Chances are you’ve heard of Plested without even realising it – the singer-songwriter has written tracks for the likes of Lewis Capaldi, Little Mix, Naughty Boy and many more. But he’s not just a lyrical genius; he’s a stunning solo singer too. I caught up with him at his favourite festival Barn On The Farm for a cheeky chat.

How was your set at BOTF?

My set was incredible, so I played on Friday and didn’t really expect people to show up! I never really do, and people actually came to watch – I’ve never had people standing at the barrier before so I was like ‘what’! And on top of that people knew the words which always blows my mind, I just got goosebumps the whole time. Barn On The Farm is incredible.

You’ve played here before, how has it changed over the years?

Barn On The Farm has grown a lot. So when I first played here, they only had two stages and the main stage was in a completely different place. They’ve doubled in size, they’ve got a new main stage, they’ve got so many food vans. I just love the fact – I know George quite well, the guy that runs it – and I love that it’s growing but it’s still intimate. When you’re watching something you still feel that it’s private, and everyone’s having a great time.

What’s your favourite song to perform?

My favourite song to perform is – I have a song called Ribcage which people really seem to scream when they sing. I also play a cover of a song I wrote called Touch, who Little Mix perform. So I wrote a song for them which is great – there’s a song I put out last month Called Either You Love Me Or You Don’t where we have a proper sing-along moment so thats a cool one. I just love playing all my songs.

How do you go about the song-writing process?

I tend to have a line – so a single concept or line that means something. I usually have one line where I’m like this could be a song, for example with Touch it was ‘Just a touch of your love is enough’ and I was like what can that be? So I start with that, and then I get the guitar out.

Do you write them same when you’re working with other people?

So if Little Mix, for example, are in the room, then we’ll write how they wanna write. If it’s just me I tend to just write another song, because I feel like if you’re trying to be like the person it never works, because then they’re like ‘why is this person trying to be me?’ So yeah I tend to just write a song and see what happens – sometimes they’re rubbish so.

Who did you listen to growing up and inspired you?

So you know everyone just like ‘ah my parents used to listen to this person and this person’, my parents didn’t really have the best taste in music – although my dad listened to Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Coldplay a lot, and David Gray. Weirdly that has moulded my taste in music. But like David Gray, Damien Rice, Bon Iver – all those guys – James Bay, Paolo Nutini, James Morrison, all the guys with guitars that are just getting emotional. I love guys that get emotional, that’s me.

Lewis Capaldi’s perfect then

Lewis Capaldi’s the man. What a guy.

How was it writing with him? Did you go in the studio together?

Yeah, we had a super late session- cause obviously he’s very busy, I’m getting busy now. So we were just like ‘when we gonna do this?’ Luckily I have a producer friend who was like ‘Lewis is coming down, do you wanna jump in?’, and this was already at like 8pm. So I was like ‘Okay, we’ll do it’.

We started about midnight, and it was me, my friend called Kin, JC Stewart and Lewis. We basically wrote until like 4am, and we had this idea called Hollywood and we started making it – it just came out really easily and I woke up the next morning and didn’t think much of it. It turns out he likes it and it’s going down really well, and it’s on the album.

He played it at Glastonbury which was mind-boggling, and he’s playing it at Barn On The Farm so, might just run up on stage and sing with him!

If you could collaborate with anyone from this years BOTF line-up who would it be?

Wow. I think it would be George Ezra *realises he made a mistake*. Oh wait he’s not on the line-up – okay you didn’t hear that from me. Ah – did you see they put that anagram on the programme, so people kind of knew already. But George I’m a massive fan of, I just think the way he writes is so cool, it’s so original and I’d love to just get involved with that – he seems like a lovely guy as well.

I also had a session with Dermot Kennedy a few weeks ago and that absolutely blew my mind, hearing him sing in a room I nearly cried – and I was just like no, don’t let him see you crying.

Who’s you favourite artist right now?

Oh, my favourite artist right now is Maisie Peters. She’s a good friend of mine so I’m going to be a bit bias – we’re going to hang out later. We’ve actually got – again I’m sorry I shouldn’t be telling you this – but Jade Bird had to pull out so instead I think Josh has got a bunch of artists together so me, Maisie, JC Stewart, and a couple of others – we’re just going to jump up and sing a couple of songs each, and maybe duets and stuff.

But Maisie, her songwriting is impeccable. I think she’s one of the best songwriters in the world right now, and definitely underrated she needs to be massive. She’s getting the recognition she deserves now so I’m really happy for her. I love her, she’s great.

Either You Love Me Or You Don’t has just been picked up by BBC Radio 1, how’s that been?

That is confusing to be honest. That is my emotion right now, I’m confused. I’ve always dreamed of being on Radio 1, and when I write songs that’s the ultimate goal. BBC Introducing is obviously an amazing platform, and we’ve got our songs in there. For them to pick it up and go to Radio 1, I can’t believe it.

I just missed it in the car yesterday. I was waiting for my friends outside a hotel, my manager calls me like ‘it’s on the radio’. I run to the car, I get in and just hear the last note and it went onto the next song.

How did you get into music?

I started music because my grandad plays guitar, and every time I went round he would play. I started picking it up, he taught me a bit, and then after secondary school I met a guy called Naughty Boy – at the time no-one knew who he was so he was just a random guy called Naughty Boy and my mum was a bit like ‘umm, you want to go to the studio with him? Are you sure?’ and I was like ‘why not, let’s just try it’.

I basically got very lucky, met the right people,  and worked so hard writing every night until 4am, and kept going. Yeah slowly and surely I started writing better songs, started singing a little bit better.

Has your style changed from when you started to where you are now?

I thinks so, when I started it was just me and my mates playing about seeing what we could come up with. Now it’s a bit more thought out and there’s more concept – so a lot more of what I want to say. I’m definitely trying to pin-point – before I was just chucking at a dart board, now I’m trying to get the bulls-eye.

Will we be getting a Plested album?

There will be. At the end of last year we put out a project called First and Foremost, which was just tying up the year. We put out a lot of songs so we just wanted to put a ribbon around it and say ‘this is yours’. So we’re now aiming for the next batch of songs, which I think is going to be an album. I’m not sure what it’s going to be called yet, but I think it’ll be around the start of 2020 – that’ll be cool.

What else have you got planned for this year?

So in October, we’ve just announced a headline tour. It’s my first ever headline tour, I’ve never done that before so I’m really excited/really nervous. I just hope people actually buy tickets because I don’t know what’s going to happen. But we’re just going around the UK and Europe, and it’s going to be great.

So if you’re reading this and want to see an acoustic guy, a little bit like Lewis Capaldi but not as funny, then I’m your man – October.

Tickets for Plested’s tour can be found here.