All language subtitles for fa784cce97c64ff684b844f7ade797f3

- I think the end process for every album

is always the toughest.

Finding the last possible
drop of songs to go into it.

I usually would play it to
sort of hundreds of people

before the album came out,

but probably six people
were in the process

of whittling down this album.

I think this is the best
record I've ever made

and I can't wait to play
in front of an audience.

Hello everyone, how's everyone doing?

So thank you very much for coming to this

Equals Live Experience for Amazon.

I'm gonna play some songs
that hope that you know,

and I'll start off with this one.

Thank you very much, thanks.

So thank you very much for coming,

this was meant to be the
week of the album release,

but obviously I got COVID
so I couldn't do it.

So I'm very, very happy
that we're able to do this

and it looks absolutely beautiful.

So basically in this show,
at the beginning of the show,

I played three songs
from old albums up there,

that are kind of prerecorded.

And then it kinda segues into this,

which is all the songs from the new album.

And a lot of these songs,

I haven't really played live before.

I'm playing "Two-step" later,

which actually I rehearsed
for the first time,

for the first time, about an hour ago.

So we'll see how that goes.

And if I mess up, then,

we'll just do it again and edit it.

So this album I basically made
over the course of four years

and it was a long process,

but I really feel like the
first song that was completed

for the album was this next song,

which I wrote in Nashville.

While I was making, it was kind of,

I didn't really intend

on making number six
collaborations project.

It kind of just happened by
accident whilst making Equals.

'Cause I was just sort of
making songs for Equals

and then every now and then making,

something that sounded
like beautiful people

or antisocial or whatever.

And I was like, well,
this doesn't really fit.

It sort of turned into number six.

But so this is a song that
I wrote around that time,

that I feel like has become
a fan favorite on the album.

And it's called "First
Times", so I hope you like it.

I always find like I overly
complicate things for myself

while writing songs sometimes,

'cause "First Times" and "Perfect",

no choruses are the same,

they're different words every single time.

So when I was singing,
"First Times" there,

I was going.

Just trying to get all the
lyrics in the right place.

'Cause you know, when
you were kind of playing

in front of people that do know the songs

and they're like...

This is great.

I've missed gigs so much.

I've missed being able
to play people so much.

So thank you.

So this album is a kind of
quote, unquote, a lockdown album.

'Cause it was pretty much
finished in lockdown.

The main guy that I've worked
with pretty much all my career

is a guy called Johnny McDaid,

who, I've done songs like, "Shape of You",

or "Photograph", or like
half this record, basically,

"Bad Habits".

And when lockdown hit,

we didn't really know what was going on.

So we were still keeping in
touch, and then he was like,

"Why don't I move next door to you?

And like for quarantine for a while.

And then once I've quarantine,

I can just move in and then
we can just create music."

And I was like, cool,
sounds like a good idea.

So he moved in and then we'd
sort of wave at each other

and whatnot.

And then when his
quarantine, had finished,

we started creating
music and this next song,

it was pretty much the first
song we wrote that week.

This was like May 2020.

So may last year it started off originally

like a power ballad and
it was a bit more slow

and it sped up now and
I kind of like both,

kind of like both,

but I'm gonna play it sort
of like halfway between both.

Thank you.

I'm gonna call Ashton Miranda on stage,

he's a very good friend
of mine and piano player.

Me and Ashton I've been playing together

for seven years now.

And I sometimes when I play certain songs,

feel very alone on stage

'cause we play them together so much.

So it's so nice to have him here for this.

Thank you for coming.

Ashton, I'm gonna throw a
curve ball in after this,

Ashton loves to rehearse
and we're gonna play

a song that we haven't rehearsed.

After this one, though.

It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be fun.

I'm gonna leave you guessing
which one it is though.

So this next song we're gonna
play, is "Leave Your Life",

by the way.

This next song I'm gonna play,

I feel like the story around
it, is personal to me,

but I feel like now the song has come out.

