Ep. 251: Myles Smith | Stargazing, Therapy, and The Secret Cost of Success

Today's guest is a rising star who's risen so fast he's not really rising anymore — he's just a star.

From a bedroom in Luton playing $50 nylon-string covers and open mics playing for 4 people... Three years later: a billion streams, "Stargazing" on President Obama's summer playlist, two singles that took over pop radio before he'd ever made a debut album, and a debut album sourced from the notes he wrote in therapy that saved him.

He's proof that sometimes all you really need is a guitar, a work ethic, and a Taco Bell-poisoned night in Malibu to write a song people argue about in twenty languages.

And the writer is... Myles Smith!

If you've ever wanted something so badly you didn't think to ask what it would cost when it arrived — this is the conversation.

And The Writer Is... Myles Smith!

In this episode of And The Writer Is, we go deep on:

• Why he scrubbed every song he made before 2023 — and what "I didn't exist before 2023" actually means
• His advice for up and coming artists...
• The end-of-Covid breakdown at 18 that almost ended things — and the therapy notes that became My Mess, My Heart, My Life.
• Meeting Peter Fenn on the last day of a six-week US trip — and writing "My Home" in the first hour
• The Taco Bell food-poisoning night in Malibu that produced "Stargazing"
• The hidden cost of success on his relationships
• "Hey mom, I want to retire you" — and what she said back

And much more...

Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.

Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us.

CHAPTERS
Intro
My Mess, My Heart, My Life.
The pressure of being "right at the start of the journey"
"If you take away the hits, you could see where I really am"
"I wake up some days in a catastrophe"
The five albums he wore out
His mum, his absent dad, and a single-parent household
Singing in church with his grandma
First talent show: Fix You by Coldplay
The $50 nylon-string guitar that started it
Playing "Dream Girl" for his mum at 10
Growing up Black in Luton and the Labrinth Electronic album that broke his brain open
Open mics at 11 — his mum driving him to every one
Why open mics built him in a way the algorithm can't
"I was really lucky that I got to fail a thousand times"
The first real gig — 100 cap, 90 friends and family, indie band Bear with a Three
Covid, isolation, rock bottom
Therapy — and the notes that became the album
Trust issues, anxiety, the night at 18 he tried to "ctrl alt delete on life"
What he'd say to 18-year-old him
The videographer who pushed him to try TikTok
"I'm not trying that shit" — and the Sweater Weather cover that changed everything
How he paved his way onto an Amber Run tour with one recorded song
NMPA mid-roll
The day his career actually started: meeting Peter Fenn
"Music with other people is supposed to be fun" — Peter's first lesson
"My Home" — written in the first hour of meeting Peter
After Stargazing: "stuck in the future"
Brain scans, burnout, smiling through it all
"Hey mom, I want to retire you" — and what she said
The UK artists who don't love being famous — Ed Sheeran, James Bay, Niall Horan
Are you happy?
"I hated Niall Horan" — and why
Rapid fire
Meeting his wife with all this happening
The album as the closing of the first chapter
Pulling up the old voice memos
The Taco Bell night that became "Stargazing"
The biggest pinch-me moment of the last three years
Ross and Joe tape notes

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CREDITS BLOCK
Credits:
Hosted by Ross Golan
Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad
Edited by Jad Saad
Post-Production VFX by Pratik Karki
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 251: Myles Smith | Stargazing, Therapy, and The Secret Cost of Success

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