Tom Grennan: The singer who went from Luton Town footballer to working with Calvin Harris and Chase & Status is coming to Leeds on tour

“Being able to switch off that voice is a hard thing,” he admits. “My mind is a loud place and what helps is obviously music, and my exercise and therapy, it really helps.”

Grennan has been using his music as a vehicle to process his feelings of imposter syndrome. And although his new single Shadowboxing has the punchy beat of a pop banger, it explores the heavier story of taking on your inner critic for a few rounds in the ring.

The song parallels the singer’s own life as he has masked his own negative emotions in the past with a smile.

“I’ve got a lot of imperfections and if I don’t work at them in a positive way then I could easily fall down the trap of becoming somebody who I don’t like and who I don’t want to be,” he says. “I’ve met that person a few times, and it’s not a nice place to be.

“So I’ve learned that in life and in your 20s, you’re meant to have people come and have people go. You can’t always have everybody you thought that you would have in your life, they won’t always be there.

“I’ve also learned how to enjoy the good times because I didn’t enjoy the good moments, and I’ve self-destructed and it was a smile behind a sad face.”

Songwriting has become a form of catharsis over the years for the singer, who initially had no musical aspirations. He had instead trained to become a professional footballer, playing for Luton Town before his career stalled.

His first foray into performing came at a house party, egged on by friends to sing Seaside by The Kooks. He later joined a band before be began to gig around small London venues.

During a performance at a Finsbury pub, a representative of Insanity Records heard him play and offered him a contract.

Since then he has collaborated with the likes of Calvin Harris, Chase & Status, Joel Corry and Ella Henderson, and has released three studio albums, with the last two – 2021’s Evering Road and 2023’s What Ifs & Maybes – both reaching the number one spot in the UK charts.

Grennan is set to release his fourth album this August, a 15-track offering titled Everywhere I Went, Led Me To Where I Didn’t Want.

The album name alludes to a time when the singer faced challenges with his mental health, but he says the record is actually about him being revived and now in a place where he does want to be.

“Basically its the whole picture,” he explains. “It’s me from a young man growing into an older, 29-year-old man and what I’ve had to deal with, what I’ve had to learn, what I’ve had to grow up in.

“It revisits relationships, friendships, impulses. It’s the whole story, it’s the whole truth.

“It’s a positive story,” he adds. “You have to go to the darkest, deepest places in yourself to learn about who you are and what you are.

“And if you work on yourself and if you do the right things, and you will make mistakes along the way, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And there’s a positive outcome.”

Among the challenges he has had to face is the pressure to succeed within the industry and the urge to compare yourself to others in chart battles and when watching curated lives through a social media lens.

He was tested on all fronts in December when he competed for the coveted Christmas number one title with his Amazon Original release It Can’t Be Christmas.

He pulled out all the stops in his bid for the festive crown, committing to a tattoo on his leg in honour of the winner in the hope of being able to fill in his own name.

However, he was pipped to the post by Wham!’s Last Christmas, with his track coming in at number four in the race.

“Charts are an indication of success – that’s facts,” he says. “Do I get involved with it? Yeah, probably I do, and I did.

“But I try not to be on social media, I try not to look at charts because I’m too competitive. It gets me down.

“And I didn’t get into music to feel as if I’m not good enough. I started writing music to feel good, to be able to put my problems away.”

The singer is set to embark on his biggest run of shows to date later this year when he plays 11 arena shows across the UK and Ireland. Kicking off in Bournemouth on September 3, he will play venues in majors cities including London, Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow and Dublin before ending at Manchester’s new Co-op Live.

His days of wild partying on tour are behind him, as he now focuses on getting good rest and staying away from alcohol.

“I never used to do that,” he admits. “Being on tours was a party. I was young and naive. I was in a new world.

“But for the past couple of years, touring has been very regimented, and if I want to give the best show I possibly can do I have to use all these techniques I’ve learned and all of my routine needs to be exactly the same as it is on a day-to-day basis.

“I love touring for that reason. I’m always getting up early and seeing cities and going to the gym and running around the cities. It’s so good because you get to see stuff you wouldn’t ever get to see.”

Shadowboxing by Tom Grennan is out now and tickets for his upcoming tour are on sale. He’s at the Leeds First Direct Arena on September 18.