I feel like the song
belongs to so many people

in so many other people's stories.

Instead of telling you
the story around the song,

I want to explain what the
song means to me now it's out.

And, I wrote this song in,

I'd never really experienced grief before,

I had my grandparents die and
I feel like your grandparents,

when you were at school,

everyone's grandparents died
and it's just a normal thing

that people get old and they pass away.

And although it's very, very sad.

That is just part of life.

But I had a friend pass away last year

and it was the first time I'd
ever had anyone close to me

just like that gone.

I had conversations with
him every other day.

And then those conversations just stopped.

So the song I wrote it,
trying to process it,

which I feel it helped.

I feel it definitely helped.

And I feel like the grief
is such a solitary thing

that I was very much solitary.

I don't wanna speak to anyone.

I'm gonna write, write,
write, write, write,

and then I don't wanna
talk to anyone about it.

'Cause if I talked to anyone
about it, I'll just cry.

And then when the song came out,

suddenly like the solitary nature of grief

became very public and it felt very bare.

And I felt weird about it,
before the song came out,

I rung up his family and made sure

that they were okay with it.

And we went through the
artwork and the mixes

and all of that stuff.

And then when the song came out,

I suddenly realized that
there was a whole world

of people feeling exactly the same way

and the song allowed
itself to be this thing

that basically gave a
voice to solitary grief.

And I've met so many people
since the song have come out

and people who,

I met a boy the other day
whose mother had passed away

and he was like, "This is
the way that I communicated

with my father as I send him the song.

And he knows exactly what
I mean without me having

to say anything.

And I can send that song."

And I found that going
on, the YouTube comments

for this song made it all make sense

because when you write a song like this,

it's very personal.

You go, ooh, I don't
want anyone to hear this.

And then when it comes out,

you realize that music
is a universal language

and it helps people communicate.

I find it, sometimes I send
songs to my wife and be like,

oh, this made me think of
you or this is our song.

Or this is that.

And I find that out of
a really sad situation,

something positive has
happened with this song.

And I'm really, really grateful
that people have connected

to it in the way that they have.

This is "Visiting Hours".

Thank you.

So, as I said, I was gonna throw
a curve ball, Ashton's way.

We've actually played this
song before for just once.

And this song was actually meant
to be in the setlist today.

And the reason I feel weird
about not putting this one

in this set is 'cause it
kind of goes hand in hand

with "Visiting Hours".

The story behind the song is I got sent,

we were finishing the album
and someone came up with

this bright idea of like,

"Hey, because you made most
of your last record in Sweden,

we should send you to
Sweden to finish the album."

And I was like, cool.

And they were like, "But this
is the idea, you fly to Sweden

without your baby and you land.

And then you write about
how miserable you are."

I was like, ah, that's a bit cruel.

I basically said in my head,
I was like, do you know what?

I can write a song about missing my child

without actually leaving
the same room as them.

And I'll show you basically.

So I had this idea that I was
gonna do this song anyway.

And then my friend Michael
passed away and I flew

to Australia with my child
and we were in quarantine

for two weeks.

And basically I just
had this melody running

around my head every time I took a shower,

melody's come into showers by the way,

'cause shower sound great to sing in.

So I'm there going.

So I had this melody
for "Leave Your Life",

but I didn't really know
what I was gonna write about.

Like, do I write about
just leaving my child

and flying somewhere?

If it felt a bit like not genuine.

And then Michael's funeral
happened and I was in quarantine

for the funeral and we
watched it over Zoom.

And I spoke to a member
of his family afterwards,

who said that basically
after every conversation,

he would end it with, I love you.

And no matter what, no matter
what every single conversation

ended with, I love you.

So the last thing he said
to everyone that he knew

was I love you.

And I thought that that
was such an amazing thing

to kind of take in to life.

And so I started doing it
with people in my family,

but I can't do it with my daughter

'cause she's 15 months now
and she was six months then.

