I'm kind of unlucky in love and I have, for some reason, always fallen for the straight guy.
Calum Scott
If you're real, you've never got anything to hide away from. You're not trying to fake anything, you're not trying to have this other persona - you're just yourself. And if I could be myself for as long as possible, I will.
'No Matter What' is, without question, the most personal song I have ever written and the one I am most proud of.
I don't consider myself a flag bearer in the parade, but I have never felt stronger about who I am.
I would say I am one of those people who just love to connect to people doing something I love. Can't lie, love a ballad, so expect big, powerful, emotive stuff from me!
'Britain's Got Talent' just gave me that platform that I needed to share that with the world and be recognized, and now I'm able to travel the world and sing my music in places I never thought I'd visit - Dubai, Mexico, Brazil, so many different places.
To be in the charts and hanging around with such huge names in the industry just feels like a complete privilege! I can't even explain how it feels - complete dream come true.
Just celebrate who you are and be happy with you are. Take all the ups and downs together, as you're only human.
I'd gone through life being obsessed about my sexuality. People would ask about relationships, girlfriends, you start referring to people as 'they' so there's no judgment and you can be ambiguous. People around me knew, but I still struggled with talking about it openly.
I purposely didn't change the pronouns in 'Dancing On My Own' so that it was from a gay man's perspective.
I remember when we were going to release 'Dancing On My Own,' and I went into the record label crying to them that I was terrified people wouldn't support me anymore if they knew I was gay.
I've used songwriting as a tool, I've used it as a way of being able to talk about how I feel.
I find myself in a position where I have a voice that has the potential to influence - I want to use that to inspire confidence in those that have yet to find it, to inspire compassion in those who don't understand, but most importantly, to inspire love in everyone through the experiences and stories that we can all relate to or empathize with.
My mates who are younger than me are all slagging me for it - saying I am so much older and my crow's feet are showing.
I've been a huge fan of Adele, Sam Smith, and Ed Sheeran, and those amazing artists draw inspiration from their present and past experiences; they write songs from their heart.
I'd gone from being a normal HR worker from Hull to being recognised in the street, being on TV. As much as it was exciting, thrilling, and a big, huge adrenaline rush.
I used to work full time in an office, hiding away in my desk. Now, I have the opportunity to do something I love. And every day is a dream come true for me. I'm just generally grateful for all the love and support, and I will continue to give my 101 percent.
It is important for me to tell my story so that others feel comfortable telling theirs.
There are a lot of songs about love and how it starts, whether that's realizing it yourself or coming to find it later on - but no sort of talk about the actual feelings that are created from love and passion.
The amount of people that have said, 'You've inspired me to be confident. I've come out to my friends because of you,' that reduces me to tears every time, because I'm just, like, little old me from Hull has had an implication on somebody's life. That's massive to me. Massive.
I had to be honest in my songwriting for it to be where it is, and it's always scary wondering if anyone will connect with that.
I'd like to think I'm a versatile artist without straying too far from who I am.
As many of you know, my story begins where most people's in the LGBT+ community begins... with fear. I knew I was different from my peers, my friends, and those around me when I started to discover who I was and who I identified as from a young age.
I'm single, which is good because I can concentrate the hell out of my performances. At some point, I'm going to want to find someone to chill out with at the end of the night and talk about things.
I was suppressed for many years. From the outside, you'd think I had a very normal life.
Song writing has been a lifeline for me.
I just wanted to sing, to get my voice heard. I knew I had to do everything possible to stay in the industry.
I started to feel songwriting was pulling different pieces of my heart out - the more I started writing, the more there was honesty.
I am doing something I love, travelling the world, meeting fans, feeling confident, and I am no longer restricted by my sexuality.
I am so confident and empowered by my sexuality; it plays an enormous part in my life.
I have worked with a lot of people, all very different creatives, helping me hone my craft and discover myself as an artist and the record I want to make. It's such an amazing process seeing and hearing the tracks that people could eventually be listening to on my debut album!
I remember learning as a kid that love meant loneliness and confusion.
Two gay guys doing a beautiful duet - I think it would just be so powerful, you know.
My fans have been incredible since day one... Literally, the only reason I get to do what I do! I love every single one of them, and I am still being discovered by people! Just want to share what I do with everyone!
'If Our Love Is Wrong' is, quite simply, my coming out song, as I was trying to wrap my head around my sexuality and was starting to learn about songwriting, and that my honesty and my authenticity came from my personal experiences and writing about stuff that genuinely bugged me or upset me.
I was so terrified for so long about what people think about my sexuality, and I didn't wanna find myself in a position where I was losing my fans and couldn't do my job.
The heart wants what it wants, and you know, if you're not careful, you can find yourself in a situation where you give your heart away, and it can get broken.
I come from a very normal day job, a very normal upbringing, so I had six or seven years working in an office nine to five in human resources. I had the normal life and kind of thought maybe this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life but still had that passion and that yearning for music.
I'd always been a little bit uncomfortable talking about my sexuality just because it took me a while to fully accept it. I had a bit of traumatic time with my friends when I was younger, and it kind of just put me off talking about it.
I used to hate myself for being gay. I couldn't come to terms with it.
I had told one of my friends that I felt like I might be gay or that I just wasn't into girls, and I was abandoned.
Since I became more confident, I've thought, 'Right, let me get myself on the market'. So I joined Tinder and Chappie, and it was funny because, at first, the sites thought I was an imposter.
I met a guy, and we were seeing each other for about a month or so, but as it got more intense, I started to freak out a little bit. I hadn't been in a relationship for quite a while, and I just said I was going away and not sure if it was going to work.
I feel very privileged to do what I do, so I'm just going to keep working hard and enjoy every minute of it because it could be over just like that.
As a singer, you want to connect with as many people as possible; that's my whole thing.
I want to reach out to everybody with my music and my album, but you're never going to please everybody. Someone's going to say something because, you know, it's an opinionated industry.
When somebody says, 'I don't like your cover'... that's fair enough, but then this person has just written to me and said that they've come out to their family because of my interpretation. So I've got to balance everything. And yeah... that warms my heart.
I will continue to be open in my music and in interviews and keep those conversations going about the issues we face as an LGBT+ community until those conversations no longer need to be had.
I cannot thank the LGBT+ community enough for their support, for their love, for their acceptance, and for the first time in a letter, I am incredibly proud to say that I am gay and have never been happier.
Most of my songs are inspired by both falling in love and heartache. And it was a turning point for me as a singer and songwriter as it dawned on me that I wasn't being honest enough about what I truly feel.
