There are comebacks, and there are Capaldi comebacks.
The Scottish singer and songwriter Lewis Capaldi has made it through a dark time, and is back, very much on top of his game, playing the biggest stages on earth and cratering sales charts.
Rewind to summer 2023, and Capaldi struggled to complete his set at Glastonbury Festival, due to flare-ups with Tourette’s syndrome. The pop singer took the best part of two years off, to focus on his mental health, and made a triumphant return to the stage at this year’s Glastonbury.
Last month, he dropped the EP Survive, the followup to his 2023 LP Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent, which was sent to No. 1 in the U.K. for three weeks and spawned three U.K. chart-leading singles in “Pointless,” “Wish You The Best” and “Forget Me”.
Now, comeback kid Capaldi is winding his way around Australia for a sold-out tour, which is produced by Live Nation and wraps up next Wednesday, Dec. 17 at Perth’s RAC Arena.
While visiting these parts, Capaldi stopped by The Hit Network’s Carrie & Tommy for an open and candid chat about his therapy, medication and the lifestyle changes that helped him get over the hump and fall in love with music once more.
That surprise set at Glastonbury 2025, the grandaddy of European festival, was the ultimate test.
“I was nervous, but I wasn’t anxious. I’ve changed how I see things in my head,” he remarked. “It’s not a situation of ‘I have to do this’, but a situation of ‘I get to do this!’ I banned everyone from backstage – my parents, my management — I don’t want anyone’s anxious energy getting on top of me.”
After the gig, everyone can come back and hang out, he noted. “So, I felt nervous, but I didn’t feel it was going to be an issue, whereas the time before at Glastonbury, I knew something was going to go wrong.”
Capaldi also discussed using aripiprazole, also known as Abilify, an antipsychotic medication that helps with his “general anxiety” and tics. “I go to therapy every week,” he told Carrie & Tommy. “Luckily, I feel alright. It’s therapy and a mix of medication, and trying not to rot in my bed and my house for too long.”
Australia, which is now baking in summer, has been just the tonic. “We’ve been here for a couple of weeks now, and I’ve been out more, gone to the beach, and I never would have done that before. I would have just gone to the venue, do the gig, go to a pub, and then rot in my bed. I’m more in tune with my surroundings.”
Before his hiatus, Lewis was seemingly unstoppable. His debut album from 2019, Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent, propelled him to superstar status. In the U.K., it accumulated 10 weeks at No. 1, and was confirmed as the biggest-selling domestic album for both 2019 and 2020. Divinely Uninspired yielded “Someone You Loved,” a No. 1 smash on both sides of the Atlantic, and around the globe.
In November 2022, he was crowned by the Official Charts Company as the “king of streaming” as “Someone You Loved had overtaken Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” as the U.K.’s most streamed song in history.
Capaldi this year made an effortless return to his previous chart glories as “Survive” debuted at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart.
“It’s nice that people have been so accepting,” he says of his ordeal, “and there’s been an outpouring of love. It’s weird, though, because everyone knows your business… but the positive impact far outweighs the negative. People coming up to me and saying, ‘My son or daughter has Tourette’s or anxiety issues’ and all that has been very nice and very special. I feel very lucky to be in the position that I’m in and to be able to share.”
Stream The Hit Network’s Carrie & Tommy interview with Lewis Capaldi below.
