I never dreamed of fame but UK shows are unbelievable homecoming, says Jacob Collier as he opens up on dream collab
IT’S twenty minutes since Jacob Collier came off stage in Dusseldorf, but the party is far from over.
As Earth, Wind & Fire’s September is blasted out from speakers of the Mitsubishi Electric Halle in Germany, his fans are doing the conga, cheering and shrieking along, not wanting the event to end.
Then, as if the night couldn’t get any better, the artist who Coldplay’s Chris Martin has called “the best musician in the world” and of whom Stormzy has said “he’s like nothing I’ve ever seen or heard” is smuggled out from backstage into the crowd to join in with the end-of-show celebrations.
“My favourite feeling is when the barrier between the stage and audience disappears,” says Collier, 30, when he finally makes it back to his dressing room.
Dressed in brightly coloured clothes and personalised Crocs to match his buoyant personality, Collier’s fashion taste is as wild as his stage energy.
“I remember going to see Bobby McFerrin when I was small,” he says. “He’s a massive pioneer of audience participation, and Freddie Mercury, the famous “Ay-Oh” call and response crowd moment, that stayed with me as a kid.
“It’s like the clothes. I’ve always been drawn to like colourful stuff and patterns. That’s just saying, ‘Hey, this is me’.”
‘Great big party’
On Sunday and Monday, the musical prodigy will perform his biggest headline shows to date, at the AO Arena in Manchester then the O2 Arena in London.
He says: “I can’t freaking wait. It’s going to be an unbelievable homecoming for me. I’m such a proud Londoner. What a celebration of life and humanity.”
The two UK shows will top off what has been a remarkable year for the singer and multi-instrumentalist who last month was nominated for three Grammys, including the prestigious Album of the Year award for his fourth Djesse album, alongside Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter, Beyonce, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan and Andre 3000.
He says: “I was absolutely blown away when I heard the news and it feels like a thrilling moment.
“I know a lot of the other nominees, they’re friends of mine. So, it’s going to be a great big party in Los Angeles in February.”
Collier, who has already won six Grammys with 15 nominations, says: “An Album of the Year nomination is something you can never expect or take for granted.
“But Djesse Vol 4 is a true labour of love. It’s the fourth, final album in the series and deeply collaborative. I’ve completely fallen in love with that process.
“The collaborators are very broad on this album, everyone from Stormzy and Chris Martin to people like Anoushka Shankar, Camilo, Michael McDonald, Shawn Mendes, John Legend . . .
“So lots of different flavours, all mixing together.”
There’s musicianship then there’s genius and then, way, way, way above all that, out in the stratosphere, is Jacob Collier
Hans Zimmer, Oscar-winning film composer
Collier is the first UK artist ever to have won a Grammy for songs on each of his first four albums, something not even managed by The Beatles. And he joins the Fab Four, Coldplay, Dua Lipa, Adele and Ed Sheeran in having two consecutive Album of the Year Grammy nominations. Yet he remains relatively unknown.
Collier says: “I can walk down the street relatively unnoticed. It’s lovely. I never really dreamed of being famous but all these people coming to see my show is something that delights me.”
Oscar-winning film composer Hans Zimmer, who Jacob helped with the soundtracks for The Boss Baby and The Boss Baby: Family Business, said: “There’s musicianship then there’s genius and then, way, way, way above all that, out in the stratosphere, is Jacob Collier.”
He is one of the youngest people to have been profiled by the BBC for its Imagine series with Alan Yentob, and in October he performed with Joni Mitchell at the Hollywood Bowl.
‘Banjo and dubstep’
Growing up, Collier listened to everything. He says: “Classical music, jazz but also a lot of rock.
“My live show has a lot of rock music in it and also funk and R&B. I never really thought it was helpful to draw lines between different genres.
“I’ve always been attracted to the idea of sounds colliding, like particle collision. What happens if you throw a banjo into a dubstep drop? It’s always interesting.”
Collier was discovered in 2013 after putting out a multi-tracked YouTube cover of Stevie Wonder’s Don’t You Worry ’Bout A Thing, where he sings a six-part harmony and plays each instrument, including guitar, double bass, keyboards and percussion.
When I was younger, I made a bunch of YouTube videos where I take a song that I love and do a Jacobean twist on it
Jacob Collier
It caught the attention of music icon Quincy Jones who became Collier’s mentor up until his death last month, at the age of 91.
“Quincy paved the way for a lot of my thinking,” he tells me. “I learned so much philosophy from him and his courage as a pioneer, as a musician, as an arranger, producer, trumpet player, everything.
