HomeEntertainmentHow Myles Smith wrote...

How Myles Smith wrote 2024’s biggest British hit

Rising pop star Myles Smith can still remember the first time he felt famous.

“This might sound trivial,” says the singer, “but I was playing a concert where I asked the audience, ‘Does anyone have cookies?’

“And within about 10 minutes, the whole dressing room was full of cookies.

“It was the best thing ever.”

Since that gig, the 26-year-old’s career has only grown bigger.

Last year, he scored his first major hit with Stargazing, a feel-good foot-stomper that became the biggest-selling British single of 2024, and even featured on Barack Obama’s end of year playlist.

Now, he’s been voted into fourth place on BBC Radio 1’s Sound of 2025, marking him out as one of the year’s most promising new talents.

And in March, he’ll receive the Brit Awards’ Rising Star prize – following in the footsteps of Sam Fender, Adele and Rag ‘N’ Bone Man.

Smith confesses he learned about the accolade while in the grip of a ferocious hangover.

“The night before, I’d tried to go drink-for-drink with some people who were a lot more experienced than me, and we actually had to call a doctor to my Airbnb,” he cringes.

“Finding out I’d got a Brit Award brought me back to life more than any vitamin C ever could.”

It was, he says “the most LA I’ve ever felt”.

It’s certainly a long way from his upbringing in Luton.

Born to a working class British-Jamaican family, he was a bright and happy kid, who grew up singing along to his mum’s Motown records.

His first true musical discovery was Coldplay’s Yellow (“it resonated with me, even though I didn’t understand a word of it”) but Luton’s social and cultural diversity meant he was exposed to hundreds of different genres.

“I went through a lot of stages,” he says. “I was a huge Green Day fan at one point. I even went through a bit of a Screamo phase.”

Before long, he was writing his own songs – initially by dreaming up melodies and lyrics to instrumentals he’d found on YouTube, then creating originals on a guitar he’d been given for his ninth birthday.

“I remember writing this song called Dream Girl, when I was 11,” he says.

“It was about a girl at school, and it was bloody awful – but I sang it at school assembly anyway.

“Terrible decision. She realised it was about her and avoided me every day after that.”

Undeterred, he started playing at open mic nights around the town – covering artists like Ed Sheeran and Marcus Mumford while fine-tuning his distinctive folk-pop style.

For a long time, however, music was a side hustle. After completing a sociology degree in 2019, Smith set up his own business, specialising in management and strategic development, and was turning a healthy profit by the time he was 23.

“I was quite comfortable,” he says. “But I understood quite early on that just because I’m good at something, it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m passionate about it.”

He ploughed his earnings into studio sessions, recording an eight-track album called Scars in 2020. But it wasn’t until his haunting cover of The Neighbourhood’s Sweater Weather went viral in 2022 that he felt confident enough to pack in his day job.

“Money has never been the way I measure my success, but it was definitely scary,” he says.

“It started off very much like plunging into an ice bath and feeling the shock. Like, ‘OK, this is real. I don’t have a consistent salary coming in, and I don’t have the security of knowing how long this is going to take.’

“But it was a matter of switching mentality – so I wasn’t looking at what securities I had lost, but what opportunities I’d gained.”

Any apprehension was short-lived.

With a growing online fanbase, Smith started interspersing TikTok cover versions with snippets of originals.

The one that made everyone pay attention was Solo – whose devious wordplay was so obviously memorable (“Why’d you get me so high/ To leave me solo“) you couldn’t quite believe no-one had thought of it before.

Released independently in 2023, it earned Smith his first UK chart hit and, subsequently, a deal with RCA Records.

But he continued to build his audience organically, gigging constantly while posting on TikTok and YouTube.

He’s got an interesting take on social media. While artists like Halsey and Florence Welch have expressed frustration at record label pressure to create viral videos, Smith calls TikTok a “meritocratic system” that rewards the effort you put in.

“There’s a difference between the chase for virality and building an audience,” he reasons.

