24 February 2023
Newsdesk
Today, Stormzy performed three songs for BBC Radio 2’s month-long Piano Room, accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra at the BBC’s Maida Vale studios.
Stormzy performed his hit ‘Crown’, new track ‘Give It To The Water’, and his classic cover was ‘Get Here’ by Oleta Adams.
On Glastonbury:
It was the greatest moment of my life. […] That’s a really ‘Thank God’ moment from me, I don’t take that lightly. That’s like an actual ‘I have lived my dream’ [moment] and I’m still alive and I’ve still got my career ahead of me and I thank God for that.
On the artist he’d work with if he had a time machine:
Whitney Houston. Easy! To be fair, I say that – I’ve got this thing as well where I can admire artists and sometimes I know its not your place to make music with them. In a dream world, it’s like ‘That artist, and that artist’ but it doesn’t always work like that. So maybe I don’t work with Whitney. Maybe we’d get in the studio and make the worst song ever. Maybe I just admire her. But the idea of being on a song with her and making a beautiful record is a dream come true.
On his writing rituals:
I write on my dog walk in the morning. […]And in the studio, recently I just kick everyone out the room. I tell everyone ‘get out the room’ and I just fiddle around with ideas. I don’t have no eccentric ways to write. I just take it in my stride. I’m also not a thorough writer. I’m not like ‘I need to finish this song today!’. I think you get there with maturity as an artist. You trust that ‘I will finish this song today’ because I’m a gifted writer, I’d like to believe. So I don’t sit there and wrack my brain. I just take my time, eat some food, chill out and it all comes. And I pray and I let God do it as well.
Watch Stormzy’s Radio 2 Piano Room performance on BBC iPlayer.
