Taking to social media just a day or two before it’s release, Odell seems to be taking a more low-key and spontaneous approach to marketing his music, favouring a more direct form of communication with his fans rather than engaging the press. This tack typifies the artist he’s become over the years, far more culturally in tune than many of the artists that came up with him, Tom has his finger firmly on the pulse of new social trends as they emerge and keenly channels it back into the music he creates. Both “Best Day Of My Life” and “Sad Anymore” are great examples of this, with the latter coming in at a lengthy 1 minute 50 seconds by the time the last chord is struck, it epitomises the growing demand for short and engaging art as popularised by apps such as Tik Tok. Far from lazy, it’s actually a difficult nut to crack. “Sad Anymore” could easily be considered an interlude on Tom’s upcoming album rather than a single, and yet in releasing it he challenges the idea of what a conventional single is anymore, inviting the audience into a personal space so confessional they could be sitting in his living room.

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A post shared by Tom Odell (@tompeterodell)

Taking to Instagram the musician explained “Sometimes i go through periods where i feel sad. Sometimes i can hide it and people don’t notice, but other times it’s right there, in my every word, every look and i’m sure everyone can see.” If they couldn’t see it before, they certainly will now. Very sparing in lyrical content, it’s defining line “I don’t wanna be sad anymore” parades repetitively throughout the song like an earworm feasting on your tears. Odell sings in a hushed tone that manages to carry a great deal of emotional heft in the few words he provides. Delicately delivering a vocal reminiscent of the great Thom Yorke, he proves that less is more in a brave new release not catered for radio, but rather the millions of lonely internet souls that may need a shoulder to cry on.

You can catch Tom live in the UK this year at the shows below.

03/07/2022 – A Perfect Day featuring David Gray – Exeter 

04/ 09 – De La Warr Pavilion – Bexhill On Sea

In the dramatic video, Odell shaves his head as he laments the pain of love. The video also incorporates reverse motion and original art of Odell himself.

Monsters looks to be a darker, more intense record than Odell’s previous work. The singer found recognition with singles like Can’t Pretend and Another Love from his debut album back in 2013. Since then the Sussex native has gone on to release two further LP’s and play sold-out shows across the country.

Odell recently took to social media to make the album release announcement. In the post, Odell talks about his personal struggles with anxiety and panic and how that fed into the making of the new album. He also released the second single off the album titled monster v.1.

monstershttps://t.co/VYWTlyCVv7 pic.twitter.com/Llczl3YiD7

— Tom Odell (@tompeterodell) March 12, 2021

The second single was released alongside a music video created by Odell and his girlfriend Georgie Somerville.

Odell’s tour will cover 15 cities across two months. Tickets are available at 9am on Friday 26 March here.

Tom Odell 2022 tour dates:

15/02/22 – Ulster Hall – Belfast

16/02 – Olympia Theatre – Dublin

18/02 – O2 Guildhall – Southampton

19/02 – O2 Academy – Bristol

20/02 – O2 Apollo – Manchester

22/02 – O2 Academy –  Oxford

24/02 – O2 Academy Brixton – London

26/02 – O2 Academy – Liverpool

27/02 – The Great Hall – Cardiff

01/03 – O2 Academy – Leeds

02/03 – O2 City Hall – Newcastle

04/03 – O2 Academy Glasgow –  Glasgow

05/03 – Rock City – Nottingham

06/03 – Corn Exchange – Cambridge

08/03 – O2 Academy – Birmingham

The singer also included some artwork for the single and a short snippet of the song which features him singing the title of the song in the line ‘look at what you’ve gone and done, baby baby now i’m numb.’ Pre-saving the track, the singer announced, will also give fans early access to tickets for an exclusive, virtual live performance which will feature tracks from his upcoming album. With 2018’s ‘Jubilee Road,’ the last studio album released by Odell, fans have been waiting two long years for a follow up and finally now it has been confirmed that his fourth is coming very soon.

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A post shared by Tom Odell (@tompeterodell)

Tom Odell, who’s debut album ‘Long Way Down,’ reached number 1 on the UK official album charts is known for his simple yet effective combination of piano and vocals to deliver his potent songwriting. However, the clip which he has provided us to preview new song ‘numb,’ features rich production with thumping kick drums and synth sounds added to the simple keyboard and vocal lines which are reminiscent and familiar of the sound he is known for. This suggests a much greater time being spent in the studio experimenting with different sounds, perhaps inspired by the additional time he was able to spend in there throughout lockdown, and gives fans hope for an album which is both original and breaking new ground but also nostalgic and familiar for fans who fell in love with ‘Long Way Down.’

With the UK sill in a full national lockdown and live music in person still of the cards for the foreseeable future, it is only right that British artists like Tom Odell continue to make use of the possibilities of live streaming to create interactions with fans and also to generate an income for themselves in these difficult times. While vaccine passports may bring some hope for the return of live music sooner than expected, with the UK government’s focus entirely being on vaccinating the population and generally refusing to answer any questions regarding when things might be reopening, it may be wise of all of us to settle in to another long few months of live streamed entertainment.

A first listen to Tom Odell’s playlist may be a cause of some surprise to listeners used to the sensitive vocal and piano compositions he is known for, to find the singer’s listening tastes to be surprisingly varied and in some cases far removed from his own music. While some tracks are more predictable given the songwriting of Odell, such as pieces by Claude Debussy, and explain his sound a little more, other tracks are in there which are very different. For example, tracks by US Rap and R&B artists like Juie WRLD, A$AP Rocky aren’t exactly similar to Tom Odell’s own music but may offer some insight into the broad taste which creatives usually have, taking influence from diverse sources, not necessarily to make something in the same style but to act as part of an eclectic pool of influences to draw subtitles from.

