Singer-songwriter Declan McKenna on Edinburgh show, Fringe memories and Sabrina Carpenter tour

After playing Glasgow’s TRNSMT festival last weekend, Declan McKenna will be heading back north of the border next month as part of the Edinburgh International Festival.

We caught up with him about the upcoming show at the Edinburgh Playhouse and preparing to tour with pop’s newest megastar, Sabrina Carpenter.

You won Glastonbury Festival’s Emerging Talent Competition in 2015. How important are festivals for young acts rising up?

From a festival goer’s perspective, it’s an opportunity to catch new music, maybe something you haven’t heard before and you just bump into something.

It’s so important for new bands, I guess it gives people a chance to see a glimpse, a half hour set, where you can see what they’re about and it’s a bit lower commitment than going to a gig.

Festivals are great and important. I love the balance of doing the big headline shows with the hardcore fans and then doing something that’s a burst of energy to get out there.

And the Scottish crowds are always up for it?

Yeah, people know how to dance, get down, and that’s what I always want from a crowd.

Discussing the TRNSMT set list I thought I had an hour but it was 50 minutes. I had to cut at least one tune and the discussion was over cutting The Phantom Buzz which is one of the really upbeat ones. In Glasgow? No way! We had to cut one of the chill ones.

It comes to your mind when you come here, on the whole the artists’ favourite place to come. I’ve played TRNSMT a few times and always had a warm reception – and we finally got some sun!

Are you looking forward to playing Edinburgh too?

Yeah it’s sort of at the Fringe, which is cool. My brother’s girlfriend studied in Edinburgh and they did some performances of comedy theatre. I went up when I was about 14 and loved it. I’m really excited to be playing there.

I remember bumping into a Scottish band I really loved and still am a big fan of, Randolph’s Leap, who I listened to throughout my GCSEs. We were just wandering around Edinburgh and there was a big BBC tent with music and there they were.

My sister, embarrassingly, went over and gave them one of my business cards that I made back then which were very cringeworthy. I think it said I was indie-folk and it had my phone number on it… super amateurish!

I have really fond memories of Edinburgh so I’m buzzing for it.

How pleased have you been with the response to your latest album?

There’s some quite personal stuff on there but I think the ethos going into it was that I wanted to make an album for fun, that was made in a fun environment and for people to just let go, dance and enjoy.

The process of the album was quite intense and I was writing for a long time before I even took it into the studio properly.

I think the sound on it is more just me messing around in the studio. It’s not got that same polish but it’s really like a lot of the music I enjoy listening to, born with a sense of fun.

I try to approach every album differently. The reception has been really nice. I’ve had a lot of artists that I really like and respect reach out about it. That’s stuff that you really take to heart in a nice way.

You get a lot of opinions when you release a record, people think this or that, and you sometimes connect with the negative stuff more than the positive.

You’re going on tour with Sabrina Carpenter, one of the biggest pop stars on the planet right now?

She’s meteoric at the minute. She first came into my field of view last year. I bumped into her at Lollapalooza and she just had the complete aura of a pop star, even before the massive success of Espresso. I’ve never met anyone who comes across that way with grace and elegance.

The music is just a real step in terms of pop music, it feels like a statement for a new era of pop music which is coming to the fore now and one that really excites me.

For a song that’s been played and played and played, I haven’t got sick of Espresso. It’s a really good feeling tune and I’m quite excited about the direction for pop music.

I’m really keen to hear the album, it’s refreshing. Please Please Please has an ABBA-ish thing to it as well.

I thought I’d do a cover it for the announcement, it’s such a beautiful song. You’ve got to do something on TikTok, and I can’t deal with talking to camera!

@declanmckenna

The scoop is I’m supporting the one and only @Sabrina Carpenter in November!!! Here’s a bit of Song of the Summer 2.0 Please Please Please. Who’s trying to get tickets? 🤭

♬ original sound – Declan McKenna

TikTok helped Brazil blow up a few times, a song you released when you were 16 that’s had a few renaissances. How do you feel about it?

It’s a great reminder that it doesn’t really matter how much you push a song if it just resonates with people. It just will come back. It’s not my doing or my label’s doing, it’s just happened because people want to use the song on their videos.

It reminds me that if a song clicks, it clicks. You can’t hold it back. Those songs just find a way and there’s something great about that, even though it’s all TikTok which is a bit weird.