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<\/a>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\nHe has it all \u2014 artistry, presence, substance, creativity \u2014 and you can\u2019t miss it. When it comes to singing and songwriting, Mr Hudson is not afraid of exposing himself. It’s evident when you listen to his latest single, ‘Step Into The Shadows,’\u00a0a dark, sultry, uptempo, trance-inducing\u00a0track anchored by his silky vocals. The song disguises a dense and emotional subject matter.<\/p>\n
It began in the most surprising way, as these things very often do, with an admiration for actor Idris Elba, who also appears on the track. A brief pause before we continue, lest the mention of \u2018The guy from The Wire\u2019 spur your darker imaginations. \u201cI got in touch with him and he came round to the studio the next day and he was just so enthusiastic about what I was doing<\/em>,\u201d explains Mr Hudson. It\u2019s a scenario you would call a true story of friendship\u2014 Luther meets the artist everybody\u2019s gunning for. The result being a work of rare music beauty.<\/p>\n The last few years have marked a subtle turning point for the songster, who recently partnered with Smirnoff to mix and incorporate music with a series of cocktails including Moscow Mule and the Bloody Mary.<\/p>\n \u00a0Does it still surprise a lot of people that you’re a brummie?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah. I probably left Brum around \u201996, which actually feels like a million years ago. It\u2019s still home, at the end of the day.<\/p>\n You\u2019re enormously famous for your voice. Do you ever get nervous knowing that so much depends on your singing?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think particularly when people are listening to you and you\u2019re being broadcast on TV or radio, of course, you\u2019re going to be aware of that. I think the more shows you do the less you stop being nervous, but nonetheless, you\u2019re always aware of it. I have done a lot of shows and I have had a couple of really bad ones and a couple of really good ones, so whenever I go on stage now I say to myself, \u201cThis is going to be neither the worst, nor the best performance of my life.\u201d You just survive and do your best. There have been a couple of crazy moments like, going on stage and singing to like, 60,000 people at the Isle of Wight festival with Jay-Z. The other thing that makes you nervous is performing and it\u2019s just you and an acoustic guitar. I think that\u2019s when you\u2019re really exposed.<\/p>\n What do you want people to know about you?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think the fact that I really love music. I\u2019m not doing this for anything else. I think a lot of people get into music as a way of getting somewhere in life. I fell in love with the instruments and just the power and physicality of music. Before I contemplated having a career, I was in love with music as a child. It was like a toy really, then as a teenager it became a hobby and then a passion. I never really thought about it being a career until I was in my mid-20s. So I would like people to know and remember me as someone who loved music, the music business comes second to that.<\/p>\n Is your life the way everyone imagines it?<\/strong><\/p>\n Definitely not. I think I live a much more humble and pedestrian life than people imagine. They sort of assume I\u2019m in the back of a Maybach in Miami or something, but I enjoy having a normal life. I think some people want to escape their normal lives and I did for a bit, but now I\u2019m enjoying being back in my normal life \u2014 getting the bus, calling my mum twice a day and wondering around the supermarket. I guess after being away for a few years touring, you start to miss all those simple things<\/p>\n You seem to be irresistible to other artists. Can you explain this massive chemistry you have with rappers?<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know what it is. I think maybe artists see a pure passion for music. I\u2019m very much focused and I don\u2019t really tend to think about money. It\u2019s very fashionable in hip-hop to talk about the game, power moves, levels and all that kind of thing. I think people just see me and see this guy who wants to write a song and sing it.<\/p>\n And you and Kanye West have known each other for quite some time.<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah. I think that\u2019s what he saw in me, just someone who wanted to do something, someone who wanted to explore music as an artist.<\/p>\n Writing songs isn\u2019t the easiest thing in the world. What\u2019s the secret?<\/strong><\/p>\n Let it be easy. I think it is easy. For me, it\u2019s just like making dinner. You just get your ingredients and you chop them up. I think the most important thing is to mean it. If you mean it, it kind of doesn\u2019t matter what you\u2019re singing. Even if people cannot understand what you\u2019re saying if you\u2019re bearing your soul and if you mean it, then that can connect with people, even if you\u2019re singing in a different language.<\/p>\n I get the sense that your music come from a personal place of emotional honesty. So, for a song like \u2018Step Into The Shadows\u2019\u2014do you, in fact, have a lot of women offering you their cigarettes?<\/strong><\/p>\n Of course, man, I live in London [laughs.] Do you remember when the smoking ban came in? This new phrase came about called \u2018Smirting\u2019 \u2014 flirting with a cigarette, like, people would go out in smoking areas to flirt. I think it\u2019s the new way in saying, \u201cDo you want to step outside?\u201d<\/p>\n You say this great line in the song: “She’ll have a Bloody Mary.” Can you elaborate?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m quite pleased with the lyric. It doesn\u2019t actually say what the story is about. I think if you put the dots together you will figure it out. The story is actually quite an obvious theme in pop culture at the moment, but the colour of the drink is really important for me. It\u2019s a very kind of visceral charge with all that flavour. It\u2019s a hot drink and some people have a Bloody Mary in the morning like, to knock a hangover in the head. I mean, \u2018Bloody Mary\u2019 \u2014 it\u2019s feminine, it\u2019s religious, blood is such a powerful, multi-purpose poetic device and I just thought it was a really evocative thing to drop into the story. In my mind, this was someone who was saying at midnight, \u201cI want a Bloody Mary.\u201d So for me, it was a visual thing and it was also an odd drink to be requesting in the middle of the night. I don\u2019t really want to say what\u2019s happening or hit the nail on the head, but just read the lyrics again and see what you get.<\/p>\n Was there some kind of instinctive deliberation that said to you, “Idris Elba should be involved with this?”<\/strong><\/p>\n This is a crazy one and it kind of goes back to your previous question about why people reach out to me. I actually reached out to Idris. I was sitting in the studio and I pretty much finished the album and I thought, \u201cWhat kind of personality do I want on this record?\u201d I knew I didn\u2019t want to go for Americans, because that\u2019s what I\u2019m already known for and if I did that again, you\u2019d be like, \u201cYeah, whatever.\u201d I got back from the states and was watching Luther. I didn\u2019t even know Idris, but I just thought, \u201cThis was the person and character.\u201d It\u2019s such a powerful, very British, very London, nocturnal and urban programme, and I wanted to somehow get some of that and his vibe on the record. I had to give it a shot. Approach the unapproachable. I got in touch with him and he came round to the studio the next day and he was just so enthusiastic about what I was doing. I\u2019ve also ended up working on his album as well. It\u2019s really nice to think that someone in his position will pick up the phone to me and offer his energy to my project, and also welcome me into his creative world.<\/p>\n