And I felt like, even
though if I went tomorrow

and was not here on this planet,

even though she would
know that I did love her,

'cause people would tell her,

she would never actually know
it from the horses mouth,

if that makes sense.

So I wrote this song basically as that,

if anything happened and it's
called "Leave Your Life".

Round of applause for Ashton, everyone.

I was just telling them to
give you a round of applause.

'Cause you know.

So those songs kind of go hand-in-hand.

Weirdly, this next song goes
hand-in-hand with "Bad Habits"

and they could not be further apart.

They were written on the same
day and this one kind of came

as a sort of knee jerk reactions about,

you make a song like
"Bad Habits" and it's...

And you go, all right, let's
try something quiet and slow.

And this song was written in
such a short period of time.

That for a long time, I
thought it was ,

'cause, it was written in
such a short period of time.

And I kept listening to me like,

oh, that's not any good.

And then my brother did a
string arrangement for it,

that basically brought out of its shell.

And it's turned it into this
big cinematic orchestral thing

that I love, that I love.

And yeah, I hope it lives on forever

and we're gonna play it now.

It's called "Joker And The Queen".

One, two, three.

Everyone give it up for Ashton.

Well, now we're entering
into the interesting part

of the gig, 'cause this is the
song that I wasn't intending

on playing today

'cause I hadn't rehearsed
it once ever, ever.

And it's a loop pedal song,
and it's quite intricate.

And if it's not on time,
it will sound ,

but I've rehearsed it for a little bit.

And the beauty of this is
if it doesn't sound good,

it just won't make the show.

So your part of this tonight,

this is the first time I've ever,

ever, ever, ever played it.

I hope it goes well. I hope it goes well.

This was the final song that
I finished for the record.

And this came, in a stage when
the album's being finished,

this is how "Shape of You" came about,

is basically like the album's done.

And then everyone goes, right it's done.

And then there's just this
little prodding finger

from everywhere.

My manager, Stuart is the most
genius person in the world

because he knows that
there's something good in

when you feel like a record's
finished and you just go in

and create whatever you want.

And that's where "Don't" in "Sing" came

and it's where a "Shape
of You" and what came in?

"Shape of You"" and "Eraser" came

and it's where "Bad
Habits" and "2step" came.

And this song basically came at my last,

I was on my last legs with
writing for this album.

And I was like, it's totally done.

I'd actually gone to Los
Angeles to promote the album.

I was doing all the voice
stuff and stuff like that.

And I went in for a sort of
like site session of this guy

who I'd been friends with
for a very long time.

And we hadn't really worked together

because we'd been friends.

And I just was like,

let's just go in and see what we create.

This song came out.

It's still my favorite song on the album.

And I hope I don't butcher
it today because of that.

I've just shot a music video
for it in Kiev, which is cool.

We did it in Kiev 'cause we
could shut down an entire part

of the city.

And we had like 250 dancers
and it looks pretty stunning,

but it was minus three.

All right, here we go.

If I mess this up, I'm gonna
have to do it a few more times,

but I'll probably get it first time.

Here we go.

Thank you.

As a first time, I don't
think it went too badly.

There was room for improvement.

There's room for improvement.

Now, something else that
I've never played before.

I wrote a Christmas song,

which my manager always said that he quit

if ever I did a Christmas song.

This basically came about.

So Elton John is someone that
has been an integral part

of my career from the
very, very beginning.

When I first signed to my now manager,

he was on Rocket management.

And so Elton was essentially a
mentor and he used to call me

maybe like once every few
months just being like,

how's it going?

And what can we improve on?

You're not getting played on US radio.

Let me sort that out. I
could do a few phone calls.

You've been nominated for Grammy,

but you can't play the Grammy's.

Why don't I play it with you?

He'd basically just be this mentor

that would just always help me out.

