Craig Stuart is the songster from London, who blends expressive vocal performances and a plethora of affecting lyrics into melancholic and moving Pop tunes.
Known for his catching tone and inherent capacity to convert his crowd's mindset from one shade into another, the London-based artist has been traveling around the globe as a seasoned performer and busking as a troubadour along the way.
He's been doing this for the past five years to reinforce his artistic notoriety, but with this moon cycle, and on the uprise after his successful debut EP, "Better Late Than Never," Craig Stuart quickly follows up with a one-two punch in the form of "The Way Love Should Be," a love song reaching us for the end of summer.
With a lush guitar that swells with a touching warmth from a rich saturation opens the blinds of this homey and wholesome Pop-song that features a swaying earthy drumset, angelic harmonic chants, and the bright strums of sonically colorized strings.
Here, all the featured melodies glide together with Craig Stuart's enamoring tonality like songbirds migrating to our hemisphere's warmest climates. His toplines hook draws attention as the love song quickly becomes adhesive over our hearts, reminiscent of the unforgettable moments we experience at the end of our favorite romance movies; building with an upswell of emotion and passion before the climactic moments bring tears to our eyes.
"The Way Love Should Be" is a welcomed addition to the already cohesive and captivating catalog this Singer and Songwriter has already shown a knack at producing and ultimately stands promising for his continued trajectory upward as Contemporary's most alluring performers.
What are you most enthusiastic about achieving at the end of 2020 as it marks only the first year you've been actively releasing music as a solo artist?
2019 was my first year releasing songs as a solo artist with my EP ‘Better Late Than Never’, I went into 2020 with a new vision and mindset with where I wanted to go musically with my first release ‘Bruises’ and now my second single ’The Way Love Should Be’ Unfortunately with COVID hitting the world by storm and forcing me into lockdown, living back home with my parents. This actually gave me the opportunity to really spend time focussing on writing and recording self sufficiently without the distractions to everyday life and going out to play gigs, it enabled me to just write for the sake of writing and came out with some material that I would never have expected and written some of the best songs I’ve ever written, which is super exciting, as it means I have plenty of songs to release in the near future, but allows me to show off my versatility.
What fuels your artistic intuitions and the passion you have behind making love songs?
It’s interesting as to why I gravitate towards the cliche "love song". I think it’s because some of my favorite songs are love songs like “I Will Always Love You’ (Whitney's version) or ‘Can’t Help Falling Love’ by Elvis. As someone who has never been in love, I like to write from the perspective of someone in love, but more so the concept of love, I don’t always write from personal experiences in general. I think ‘Love’ has always been the biggest topic for songwriters, because it’s the one thing that really connects all people, The Beatles certainly made it work!
Was the control you have over your voice something you needed to work on developing from an early age, or did that part come naturally?
Singing for me was always something I did even before I realized that I was a singer or that singing was a thing. I always used to sing in the car on my way to school with my Mum, specifically ‘East 17’ (don’t judge me). I went on to study Performing Arts at College and as part of acting and performing, dancing and singing are part of the package, this is where I worked on my voice. I became obsessed with guitar music, so I bought myself a guitar and taught myself to play. After years of practice learning my favorite songs, I started to sing and play guitar together with friends and at parties, I then eventually moved to London and got myself a busking license for the Underground where I pretty much learned all my craft.
What can we anticipate from your blossoming artistic career as you approach your future releases, and as you continue to develop and differentiate your tone and character?
I’ve always loved the process of writing and collaborating with other artists to write songs. After being in lockdown for 5 months and really spending a lot of time honing my songwriting skills, I’m in a bit of a writing frenzy at the moment, so I intend on writing as much as I can whilst the flame is still burning. So I currently have my next 5 singles ready to go, plus a Hip Hop EP and a collaborations album, writing songs with all my favorite artist friends. Most importantly to keep challenging myself musically and put in my 10,000 hours of writing.
What has been keeping you inspired throughout 2020?
I really have taken all the positives from the turn of events this year. It has been hard for everyone, speaking for artists, performers, and musicians, our work has been massively affected, not being able to perform in bars, clubs, and events. I decided to make the most of the time given to me at home, to work more on the parts of my craft I wish I had more time for ’Songwriting and producing’. I was still able to get my single finished and get all the artwork done and release the song. Luckily we live in such an online and social media orientated to time, that whether you’re at home or in a cabin in the countryside, we're still able to release music or write songs over Zoom.