Henry Moodie's versatility as an artist can be clearly witnessed in his recently released project "Pick Up The Phone". The song that projects the struggles of anxiousness delivers a perfect message of positivity and friendship for the souls going through a tough ordeal. 

After releasing just three singles Henry Moodie was successfully able to garner over 92 million worldwide streams, 3.5 million monthly Spotify listeners from around the world and has been named amongst Amazon Music’s Artists To Watch in 2023 – following in the footsteps of Billie Eilish and Griff. 

Besides being a talented singer, Henry is also an extremely gifted writer and producer, crafting emotional, earnest, and lyric focused pop music who has an ever-growing, worldwide fanbase to support, landing in the Top 10 most viewed UK artists on TikTok in 2022 (joining Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran and Harry Styles).

Henry also recently performed at his biggest headline show yet at Islington’s Academy on the 15th of June this year after successfully selling out his headline tour in May and supporting Mimi Webb earlier this year. Moodie also recently stated that he will be supporting and joining the talented Lauren Spencer Smith in her UK tour this Autumn.

I recently had a chat with ReVamp's latest cover star- the wonderful Henry Moodie discussing the creative process behind his latest track "Pick Up The Phone", what his experience was like performing at his biggest headline show yet and some more significant insights into his phenomenal professional journey so far.

Hi there Henry. So lovely to have you on ReVamp! How's it going? How has the year been for you so far?

Thank you for having me. It's going really good. I am like four days away from releasing pick up the phone. So I've just got that feeling of excitement. It was like Christmas Eve every day!

I'd love to start this interview by asking what it really was that brought you closer to the field of music and entertainment? Was it something you always wanted to pursue from a young age or was this a passion that you developed at a later phase in your life? 

I think it wasn't something that when I was a kid, I was like, I want to be an artist. I think I was in an environment where I just fell in love with music, through the music block in my school, through my friends, they did music, my parents really appreciated music. 

I ended up going into songwriting because, in the back of my mind, it was always an option. I knew it was a good way for me to channel my emotions into something. And then I got to like 14, 15, and started putting stuff on social media because I started to feel like this could be a career path for me. I did that and as it built and it got bigger, I started realizing more and more, this could really be a thing. I did really picture my life being an artist for a second.  

Then I joined a band. During the band, I was a bit more confused of the direction I wanted to go in. When the band finished, I realised that the whole time during the band, I was still clinging onto wanting that creative control of being a solo artist. This is when I really knew, this is what I want to do. 

You're about to release your brand new track "Pick Up The Phone". Huge congratulations on that! I'd love to know what the initial inspiration was behind this song? 

I wanted to make a song that was going to help people through a tough time. I wanted to open up about my own mental health and my journey and something people can bring into their own lives. As soon as I had written the song, I knew this was going to be the next single. I was so, so, so excited about it.

It happened quite quickly, actually. I wrote it in a day! 

Kindly walk us through the overall creative process for the track. Did you ever face any sort of challenge during the production stage of the song? 

Yeah, definitely. Initially, that guitar in the chorus, that wasn't there. It was kind of this trap beat thing. When we changed it to the guitar, it made such a big difference, it really gave the melody space and just completely flipped the song. 

We went through a few phases of trying different production things and it definitely took a lot, it took about nine versions to get to it. In the end, we ended up circling back to keeping it simple, which was the original version. You always kind of push it too far and you end up circling back. I think your instinct sometimes is so powerful and you should never really second guess them. I’m so happy with it! 

The little snippet of the song in itself has garnered over a million likes on the video. Now that you have witnessed the track receiving such a massive response from around the world before it even being officially released, how are you feeling about the release date being so soon? Feeling nervous or excited for the track to be out there finally? 

I am feeling so excited! It’s had a moment on social media that exceeded all my expectations. I have a good feeling about this one. Don’t jinx it, but I've got a good feeling. I'm just so excited for the song to be out there. If it helps one person, that is amazing in itself. I'm really excited. Woop woop.

I see you also recently performed your biggest headline show at Islington’s Academy. How was your overall experience like with that? Did you enjoy the response you received from your fans in terms of this specific endeavour? 

I'm shocked at how incredible the audience were at that show. They were just so into it. God, I've been thinking about it all weekend. People were amazing. There were a few mess ups as usual, but nothing tragic. It felt like the room was on fire, you could feel the electricity and having everyone sing pick up the phone a week before it’s release was just so surreal. I'm really happy. Really, really happy with how it went. 

Before the show, I went out to the front of the venue where everyone was queuing, and I was shocked at the amount of people that were queuing for the show. They were all just being so nice! 

Being a multi-faceted artist and having such an immense potential in writing, singing and producing songs, I wonder if you have a specific ritual that helps you go into that mindset of an artist and bring your visions to life. Do you prefer a specific environment in terms of working on your ideas or are you flexible when it comes to creating music? 

It's a really good question. I think I've always found with songwriting being an environment where it feels really open. I think it's important that you surround yourself in a session with people who are just really genuine and open. You need to be vulnerable as an artist, especially if you're writing a song like pick up the phone. I always find smaller rooms a bit more creatively free and writing with people I have worked with before. 

I also get inspired by moments. A specific thing will happen, like, I don't know, I went on a date and it was really good. Or sometimes it's more that I'll listen to a song, I listen to an artist, and I'd be really inspired by it. 

In such a short time, you have already established such a huge fanbase from across the globe. Does having such a large support online ever add any sort of pressure on your future projects or do you perceive it as a personal motivation? 

I think if anything, it takes away pressure, having big support online, because it means that you're not relying on just a live audience. There's not one specific thing that I rely on every time. Obviously there comes loads of pressure naturally with having an online presence because of people's opinions of you. It is a scary thing that I try not to think about.

What's next for you, Henry? Any upcoming projects you'd like to tell us about? Anything on your bucket list for this year? 

Oh, what is next? Pick up the phone. It's like the immediate next thing. I'm really excited about the music video. After that supporting Lauren on tour, which will be really fun. I'm also really excited to get into my first album. That's going to come sometime in the future. I think I’m probably most excited for my next headline tour now. 

(Thank you for taking out your time for this interview, Henry. Wishing you lots of luck on your upcoming song!) 

Lastly, I'd love to ask you if there's any message you'd wish to convey to your fans currently reading this interview?

Oh, thank you. Getting me to the place that I'm in is absolutely surreal and crazy. And thank you for anyone that came on Thursday and was being so lovely and energetic. It means the world, genuinely so. Thank you.

Follow Henry!