time I was able to go, ‘Cool, I’m going to try and do this.’ So I’ve ended up with quite an experimentally-vocal album that I’m incredibly proud of.”

Sykes’ vocal talents may indeed play a substantial role in his push for solo success, although judge-ment can only really be cast once

but also about the industry itself and how everything works. I think my un-derstanding of everything and the way the music industry clicks together in a unique way is probably the main thing I’ll take from that.” It’s a diplomatic and thoroughly sensible response, keeping his million-miles-a-second mind from blurting out something that could turn this piece into a raving piece of gossip. Sykes is grateful for The Wanted expe-rience – he later clarifies to SOUNDS that he accepts that some people will never be able to separate Nathan Sykes, Solo Artist from Nathan Sykes, Wanted Member – and certainly isn’t aggrieved to be questioned on the importance of their legacy on his own separate career. So what can those who have transferred their allegiance from the five-piece to the solo artist expect? “I think fans – old and new! – can expect a departure from The Wanted,” says Sykes. “It would have been easy to lock myself away and create a very self-indulgent album… everyone would [have] been like, ‘Good for you! But the radio isn’t going to play it, and we can’t relate to it.’ So I thought ‘No, it’s really important that everyone can relate to my music,’ so that they can en-

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a fully-completed album lands on the shelves. But, armed with valuable ex-perience of a judgemental industry and blessed with an optimistic outlook on his chances, there’s no reason why Nathan Sykes can’t step out of the shadow cast by The Wanted’s recent legacy and forge his own path to pop stardom.

After all, his potential is very much long standing – way before the solo project, before The Wanted and even before the dedicated following: “By the age of six, I was onstage, jumping around and sing-ing. That’s one side of music that I love so much: entertaining people as much as I can.”

Nathan Sykes’ SOUNDS Q&A