Lewis Capaldi
photo: justin higuchi · cc by 2.0 ↗Lewis Capaldi turned Scottish deadpan and open-wound balladry into one of the 2010s' biggest pop stories, riding the piano-and-strings heartbreak of 'Someone You Loved' to a seven-week UK number one and a Grammy nomination before he'd turned twenty-three. His voice — cracked, raspy, built for the big note rather than the pretty one — sits under a self-deprecating Scottish everyman persona that made him nearly as famous for his social-media one-liners as for his tears-and-key-change songwriting. A Tourette syndrome diagnosis and a very public hiatus only deepened the frankness that defines his music.
Capaldi has repeatedly named Nutini as the artist who showed him a Scottish singer could write soulful, chart-bothering pop without sanding off his own accent or edges — a direct blueprint for Capaldi's own unpolished delivery.
listen forListen for the same conversational, slightly ragged phrasing — Nutini refusing to over-enunciate on 'New Shoes', Capaldi doing the same on the verses of 'Bruises', both letting the vocal crack rather than smoothing it out.
Capaldi has said Cocker was the first singer he heard with the raspy voice he wanted to emulate — the direct model for his own gravelly, straining-for-the-note delivery.
listen forCompare the way both voices seem to fight their way to the big line — Cocker tearing into the bridge of 'With a Little Help from My Friends', Capaldi doing the same rasping ascent on the chorus of 'Wish You The Best'.
Capaldi has named Kings of Leon among the bands he 'idolised' growing up, part of the arena-rock songcraft — big, simple hooks built to fill a room — underneath his own piano ballads.
listen forNotice the same trick of a quiet, spare verse detonating into a huge, wordless-feeling chorus — 'Use Somebody' building to its falsetto peak, 'Before You Go' doing the same with strings instead of guitars.