Lewis Capaldi: ‘They’re screaming America’s sweetheart at me. It’s wild’
He sounds like Joe Cocker, swears like a trooper and has David Hasselhoff beating down his door. How did Lewis Capaldi become a global superstar? ‘I’ve got no clue,’ he says on tour in Chicago
The last time Lewis Capaldi visited Times Square in New York, he was confronted by his own face: a poster for Spotify stretching the height of a building. It featured him wearing a selection from his apparently inexhaustible collection of idiotic-looking sunglasses: a white-framed women’s pair, not unlike the ones Kurt Cobain took to wearing near the end of his life. He looked at least a little more like a rock star than he usually does in promotional photos. A British poster campaign features what is supposed to be his Tinder profile: a photo of Capaldi grinning gormlessly, his hair wrapped in a towel. He is flashing a peace sign and the caption reads: “Otherwise known as the Scottish Beyoncé.”
Of course, he took a photo of the Times Square poster and stuck it on Instagram and Facebook. In a perfect example of Capaldi’s approach to social media, he listed his location as “GENERAL ERECTION” and counselled “nyc pls don’t trip over yr boners xox”. The thing is, he asks, as he demolishes a burger in a Chicago restaurant, how else are you supposed to react? These ridiculous things keep happening to him.