“When I was younger, I made a bunch of YouTube videos where I take a song that I love and do a Jacobean twist on it. I make it weird, funky, strange and fun and somehow the word of mouth got to Quincy.
“He likes to have his finger on the pulse, and he gets excited about things when he hears them. He’s a lover of music and humanity and found what I’d made really interesting and he emailed me.
“At the time I was sure someone was playing a prank but it turned out to be THE Quincy.
“It was a privilege to get to know him. He never told me what to do or tried to impose anything of his own on me.
“He told me, ‘Don’t try to be cool, be warm and be you’, and those words really resonated with me and will be with me forever.
“Every musician on the planet who is making music or listening to music has in some way been inspired by Quincy. People know him from working with Michael Jackson, Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald, but the amount of people he connected with . . .
“You could poke him and say, ‘Tell me a story about Picasso, Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein or Nelson Mandela, and he knew them all.”
Coldplay’s Chris Martin has also become a confidante to Collier and the two have collaborated many times — he was a special guest at Coldplay’s 2022 Wembley Stadium shows and features on their track Human Heart.
Collier says: “Chris is such an amazing person to be friends with because he’s a kind soul and very fearless. He’s really funny and gentle spirited.
‘Stormzy’s a softie’
“People like that are worth protecting, because a lot of people who get into positions of power or influence will try to overpower or intimidate.
“But he really uses his powers for good. There’s a lot of joy in a Coldplay show. Everyone’s welcome. And I find that really inspiring. It’s glorious and I leave that show feeling like I’m alive.”
And Stormzy?
“He’s my boy. And yeah, I never saw that coming,” answers Collier.
“He’s such a titan of British music and a massive softie. He’s a special person. He invited me to be part of his album This Is What I Mean.
“We bonded over our love of all sorts of different kinds of music that you wouldn’t necessarily expect Stormzy to be into — he loves classic old stuff and folky and harmonic music.”
I never thought I would go on to become a classical musician or a conductor but I’ve accidentally ended up doing both — only conducting audiences
Jacob Collier
Collier says music was like a second language to him growing up the eldest of three kids, with his single mum Suzie Collier a violinist, conductor and professor at the Royal Academy of Music’s Junior Academy.
He says: “We would talk as a family but we’d also sing and play. It was very natural.
“My mum is this powerhouse figure, who is not only an amazing teacher but also an amazing conductor.
“So, I was brought up with her teaching philosophies, but my first musical memories are watching her with her hands and arms open, and then the orchestra would begin to play.
“I never thought I would go on to become a classical musician or a conductor but I’ve accidentally ended up doing both — only conducting audiences.”
This is a central part to Collier’s energetic show. Watching him bound across the stage and jump from piano to bass to drums and harmonizer mid-song is thrilling for the audience, if exhausting for Collier.
Then mid-show, it all calms down when he conducts and controls the crowd to sing and transforms his audience into a huge choir.
It’s quite something.
Collier says: “The Audience Choir has an amazing philosophy, that everyone in the world has a voice and all you need is permission.
“It’s like, ‘Hey, you’re invited. This is for you, it’s for all of us’.
“When I look back to when I was small, that feeling of watching my mum conduct, I think that was important and it stuck in my head.
“Now, years later, it’s a magnetic feeling.
‘No rules’
“It’s being radically inclusive as you’re bringing everyone with you and everyone is welcome to contribute.
“I’ve never wanted to stay in my lane and I want this to make me laugh and cry and my hope is that you’ll come away with this warm feeling that you belong within this group of strangers who have never assembled before and will never assemble again.”
Collier thinks the voice is the most important instrument for everyone and his fourth Djesse album is all about it.
He says: “I had a clear vision from the start for the Djesse series — four distinctive sonic environments in different worlds. I kind of divided them up by sounds.
“The first is an orchestral thing, the second is an acoustic thing, while the third is an electronic thing.
“I had the idea planned out for them all but other than that, I just wanted to collaborate with as many people as possible.”
And the dream collaborator?
“There’s an endless list of people that I still want to work with but right now I’m mostly excited by the audience — that feels like the most important collaboration.
“But I haven’t written a song with Stevie Wonder yet, so I’m always down for that.
“I just feel it’s a really important time to make music. More people are opening their ears up to different ways of listening.
“There are no rules about what to like. You are free.
“As an artist I’m so excited for creativity, because there are so many tools, there are so many ideas, and there’s just so much openness.”
- Jacob Collier plays the AO Arena in Manchester on Sunday and The O2 Arena in London on Monday. He also plays a festive show at London’s Union Chapel on December 12.