“If your objective is to go viral, then you’re always going to be fighting a losing battle. But if your objective is to establish a community and a place where your music belongs, it becomes a lot more rewarding.”

When he’s not sharing music, there’s a thoughtful tone to his social posts. In one recent note, he addressed people who said his music had “saved their lives”.

“I need you to know, it wasn’t my music, it was you,” he wrote. “I know this because I’ve been where you are. I’ve clung to songs in the dark searching for something – anything – that made me feel like I could keep going.

“But music didn’t save me. What saved me was the smallest part of me that chose to stay, even when it hurt.

“My songs might walk beside you, but it’s your strength that carries you forward.”

That empathy is baked into Smith’s lyrics. His most affecting songs, such as River and Wait For You, are covenants of support for a friend who’s drowning in their troubles.

His breakout hit, Stargazing, is also about a moment of human connection – looking into the cosmos and realising “the person we fall in love with has been there our whole life”.

He’s previously claimed the track was inspired by a sunset in Malibu, but it turns out that that’s a little white lie.

Smith actually came up with the folky, clap-along chorus and its central lyric (“You and I stargazing/ Intertwining souls“) while eating tacos and salsa with his co-writers, Peter Fenn and Jesse Fink, early last year.

They were so inspired that they demo’d the song in just 15 minutes – just as the sun was setting over Malibu.

“Somehow, that moment gave the lyric a meaning,” says the singer. “It was an afterthought, but it was a very beneficial afterthought.”

He started posting snippets of the song online almost immediately, and “from the very first post, the reaction was explosive”.

There was only one problem: they hadn’t finished the verses.

For a month, they frantically traded voice notes and Zoom calls, pulling the song into focus in time for a May release. Since then, it’s been streamed more than 600 million times.

“It’s quite wild,” says the singer. “It’s still getting played, seven or eight months down the line, which is awesome.”

Smith ended 2024 with a clutch of honours – from his first Brit Award, to being named BBC Introducing’s Artist Of The Year – and the release of his new EP, …A Minute.

At the start of 2025, he’s juggling writing sessions for his debut album with a hectic touring schedule that sees him playing 36 shows in 60 days in 16 countries. But if that sounds daunting, he’s prepared.

“It’s a lot, for sure, but I used to stand on the edge of my sofa and pretend I was at Glastonbury. So being able to tour, at whatever scale, is just such a privilege that it doesn’t feel like hard work.”

What’s more, he’s guaranteed to get free cookies.

- A word from our sponsors -

spot_img

Most Popular

More from Author

Why ‘cardiac clearance’ could save your life

You have probably already heard that February is the month to...

Biggest quake yet could be still to come on Greek tourist island, seismologist warns

The seismic activity rattling Santorini and other Greek islands is not...

Solo but not alone. Connecting through travel on Valentine’s Day, beyond.

Shakeemah Smith isn't staying at home on Valentine’s Day just because she’s single. "I'm...

- A word from our sponsors -

spot_img

Read Now

Why ‘cardiac clearance’ could save your life

You have probably already heard that February is the month to focus on heart health, which means eating right, exercising and paying attention to the signs of heart attack, stroke and more. As a urologist, I see a different side of heart health every day: Many of my patients need “cardiac...

Biggest quake yet could be still to come on Greek tourist island, seismologist warns

The seismic activity rattling Santorini and other Greek islands is not over and the biggest quake yet could be still to come, a seismologist has warned. Rémy Bossu, Secretary-General of the European-Mediterranean Siesmological Centre, said “days, or perhaps, weeks” would be needed to evaluate the unusual tremors but...

They met on vacation and became best friends. Then they recreated their favorite photo 30 years later

Friends Scott Behringer, George Gilbert and Tim Korber always refer to the 1994 beach picture of the three of them in Cabo San Lucas as their “iconic photo.” In the shot, the trio are standing side-by-side, arms crossed and baseball hats facing backward, their colorful swim shorts and...

Solo but not alone. Connecting through travel on Valentine’s Day, beyond.

