ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
OLLY MURS
... a summer of live shows
WITH FIVE STUDIO ALBUMS , 18 SINGLES AND 21 MUSIC VIDEOS UNDER HIS BELT , it ’ s fair to say Olly Murs has more than shed his X-Factor skin and has become a star in his own right . His latest album – and fourth consecutive number one – 24 Hrs , is an honest and mature , but typically funky musing on his recent break up . We had a chat with Olly about his upcoming tour , which sees him play at Hove ’ s Cricket Ground , the Spitfire Ground in Kent , and Sandown Park among many other venues .
Hi Olly . You ’ ve mentioned that 24 Hrs is your most honest album to date , do you feel you are constantly progressing as an artist and songwriter ?
I wanted to do something different with this album and felt that writing about what had been genuinely happening in my life – specifically heartbreak , which is something I ’ ve never written about before – was the right thing to do . This album is an opportunity to keep my fans interested and show them a different side to me ; it ’ s quite soulful and has an 80 ’ s sound to it too . I ’ m really happy and proud of it .
Is there a particular track on this album that you ’ re most proud of ?
I think ‘ 24 Hrs ’ and ‘ Flaws ’ are the two songs on the album that I ’ m most proud of ; production wise , ‘ 24 Hrs ’ is different from anything I ’ ve done before , and I feel that ‘ Flaws ’ is one of the best songs that I ’ ve written . It ’ s a really sad song and as much as I love writing really happy feel-good songs , it ’ s nice to have the opportunity to show some emotion and that ’ s what this album is about .
You ’ re in the midst of a massive headline arena tour and this summer you ’ ve got a huge run of outdoor shows including Sandown park on the 10th August – how do indoors and outdoors shows vary ?
It ’ s really fun being outside . Sandown Park specifically is a different gig for me as I ’ ve never done anything like it before ; I ’ ve done racecourse gigs before in the past , but not to this size and I ’ m really proud to be doing it . The UK tour gives me the chance to go to different places in the country that I haven ’ t been to before and perform slightly different shows at each one . I can ’ t wait .
How do you go about choosing your set list ?
It ’ s been difficult with five albums to choose from – I ’ m playing all of the hits from previous albums as well as my new material . I ’ ve made the shows as exciting and entertaining as possible and I ’ m loving having such a range of songs to choose from . I ’ m an artist , but at the same time I ’ m an entertainer and I can promise any fan that comes along that they ’ ll go home happy , thinking ‘ wow , that was epic . What a brilliant night .’
What does life after this tour hold for Olly Murs ?
At the moment , all I can think about is giving this tour my all , but once it ’ s finished I ’ ll sit down and re-evaluate my options . I ’ m really happy with where I ’ m at musically , so I ’ m just going to take my time and see where 2017 takes me . In the meantime , I ’ m just really excited to enjoy and embrace this tour ; I know it ’ s going to be one to remember .
www . ollymurs . com
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