Myles Smith is indispensable on the radio. Ed Sheeran noticed this too, inviting him to perform as the opening act on his tour. The 27-year-old Smith can barely grasp what he has achieved in a short time.
“I have little time to dwell on everything that is happening to me,” Smith says in a hotel in Amsterdam. Before our conversation, he has already visited several radio stations and will be on Humberto Tan’s talk show in the evening.
“It occasionally sinks in when I have a day off and can be with my family. They remind me of everything I have achieved. But life is moving very fast at the moment.” There is no break in sight for now; the Brit is on tour until October. “We did over a hundred shows last year, and this year it will be more than 120. I have been to over fifty cities. Even when I have free time, I often can’t spend it with family because I am far from home.”
The most difficult thing about the busy schedule for the singer-songwriter is that he misses birthdays, weddings, and funerals. When he has a tough day and still has to go on stage, he contacts his family at home to help him get through it. But Smith doesn’t want to complain. “What I get to do is a privilege, and I love traveling. I do what I love most with my best friends. I hope that after October I can reflect and enjoy everything I have done.”
Smith learns a lot from Sheeran
Smith started his career on TikTok, where he initially only performed covers. His song Stargazing had not yet been officially released when it went through the roof on the social medium. The song reached third place in the Dutch Top 40. Nice To Meet You also became an international hit, reaching the top ten in the Netherlands.
The fact that Smith already has such hits to his name early in his career does not create pressure to continue performing. “I am actually lucky that two songs that I love very much have been received so well. As a result, everyone around me trusts that I know what I am doing.”
Smith tries to remain level-headed about the success. “The first time I heard myself on the radio, I used Shazam (an app that identifies the song you are hearing, ed.) to show the taxi driver that it was me. The driver didn’t care at all. That keeps it from going to my head,” he says, laughing.
Meanwhile, he is the opening act on Ed Sheeran’s tour. Sometimes they also sing a song together, as can be seen below. Smith uses his time with Sheeran and his crew to learn. “They give the best show they can every night and really enjoy it. Even when it is stressful and difficult, they find room to have fun. That is beautiful to see.”
He doesn’t suffer from nerves just before he has to perform for tens of thousands of people. What does he do then? “Usually, we play a bit of FIFA.”
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‘Many schools have no budget for musical instruments’
Smith wrote his recently released EP A Minute, A Moment… mainly while touring, a new experience for him. “It is difficult because you are always on the road and never alone, very different from being in a studio with my friends. But it is nice to write alone when I feel inspired instead of at planned moments.”
The EP also includes the song My First Heartbreak, which he wrote two years ago. It is about his youth, in which his father left the family. Smith thought for a long time that it was his fault. “This was the easiest song to write, but the most difficult to release. It took me two years, although I occasionally sang it live. It is beautiful to see how people react to it and recognize themselves in it. That makes it all better. But singing it live is still difficult, so I don’t do it every night.”
Smith is on this year’s list of most influential people from Time Magazine. “It is bizarre to be next to Nobel Prize winners and scientists,” he admits. Not only his music earned him a place on the list. Smith is also committed to music education, which is no longer available for many children. “I went to a school where instruments were handed out to have fun with. That’s how I discovered music. Many schools no longer have a budget for this. Without that musical education, we could miss out on an entire generation of musicians.”