Steve (host):
Welcome to the 27th Wonderspace Journey. It's great to have you on board. My name is Steve Cole and since September 2020 I have been asking the same 6 questions to people from around the world. The questions revolve around life and wonder, places of reset and stories of hopefulness. The setting for all of our interviews is a virtual window seat on the space station 250 miles above earth where we see everything from a different perspective.

Steve (host):
This week our orbit will take us over Central America and to experience these views with us in this ultimate window seat we welcome singer songwriter Tom Grennan who at the time of recording was number 1 in the UK album chart with his second album Evering Road. Tom is also an ambassador for an amazing foundation which you'll hear about in his story of hopefulness. A shorter version of this episode together with footage of this journey across Central America can be found at ourwonder.space. I start by asking Tom from this window seat 250 miles above earth which place city or country would you want us to fly over and why.

Tom:
Cool so I would fly past Ireland because my dad's Irish and I'm half English, half Irish, but I've always had this connection with Ireland, obviously through my dad, but also like it is something that I think about a lot. I think about my roots a lot. I think about how my dad moved to England, not knowing anybody and that created a family in England, but also still has dreams and wants to be in Ireland every day. So for me, I think about what if my life was in Ireland, how different my life would be, how different I would sound, what kind of person I would be. And I always also think about like my family too and how like they've shaped me even though like I live in a different country.

Tom:
My family who are Irish have definitely shaped me from being a baby to even now. And I don't know, I feel like I think the same as my dad. Like I would love to kind of move to Ireland, like when I'm older and kind of I don't know be in that environment of where my dad grew up and and Where like all my family are still are still you know I mean like I still I have family in England I'm really close with my family in England but I definitely have this connection with Ireland that when I talk about it, it gives me goosebumps, do you know what I mean? So yeah, I'd fly over Ireland and see what's happening.

Steve (host):
Tom, give us a glimpse into your life story so far with an emphasis on what you are doing currently.

Tom:
Well, I'm a boy from Bedford, grew up in Bedford and have always been this guy wanting to live life at the fullest and always been interested in stories, always been interested in other people. And from a young age, I always played football. My dream was to play football and walk out onto Old Trafford's pitch, Man United's pitch and just hear loads of people singing. But that was my young boy dream. And now I do music and me and music found each other in such a weird but wonderful way through the magic of karaoke.

Tom:
And I was at a karaoke party and I started singing under the influence of a lot of alcohol and I just got the confidence to do it and then I found that out that I kind of liked the buzz of singing and I loved the feeling it gave me and the freedom it gave me so I moved to London and I was 18 at this time and I learned how to play guitar and I wrote some songs all about like, when I was 18 I went through this period where I was attacked and I was jumped and had my jaw broken and I was put in hospital. But then I fell into this really bad depression. The way I dealt with it was to write about it, not knowing that I was writing songs. So when I started learning how to play guitar, I then wanted to write songs and then I got this book back out and I realized that I was writing songs when I'm not knowing about it. So then I like gigged these songs around London like every night, Every night I could anyway.

Tom:
And luckily enough there was someone in a pub from a record label, they were like, are these your songs? I was like, yeah they are. And it's been a snowball ever since. I put my first album out in 2018, which was a really big success. And it was number 5 in the charts and I just couldn't believe it.

Tom:
Like it was an album that was finding my voice, I was finding my feet in the music industry. And like I was learning on the job because I didn't know any, to be honest with you, I didn't really know much about how to make music, I just knew how to sing so it was a learning process. And then fast forward 2, 3 years and I've just released my second album that's currently sitting at number 1 and I'm hoping, fingers crossed, it stays there and I'll have my first ever number 1 album with Evering Rhodes, which is the most honest I've ever been. And finally, I know what it's like to make an honest album. Don't get me wrong, when I mentioned my first album, it was successful and I'm so proud of it, but it was a collection of songs that didn't really make sense to me as much, do you know what I mean?

Tom:
So this album, Now Severing Road, is an album that really made me step into an artist's shoes and I can finally say that I am an artist and I have put a body of workout that I realise what it is to put like your blood, sweat and tears into a project.

Steve (host):
Where on earth is your place of reset

Tom:
or recharge? Before lockdown I was here, there and everywhere and I didn't know where my reset place was and I was consumed by loads of different things and emotionally I wasn't attached to my body. Emotionally I was just in a world wind of different things. And to be honest with you, I was in a hole that I couldn't, that I couldn't get myself out of. And I didn't know what self-love was.

Tom:
I didn't love myself and I needed to know how to love myself. And it wasn't until I moved back with my mum and dad where I had the chance to reset and it was my mum and dad's home which I grew up in and I realized I needed that to go back home and have time to breathe and time to actually sit with my thoughts and time to kind of go, all right, these are the problems. How are we going to address these problems? And I think having that unconditional love of my parents and my brother was the start of that. And it allowed me to reset.