Shakeemah Smith isn't staying at home on Valentine’s Day just because she’s single. "I'm going to treat myself to a weekend in Dubai,” said the solo travel expert known as The Passport Abuser on social media. “I'm going to be living my best life.” In a survey of 2,000 Americans last year, travel search...

Scientists find that things really do seem better in the morning

UCL study into mental health and wellbeing finds that people generally feel worse at night and on Sundays Nightmare day at work? Date stand you up? Don’t worry, things really will seem better in the morning. In the most comprehensive study of its kind, scientists have found that generally,...

I got an ebike – and discovered a secret side of France

Free to explore my hilly corner of the countryside, I found hidden paths to sacred springs, prehistoric monoliths, empty swimming holes … When I moved from London to a hilly area of rural France in 2017, I brought my bike with me. A faithful secondhand racer, it had served me...

The one change that worked: I took up ballet – and learned to live in the moment

Working long days as a corporate lawyer, I needed an exercise regime to get me out of my head. Reviving a childhood passion helped me reconnect with my body My earliest memories of ballet will be familiar to many childhood dancers: ribbons, shoe fittings, hairspray (lots of it)....

A Complete Unknown: how charity shop and Etsy finds completed iconic Dylan look

Film’s costume designer explains how a scarf made from a blanket and some custom-made Levi’s formed key part of Timothée Chalamet’s wardrobe It’s as central to Bob Dylan as a harmonica – it is, of course, a scarf, Dylan’s preferred accessory, and one that has become a go-to...

New Jeans เดินหน้าต่อ ประกาศเปลี่ยนชื่อวงเป็น NJZ เตรียมเปิดโชว์แรกที่ฮ่องกง

ก่อนหน้านี้ได้เป็นมหากาพย์ดราม่าสั่นสะเทือนวงการ K-POP ระหว่างค่าย HYBE กับ "มินฮีจิน (Min Hee Jin)" อดีต CEO ของ "ADOR" ซึ่งเป็นบริษัทในเครือของ HYBE ที่เป็นผู้สร้างวงเกิร์ลกรุ๊ปคลื่นลูกใหม่ "NewJeans (นิวจีนส์)" ที่ได้มีปัญหาดราม่าต่างๆ เกิดขึ้นมากมาย ซึ่ง 5 สาว NewJeans ได้ออกมาตั้งโต๊ะแถลงข่าวว่า NewJeans จะทำการยุติสัญญากับ ADOR ภายในเที่ยงคืนของวันที่ 29 พ.ย. 2024 พร้อมกับบอกว่า แม้ว่าอาจจะไม่สามารถใช้ชื่อ NewJeans ได้อีก แต่พวกเธอจะพยายามต่อสู้เพื่อรักษาสิทธิในชื่อวงต่อไป อีกทั้งบอกอีกว่า NewJeans มีแผนที่จะปล่อยเพลงใหม่และออกทัวร์รอบโลกในปีหน้า และถ้าเป็นไปได้ อยากร่วมงานกับ มินฮีจิน อดีต CEO ต่อไป และหลังจากที่แฟนๆ รอคอยกันมายาวนาน ล่าสุด (7 ก.พ....

Attention federal employees: It may be hard to get a private sector job right now

In an effort to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the Trump administration is prodding government employees to shift to the private sector for the next stage of their careers. But it may not be that simple. Eligible federal workers initially had until Thursday to accept the administration’s deferred...

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wants to bypass the Fed to lower interest rates

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has a new plan in the fight to bring down historically high interest rates, and it’s got nothing to do with the Federal Reserve. Bessent, in two interviews this week, said the Trump administration wants to focus on lowering long-term interest rates, which are...

Mr Nguyen Thang Long – The dream of elevating young designers at Global Student Fashion Week

In the Vietnamese fashion industry, Mr. Nguyen Thang Long is not only known as a passionate founder but also as a strong source of inspiration for the younger generation of designers. With firm belief in the talent and creative potential of young people, he has tirelessly worked...