The social media savvy singer makes use of the description box on his playlist to invite fans to his Instagram and TikTok profiles which are fast becoming the go to tools for this generation of music promoters. While instagram has been building its sizeable user base for several years now, it is only now with the entry of the upstart TikTok platform and its groundbreaking short-form video formatted content which has lead to race between the two to become the self-promoting musician’s best friend this year. While instagram’s visual style and occasional video content has always been a good option for musicians looking to engage with fans in a way more direct and frequent than through their album and single releases, TikTok’s improved integration of music into the fundamental format of their platform has been a huge help to musicians who can now get a short clip of their song featured in hundreds of user-uploaded short videos and reach greater levels of fame and success through a new pathway.

Tom Odell also leaked on his Instagram feed today the news that he would soon be releasing new music with a photo of himself with the caption ‘can’t wait to play you all my new music,’ which suggests he has been busy writing and recording throughout this pandemic, making good use of the time which has kept British musicians at home for the best part of 2020 and now the early parts of 2021 as well. Fans would be wise to keep an eye on his playlist for clues about what this new music might sound like.

The following year he released his second single ‘Firestone’, which was an immediate success. The song was streamed 700 million times on YouTube and 715 million times on Spotify, as of 2 January 2020

— Kygo (@KygoMusic) March 23, 2020

Since then, the first song released was “Like it is” on and it was a collaboration with Tyga and Zara Larsson. The song was announced to be a Song of the Day in the official Shazam Twitter account.

#LikeItIs by @KygoMusic, @zaralarsson & @Tyga is our Song of the Day. Listen now on @AppleMusic: https://t.co/vxzLJOxNGb pic.twitter.com/5J4X9gnYmb

— Shazam (@Shazam) March 31, 2020

The following Friday, the next song of the album “I’ll Wait” was released. Four days after, the song has already been streamed five million times.

Kygo has a variety of collaborations with many different pop artists like Tom Odell, for the song “Fiction“, Angus & Julia Stone for the song “For What it’s Worth” and many more. All of these can be heard in his 2016 studio album “Cloud Nine“.

On April 17 the third song of the album was released and it featured English singer and songwriter, Zak Abel.

The song begins with the story of the journey both artist planned for shooting the song video on the Maldives. Since they both were in lockdown, this plan did not succeed.

However, a video for the song has been shot. It comprises short clips of the everyday life of the musicians. It also indicates that Kygo is working on new music.

The song ends with the quote “I guess the lesson is to try and make the best out of a difficult situation. Stay home. Stay safe.”

The brand new festival, Ireland’s first family camping festival, will make its debut at the Russborough Estate, in Blessington, Co. Wicklow, Ireland, between the 28th and 30th of June 2019. Tickets for the festival will go on sale, on Tuesday the 16^th of April 2019, at 9am, and can be purchased from Ticketmaster.

Among the first wave of artists to be announced and joining the two impressive headliners, Tom Odell and Bell X1, is Wild Youth, the Riptide Movement, King Kong Company, LE Galaxie (DJ Set), Hermitage Green, and Delorentos.

Speaking about the creation of Kaleidoscope, Festival Director, Melvin Benn, said: “As soon as Electric Picnic tickets go on sale, family camping sells out in minutes. It is a massively popular experience. We wanted to create a festival that caters to these festival goers, but also extend its appeal somewhat, so it is also of interest to the older sibling in the family or teen and families have a festival to go to once their kids are over 12. From the many years of catering for families at Electric Picnic we have learnt what really works.”

The following names are also among the first to be announced and joining the already stellar line-up is Brave Giant, Kila, Wyvern Lingo, Dublin Gospel Choir, Toucan, Jerry Fish Electric Sideshow, Billy Scurry, Saarloos, Laoise, Ruthanne, Thumper, Thanks Brother, Flynn, Fiona Harte, Eve Belle, and Siights, with many more still to be announced.

The veteran singer walked away from the 59th edition of the awards this afternoon. Taking place in London, the ceremony also saw awards for Mumford & Sons (International Achievement), Tom Odell (Songwriter Of The Year) and James Blake (Best Contemporary song – ‘Retrograde’) amongst others.

On being presented with the award by Chrissie Hynde, Cave claimed “This is the one to get… We don’t really go to many of these awards evenings but we come to this one.” before thanking Warren Ellis, with whom he co-wrote the album, stating, “He taught me how to dispense with three chords and get it down to one.”

Here’s the full list of Ivor Novello Award Winners;

PRS For Music Most Performed Work – Passenger – ‘Let Her Go’

The Ivors Classical Music Award – John McCabe

Best Television Soundtrack – Ripper Street

Best Contemporary Song – James Blake – ‘Retrograde’

International Achievement – Mumford & Sons

Best Original Film Score – The Epic Of Everest

The Ivors Inspiration Award – Jerry Dammers

Album Award – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, ‘Push the Sky Away Written’

PRS For Music Outstanding Contribution To British Music – Jeff Beck

Best Song Musically And Lyrically – London Grammar, ‘Strong’

Songwriter Of The Year – Tom Odell

Outstanding Song Collection – The Chemical Brothers

Lifetime Achievement – Christine McVie

PRS For Music Special International Award – Nile Rodgers