{"id":260585,"date":"2025-11-13T14:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T14:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/260585\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T14:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T14:22:10","slug":"olly-murs-i-didnt-go-to-selfridges-to-cause-mayhem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/260585\/","title":{"rendered":"Olly Murs: ‘I didn’t go to Selfridges to cause mayhem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olly Murs<\/a> has an aim with his new album Knees Up: to get more lads into his music. \u201cIs there geezers out there that might go \u2013 \u2018You know what? Olly\u2019s new album ain\u2019t too bad?\u2019\u201d he wonders. His concert crowds certainly tend to be overwhelmingly female. \u201cI always laugh on stage and say, \u2018Where are all the fellas tonight who got dragged in?\u2019\u201d He\u2019d also like a bit more recognition generally. \u201cI\u2019ve always been a bit of an underdog. In the industry and around my peers, I don\u2019t think anyone holds me in any sort of regard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The evening before we meet, Murs won Outstanding Contribution to Music at the Variety Club Showbusiness Awards: recognition of his 15 years straddling the music and entertainment worlds with chart-topping hits like \u201cDance With Me Tonight\u201d and \u201cTroublemaker\u201d. \u201cBut the last award I won prior to that was in 2013, and it was Rear of the Year. I would never normally say this, but I\u2019m someone who\u2019s had four No. 1 singles, five No. 1 albums. I\u2019m currently three shows away from the 21 Club at the O2. But definitely in my industry, that vibe is just not there.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wonder if the same qualities that have made him such a hit with the general public \u2013 his Essex cheeky chappy, \u201c\u2018avin\u2019-a-laugh\u201d persona, as much light entertainer as pure pop artist \u2013 play less well to a serious-minded industry. His new song \u201cBonkers\u201d even admits he can be a bit much (\u201ccause the things that I think in me head \/ are comin\u2019 out my mouth instead \/ say I can\u2019t say it, and I\u2019m gonna make a joke of it \/ super inappropriate.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\"Olly\u2018I\u2019ve had five No 1 albums \u2013 I think I deserve more credit\u2019 (Photo: Matt Holyoak)<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I\u2019m a bit limited edition,\u201d he says. \u201cMight not be everyone\u2019s cup of tea. I think I\u2019m pretty normal in my head. But my fans, particularly my family and people around me, they say I\u2019m a bit bonkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

But ultimately, he thinks the lack of respect for his achievements is because his career came from TV. Murs won heart and minds when he came second to Joe McElderry in the 2009 edition of The X Factor; he later presented the show alongside Caroline Flack and was a judge on The Voice between 2018 and 2023. But his journey in music hasn\u2019t been easy. \u201cListen, it\u2019s been fucking tough. People would never know that, but getting songs on radio in the early days was hard. I struggled. And people will think, Oh shut up. I did. There was a bit of a stigma with [The X Factor].\u201d<\/p>\n

The year Murs came second was the same year as the Christmas campaign to get Rage Against the Machine to No 1. A social media campaign against the dominance of X Factor winners in the charts meant winner McElderry\u2019s song \u201cThe Climb\u201d was pipped to the top spot by the Californian rock band\u2019s 1992 song \u201cKilling in the Name\u201d. \u201cYeah!\u201d Murs says, as if he\u2019s just remembered. \u201cThis Rage Against the Machine mentality was everywhere. There was real anger towards people coming off TV and getting the success.\u201d<\/p>\n

We are sitting in the corner of a very nice bar in central London, Murs as chatty as you\u2019d expect. This, despite some sleepless nights: just weeks ago, Murs became a father to a second child. He and wife, Amelia Tank, a bodybuilder, have a one-year-old daughter, Maddie, and now a son, Albert. Fatherhood, marriage and the 15-year career milestone has clearly made him take stock.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s calling Knees Up \u201cOllie. 2.0\u201d \u2013 a meeting of the artist he wanted to be after his 2010 self-titled debut album with the person he is now: no longer \u201ca bit of a lad\u201d (or at least not as much of one) but a settled 39-year-old family man with changing priorities. It\u2019s a fun and energetic album \u2013 bar the UB40-ish ballad \u201cLove = Madness\u201d, it\u2019s full of chipper, catchy ska-pop \u2013 stamped with Murs\u2019s cheekily self-reflective lyrics. BMG, his new label, have given him the \u201cflexibility\u201d to be himself, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs in any walk of life, sometimes you just got to be a bit selfish. That can happen in relationships, in marriages \u2013 I just want to do what I want to do today. I just wanted to be honest and have some fun with this album. Be a bit daring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"X(L-R) X Factor contestants Danyl Johnson, Jamie Archer and Olly Murs with their mentor, Simon Cowell (Photo: Talkback Thames\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n

