Tom Grennan on ditching alcohol, taking a personal trainer on tour and dominating Soccer Aid (2024)

Tom Grennan is, understandably, on cloud nine. “I’m absolutely buzzing,” confirms Grennan, soon after his performance in Soccer Aid sees him crowned player of the match for the second year in a row. “What a match, and what a day: I started it performing [a gig] at Wembley Stadium and ended it playing and performing at Old Trafford. It doesn’t get much better than that, right? I feel like I’ve gone back in time and I’m living out 15-year-old Tom’s dreams.”

The 15 year old Grennan is referring to was on the books at Luton Town and Stevenage, with further trials at Aston Villa and Northampton Town. Like many talented youngsters, a career in football never materialised. “I was just a kid and was so disheartened at the time,” he explains. “It sucked a lot of love out of playing the game, but Soccer Aid has made me fall in love with it all over again.

“There’s so much pressure when you’re a kid to have it all figured out and I definitely beat myself up about not making my football dreams come true, but it made me start my music journey. It feels pretty surreal to go from Wembley to Old Trafford in the same day, and have my new album out this week.”

Grennan's new album, What Ifs & Maybes, has been a few years in the making, during which time the Brit-nominated singer-songwriter has reckoned with his health. From cutting back on drinking – “the day I decided to stop doing all that stuff my life really changed, personally and professionally” – to training for a triathlon, the more regimented Grennan is in a good place on stage and on the pitch. We caught up with him before and after his Soccer Aid star turn to discuss his love of football, the journey from sport to music, and why taking a personal trainer on tour with him was one of the best decisions he's ever made.

You were on the books at Luton and Stevenage, and had trials at Northampton and Villa. Why do you think a career in football didn't work out?

I played for and had trials at various teams, but honestly, I wasn’t getting better at football. I think I hit my prime at a young age and that was it. I fell out of love with the game when I realised I wasn’t going to make it as a professional. I could have played in America and gone to a University over there but I decided that music was the one thing that I wanted to do – and I'm glad I did.

What made you gravitate to music after football?

I really wasn’t thinking about football at that point – I think music found me when I needed it to. I was one of those kids in school who floated with different groups. Some of the music boys were doing their A Level performance and I would help them out. I loved it and just wanted to keep singing. I gigged every night, did open mic nights and it's snowballed from there. I'm taking every opportunity I can – thankfully it’s going to plan!

What prompted your renewed focus on your health?

Fitness has become a massive part of my life. When COVID hit, I was very lost and in a bit of a limbo land. I always had fitness from playing football, but when I stopped that I didn’t really do anything until I started up again recently.

Truthfully, it's been a saviour for my mental health. Physically, I'm in the best shape I have ever been in, and in my eyes, doing the job that I do, it's really the best way you can get to the next level. I'm a person who needs a routine. With music, there is no real routine, so that fitness routine really settles me and stabilises my life. It's perfect.

What does your usual fitness routine look like? Does this change when on tour?

I have a PT that comes on the road with me. It's a very regimented thing – that's what works and I'm never going to change that. My day-to-day fitness is CrossFit, running or swimming: I'm currently training for a triathlon so I'm doing a lot of swimming, cycling and biking. It obviously changes on tour because I'm doing a lot of running around the stage, so I'm not training at the intensity I would normally, but I try to keep it as effective as possible. Because I play football I have a sporty brain, if you want to call it that, but I need fitness to decompress and let out steam.

Nutrition is massively important. I have a set plan – I'm on my calories and macros and all that stuff Monday to Friday. I have a couple of weekends where I do what I want, and I think that's important for having a balanced diet and balanced life.

When did you decide to cut down on alcohol? Was there a lightbulb moment?

I definitely cut out alcohol and all these things that weren’t good for me at the right time. The lightbulb moment was when my mum understood what I was going through. I never wanted to be that guy. I feel like I am a better person and sharper without alcohol and whatever – it's just not good for me, or anybody. The day I decided to stop doing all that stuff my life really changed, personally and professionally.

I read that you cut back in part due to the anxiety it induced.

I think as human beings we all go through anxiety and I knew that alcohol was a major factor in why all the anxiety was building up inside of me. I decided that if I knew that, then I needed to stop doing it, and it helped instantly.

Don’t get me wrong: I have anxiety most days, but I know how to deal with it to make my life easier. I know that thoughts come to me in waves and sometimes intrusive, anxious thoughts are going to come in. When I was drinking a lot, those thoughts would just get stuck. My day-to-day life now is 120,000 times better.

On the road I've learnt that doing a show is the best high, and the biggest adrenaline rush for me. After the show I have my buzz, what I needed to get, through singing and performing. My life is so much better for it.

Why was taking part in the ‘Help’ NHS campaign important to you? How has therapy helped you?

The NHS went through such a hard time during COVID. Seeing how doctors, nurses and hospitals suffered more than ever through that time was crazy, so for me to be part of the campaign was an honour. The NHS is where I go if I ever need help. We are so lucky to have the NHS in this country – shouting about it and having a voice for the NHS is what it's about.

Therapy has helped me massively, above all with being able to talk about my day-to-day life and navigate it – navigate my thoughts, what I want to do, what is going on. Therapy has been the thing to help me do that.

You’ve been open about the physical and mental effect being attacked on the street at 18 has had on you. Have you found working through the event to be a lifelong process?

It definitely has been. I think it's going to be there and a part of my life forever, but if that hadn't happened to me then I don’t know if I would be doing this. I'll always thank the guy that hit me and put me through hell because it allowed me to grow up. It allowed me to say I can do what I want to do and I am not going to let anyone stop me from doing it.

Congratulations on the new album. What can we expect from it?

I’m very proud of the new album. It takes you on a bit of a journey that allows you to hopefully take risks, allows you to jump into unknown waters and be comfortable there.

It was a conscious choice to play with sounds and play with my pen and really have fun whilst making my music. I'm in such a happy place now, and I believe that this album is going to bring a lot of people to a happy place – to leave everything that might be going on in life and just dance, sing and have fun.

Tom Grennan's third studio album, What Ifs & Maybes, is out on Friday 16th June