And then as my career progressed and got,

I had more and more success,

I sort of started hanging
out with him more and more

and more and he became
from a mentor to a friend,

and then he just started ringing me a lot.

He has an iPad. I have an iPad.

So we're both not phone
people, which is quite good.

I feel like he might be
the only person on my iPad

that I call.

And I might be the only
person on his iPad that he...

'Cause we literally
speak every single day.

But this happened right
after I became a father.

He just started ringing me all the time,

just to check how I was doing.

He loved seeing my little
daughter on FaceTime

would chat to his kids.

He loves football. I love football.

His kids like Pokemon. I like Pokemon.

There's a lot of stuff that goes in there.

And he wrote me on Christmas
day, last year to say,

"Merry Christmas, you having a good day?

We should do a Christmas song."

And so two things went
through my head at that point.

One is, God I've gotta do
a song with Elton John.

That's gonna be cool.

And then the second thing was
like, Stuart's gonna say no.

So I kind of like
tempered it a little bit.

And was just like,

I don't know if I wanna
do a Christmas song.

But if we do do one,
maybe 2022, maybe 2023,

like something like that.

And then the thing in March happened

where my friend passed away.

And instantly from that point,

I was just like, why am
I waiting to do anything?

Life is about doing everything now.

It's about grabbing life by the balls

and just having fun with
things and not worrying about

whether it's cool or not
to do a Christmas song.

'Cause I think doing a song
with Elton John in general

is pretty cool.

And he was sort of ringing me
throughout that whole process.

And so I was like, when I get back,

I'll come up to Windsor,

we'll eat some food and we
write some Christmas songs.

And so I went up to Windsor
and we finished three songs,

one of which, well we were
gonna release all three,

this Christmas, but we thought,

like let's stagger it a bit.

So there's one coming out next Christmas,

called, "Pull My Christmas Cracker,

You'll Get More Than A Bang".

And it's innuendo heavy, but
we've finished this song.

This is song the
basically after he rung me

on Christmas day, I was like,

well, I don't know what a Christmas song

of mine sounds like.

Let me think if I can think
of a chorus because you know,

it is Christmas.

So now is the time to feel Christmasy.

So I came up with a...

And I put it on a voice note and I just,

actually it says, Merry Xmas.

I sent it to Elton.

And so we just had this
thing and then we finished it

and, "You not gonna put
that in them," I said, no.

So basically I wrote
the chorus Christmas day

after Elton rung me and then
we finished it in Windsor.

And then we shot a music video recently,

which parodies all the
great British music videos,

such as East 17, Shakin' Stevens, Wizard.

I'm gonna get to playing this song.

And Ashton is back, the man.

So this is called, "Merry Christmas".

And I hope you like it.

By the way, and this is a 100%
true because I've said this

to loads of people and they'd be like,

"No, that's not true".

There's no other song called
Merry Christmas. There's none.

It's Happy X, Miss Mary X, Miss,

I'm telling you, look it up.

It feels like a glitch in the matrix.

So anyway, Merry Christmas.

Here we go.

Ashton Miranda, everyone.

What's everyone think?

I feel like with Christmas songs,

you either go full in or you don't.

So the video we chuck
the kitchen sinken it,

that, I mean, that's one sleigh bell.

The actual recording of it

has a lot more sleigh bells on it.

Some ding-dong bells and yeah.

Thank you so much for being here today.

This has been really fun.
Has everyone had fun?

I just wanna say thank you to everyone

that put on this event.

It looks phenomenal and I
had nothing to do with this.

Thank you very much everyone
who put on this event.

Thank you for Amazon
for making this happen.

Thank you for you guys to
going through all the protocols

to come here and be safe and
stand together and enjoy a gig.

And I hope you have an amazing Christmas,

and happy holidays, if
Christmas ain't your thing.

Thank you so much for letting
me play some of this album

for you and have an
amazing rest of your day.

This is my last song. Thank you.

Have a wonderful rest of your day.

Thank you so much.