Lewis Capaldi has opened up on his relationship with Edinburgh actress Ellie MacDowall, hailing her as 'understanding' - but said they're not family ready just yet.
The 26-year-old was first linked with Ellie in December, and they were later seen sharing a kiss at the Brit Awards. In early May, they were snapped with Lewis' parents in Hollywood.
Describing Ellie, Lewis told the Daily Record : “She’s good. She’s chilled. She’s very understanding of my situation given I’m away a lot. She’s cool.”
READ MORE - Lewis Capaldi's kind-hearted action to West Lothian mum at gig praised by fans
While he now lives in Glasgow where he was born, Lewis bought a £1.6m farmhouse in East Renfrewshire and admitted it was intended as a family home. He said: “I envisioned if I ever had a family I’d live in that place up in Eaglesham. But it’s not me getting broody. Definitely not.”
Ellie, from Edinburgh, is an actress and could find her own stardom as Cary Grant’s daughter in Archie, an upcoming new ITVX biopic of the Hollywood star. Lewis is very happy having a girlfriend - his first serious one since he dated Paige Turley for about a year while studying together at North Lanarkshire College in 2014.
She went on to take part and win the winter version of Love Island in 2020. But fans shouldn’t worry that the king of sad songs won’t be able to write another Someone You Loved or Forget Me now he’s loved up.
He laughed: “There will be other stuff to be depressed about. “It’s like you’re spinning plates. When one thing is going well something else is going to s***. “There’s always something to latch on to in that world. “But I write some of my best songs and saddest songs when I’m happy.
"I don’t really write a lot of songs when I’m in the s*** because I find it hard to compartmentalise my feelings or what I’m thinking. “For sure I’ll still be writing sad songs. Don’t worry about that.”
The Record catches him in Bristol ahead of two gigs there today (Wednesday). He’s had an incredible few days in Scotland doing short sets and Q&As including three gigs in Edinburgh on Tuesday as he pushed his second album, Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent, for the No1 spot.
He didn’t need to bother. The album, the follow-up to 2019’s Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent is outselling the combined top 20 album charts. And today, his new album became this year’s fastest selling album - with over 24 hours still to go.
Lewis has already raked up total chart units of over 77,000 in the update, surpassing the previous fastest-selling album, Ed Sheeran’s Subtract. Now it will be whether Lewis can beat his own record set in 2019 when his debut album notched up sales of 89,506. What is certain is Lewis will be No1 on Friday, dislodging his friend Ed from the top spot after only two weeks.
He laughed: “I’m used to be called a knock off Ed Sheeran so to knock off Ed Sheeran is quite a nice thing.” Of course the UK isn’t his only market and Lewis will be in Denmark on Friday when the No1 becomes official. He said: “I love Denmark but I’d have preferred to have been in the UK for it. But I’ll be back in Scotland on Sunday in Dundee for Radio 1’s Big Weekend so I’ll celebrate it then."
Not that he’s going to have a big blow out. Lewis revealed: “I’ve got a gig in Milan on Tuesday.
"I’ve got quite an intensive couple of weeks coming up and I don’t like to drink anymore when I’m touring so I think I’ll probably have a chilled one. I have a week off before Glastonbury so I’ll probably have a knees up then.”
His Scottish gigs this weeks have left him “absolutely knackered” but happy to meet fans and hear nice feedback about the album. He loves the statue made for him by pupils of his former school, St Kentigern’s Academy in Blackburn.
He said: “A lot of people were saying they’ve really done him dirty here and it doesn’t look like him. “But you haven’t seen me on a Sunday morning after a few bevys the night before. It’s scarily similar.”
As well as selling shedloads of albums, Lewis also kept us watching in March with his Netflix documentary How I’m Feeling Now. Stuck at his parents’ home because of the Covid pandemic and struggling to write the second album it showed his twitching getting worst which was later diagnosed as Tourette’s and struggles with his mental health.
And while the three singles released from the album, Forget Me, Pointless and Wish You the Best all went to No1, Lewis revealed he doesn’t feel more relaxed. He admitted: “It’s never going to go away that feeling I don’t think. It’s just one of these things - it’s a constant battle you’re going to have with yourself.”
Even with an imminent second No1, Lewis admitted his feelings of imposter syndrome and self-doubt will continue to play on his mind. But he’s glad to be honest about his Tourette’s and gigs have seen fans finishing off songs if his ticks means he’s unable to.
He said: “When you allow yourself to be vulnerable you allow others to be vulnerable with you. I don’t feel as embarrassed about my twitching and I feel a bit more comfortable twitching on stage even if it is painful. It’s nice knowing people know what’s up and they understand the situation I’m going through.”
The documentary also made stars of his parents and Lewis joked: “My mum is due to do I’m a Celebrity towards the end of the year and my dad is going to jump on Love Island at some point. Their careers are soaring.”
Lewis plays Glastonbury in June before heading to Australia New Zealand and the Far East in July returning to the UK in August for Reading and Leeds, two sold out nights at the Edinburgh Royal Highland Centre at the end of the month and September 1.
He controls his nerves but treating big festival gigs as “just another gig”. He said: “I try not to think of these gigs as big moments otherwise I will s*** myself.”
And while he might wring up the emotion in his songs - he loves performing on stage. He said: “I think people think I’m tortured but it’s fun.
"You can’t stand in front of 20,000 people with people singing your songs back to you and not feel incredibly however much of a hole you were in when you wrote them.”
Given his powerful voice Lewis is a strong contender for the next Bond theme tune. He added: “If I was asked of course but I don’t think I’m as dark and brooding enough to do the Bond theme. But I’d take a pay check for sure.”
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