He says he hopes it will chime with the communal feeling that came with the Oasis reunion. \u201cThey were really showing the new generation proper f**king music. Noel and Liam would probably say Olly Murs\u2019s music is not proper music. But I love their music, and I\u2019m saying there is a market out there of people that still love music, not just a 30-second video.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knees Up is notably personal and truthful, particularly about his adjustment to married life: \u201cStill Getting Used (To The Ring)\u201d and \u201cSave Me\u201d paint him as learning on the job (and at times being a lowkey pain for his wife.) The latter is about a boys\u2019 night out after an \u201cover-dramatised\u201d argument. \u201cWhat would most guys do [after a fight]? You\u2019d go straight to meet your mates, get a kebab, do some shots. And then the realisation of it when you have to go home.\u201d He says it happened a while back. \u201cGod, I would never leave an argument like that now. But I just feel it was a relatable concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

He seems to credit Amelia with making him grow up. \u201c100 per cent,\u201d he says. \u201cI was a cheeky lad, boy next door, going out weekends. And I\u2019m a pop star. I\u2019m at parties, I\u2019m there, I\u2019m here.\u201d But he eventually asked himself: \u201cWhy am I actually doing it? It\u2019s just going nowhere. As soon as I met Amelia, as soon as I was in her company, that old life was just not it. I don\u2019t need to go out any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, he says he wishes he saw more of his mates, many of whom he\u2019s kept since his pre-fame years. \u201cChin Up\u201d is a rally for male solidarity and for men suffering with their mental health. \u201cA few of my mates have had some real dark stuff happening privately. And just me being such a positive person, they will ring me up and talk to me. I suppose I try and give them one per cent positive out of whatever the situation is. A friend of mine took her own life, Caroline Flack [the X Factor and Love Island presenter died in 2020]. Suicide in men is at ridiculous levels now. This song for me is hopefully a song that a guy can listen to and keep going, don\u2019t give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LONDON,Murs and his former X Factor co-host Caroline Flack, who died in 2020 (Photo: Dave J Hogan\/Dave J Hogan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday\u2019s News\u201d is about his relationship with the press. He says relations are generally good, and he knows he needs press coverage. But the song is a tongue-in-cheek swipe at the bad headlines. \u201cThere\u2019s also a bit of a message of me feeling sometimes I am yesterday\u2019s news.\u201d He says the song\u2019s lyrics are fictional, but it was inspired by a news story earlier this year that criticised Murs for losing his \u201chuggable\u201d physique in favour of a six pack. \u201cOlly, no-one loves you any more because you\u2019ve not got a dad bod,\u201d says Murs. \u201cA really shit story. I\u2019ve been asked about this a lot actually, this year.\u201d <\/p>\n

He finds it dispiriting. He says he was on a \u201creally nice personal journey, a mental health journey, being a dad, writing an album, going on tour to celebrate 15 years. I\u2019m buzzing. And then you see a story like that? But I hope [the song] doesn\u2019t cause any backlash. It\u2019s more a case of just having a bit of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murs is used to backlash. In November 2017, he made negative headlines when he tweeted during a supposed terror scare on London\u2019s Oxford Street: \u201cEveryone get out of @Selfridges now gun shots!! I\u2019m inside.\u201d He was widely ridiculed when the Met Police later confirmed there was no evidence anything of the sort happened. <\/p>\n

When I bring it up, I can see he gets a bit uncomfortable, but I actually come in support: I also got caught up in the commotion that day, when there were false reports of gunfire during an altercation on a tube platform, causing crowds of people to flee in panic and some shopkeepers to barricade their doors. And I can testify that in the moment, it was absolutely terrifying. While appreciating Murs\u2019s reaction makes for a fun pop culture story, I feel he took some unfair criticism.<\/p>\n

\t\tYour next read<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\"Article <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat annoyed me was that it was made to look like I just went into Selfridges and decided to cause mayhem. I was just reacting off the back of the drama with hundreds of other people. I remember Piers Morgan coming for me. I just remember thinking, this is really bizarre because I\u2019m in Selfridges right now in a back cupboard, really scared. I have never felt that scared.\u201d He says there was a guy hiding with him, \u201cbreaking wood, saying I\u2019m going out there! He was genuine.\u201d He still suspects the truth about the incident has been covered up. \u201cThere\u2019s never been a good explanation. I would love to know what happened. Maybe one day on Amazon or Netflix, there\u2019ll be some documentary.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says people still mention it to him in the street. In fact, he says lots of people approach him in the street, wanting a photo or to say hello. But they are mainly women, or men doing it on behalf of their partners. He\u2019s officially calling for lads to do it off their own back. \u201cIf you went and spoke to a guy on Oxford Street now and said, What\u2019s Olly Murs to you? I don\u2019t know if I would be someone that they would relate to. And on this album, and this journey I\u2019m on now, I suppose I want more guys to know it\u2019s all right. Just because I sing a few pop songs, it\u2019s okay to come and say hello, mate. Don\u2019t get scared.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Knees Up\u2019 is out on 21 November<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Olly Murs has an aim with his new album Knees Up: to get more lads into his music.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,2580,128,14809,5691,3650,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-260585","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-interviews","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-music-interviews","12":"tag-olly-murs","13":"tag-simon-cowell","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}