Tom:
And I was like, right, I need to sort it out. So I'm an energetic person. I'm someone who loves a thrill. So how do I get my thrill from something that's positive? So I was like, all right cool I've written an album So like the thrill of writing and the thrill of like getting all these thoughts out that that's done So the other thrill is fitness and I really really got into like fitness.

Tom:
So through the first lockdown like every day on it on it on it on it on it and I still am on it every day. And that gives me the chance to reset every morning. So if I go to bed with negativeness or if I go to bed with stress, If you go to bed with it and you wake up with it, getting on the weights or on the assault bike or doing a run or whatever allows you to reset and it allows you to just reconnect with your being and just say, right, today's today. And we've done this workout which allows me to have natural endorphins, which then make you buzz in for the day and it sorts your head out, sorts your physical health out and then you start to like, I don't know, you start to look different, you start to feel different, you start to think differently and yeah, it's changed my life to be honest.

Steve (host):
What wonder of the natural world excites you the

Tom:
most? The wonder of the natural world that excites me the most, there's a few things but this is something that like if it ever gets brought up I'm like yes I'm so glad you feel the same because this is something that amazes me something that blows my mind basically it's whales right and how they have their own languages have their own accents how they can swim all over the world and sing, they can sing. And what amazes me about it is that as humans, we still don't know what happens in the oceans. We know more about space than we do whilst actually living in our oceans. So, yeah, it amazes me that there's a whole different language under the water and yeah I can't really explain it because I don't really know much about it but that's what it like fascinates me just like what the hell.

Steve (host):
Tom what is your story of hopefulness that's not your own, about a person, business or non-profit who are doing amazing things for the world?

Tom:
I was asked down to be an ambassador of the Homeless Football World Cup. And to be honest with you, I didn't know what it was. And I was obviously intrigued and I was like, wow, this sounds like amazing, but what is it? And I went down to Wales and someone said, well, everybody who's playing here has experienced homelessness in some sort. And I was like, okay, But not only that, they're from everywhere in the world and they've come together and create this tournament that embraces change, embraces talent and says that we can do anything we put our minds to and everybody can succeed.

Tom:
And with a little bit of help there can be a change. And when I spoke to people from like Indonesia, from like Brazil, from Colombia, do you know what I mean? Like all these people have got these mad stories and we forget because we live in this little bubble of our own lives and we forget that other people have gone through some real hard times. And with teamwork, people's lives can change. And I got really emotional when I was there because I saw how happy football can make somebody.

Tom:
But not only that, how happy it is to see people who have been in the same situation forget about that and connect with other people from around the world and share their stories and and just smile because I know that a lot of them people who have been in that situation have had minimal smiles and to see them smile was just amazing and I'm so proud to be a part of that. And unfortunately, it's not happening this year, but I do know that the charity is still working hard to make it happen in their own way they can. But next year, it will be happening. And yeah, It's just amazing. It's literally just amazing to have that unit of family as well.

Tom:
Like these people are orphans these people are like left with nothing and to find their family through Sport fitness through being able to play in a team. And not only that, it teaches people about morals and it's setting people up to actually be able to work in a like in an environment that is teamwork. And also not only that, like there's scouts that come. There was 1 year that some guy got scouted for Man United And that now went and then went on to play for an Italian team and like completely changed his life so not only about to eat but there's also talent everywhere and talent can be missed sometimes and talent can be shown anywhere and anybody can have it and everybody does have it and it only and it takes somebody to kind of put light on that talent and this is what this charity does it it allows people to shine.

Steve (host):
Finally as we prepare to re-enter what insight, wisdom or question would you like to share with us?

Tom:
The insight I would like to share is something that, I'm a young boy so I don't have much wisdom, do you know what I mean? But what I've definitely learned about myself and being and doing what I do is not to put so much pressure on yourself and to know that like everybody deserves love, everybody deserves to be happy, whether that's doing what you love or helping others or whatever, whatever makes you happy then do it. And sometimes it is hard to find and sometimes it does feel like an impossible task, but it's out there for everybody. And I believe that everybody deserves it. And yeah, I finally found it do you know I mean so if I can find it anybody can.

Steve (host):
More information about Tom and his latest album Evering Road can be found at tomgrennemusic.com. In his story of Hopefulness Tom passionately spoke about the Homeless World Cup Foundation and more information can be found at homelessworldcup.org. To join the Wonderspace community and share your own wonders and stories of hopefulness or to listen to the previous 26 interviews, the website is ourwonder.space. I want to thank Tom for joining us on this Wonderspace. Our next episode will be available after Easter on Monday 19th April and will feature the founder of a sustainable eyewear brand called Pala that has a world changing social purpose.

Steve (host):
Look out also for a special video release on YouTube that marks 25 Wonderspace episodes. I hope you can join us then for more wonders and stories of hopefulness.