‘Therapy played a massive part in my return to music'

Leader Live

2 days ago

Capaldi performed a 35-minute surprise set on the Pyramid stage earlier this month, two years after being unable to finish his set on the same stage when he struggled to manage the symptoms of his Tourette syndrome.
He announced a break from touring shortly after his 2023 performance at the Somerset festival.
During a conversation with one of his best friends, released to mark the singer's new partnership with BetterHelp online therapy platform, the Scottish musician opened up about both of his Glastonbury performances and how therapy played a part in returning to his career.
Of the 2023 performance, Capaldi said it was 'literally the worst moment' of his life.
He said: 'It was a big, big, big old gig.
'Second song in I was probably just like 'this has to like… I can't keep doing this to myself and other people as well'.
'People were coming to gigs, and I was like 'that's not how you want to watch a show'.
'As far as I was concerned, I was like, 'I'm done indefinitely'.'
The 28-year-old, best known for songs Someone You Loved and Before You Go, said he felt anxious because he 'wasn't living in the moment at all' and was 'catastrophising'.
Capaldi said: 'Therapy has been such a massive part of my last two years, a massive part of the reason that I'm able to be a musician again.
'In partnership with BetterHelp and sort of to reflect my experience of therapy and the importance I feel it has in my life and other people's lives, we're giving away 734,000 free hours of therapy.'
He added: 'The importance of that number is that it's 1,000 hours for every single day that I have, well, since I last played on stage and I feel like, if I can be a part of sharing that with other people, why not?'
Asked how he had reached a point where he felt better, the Grammy-nominated artist said he had previously been 'lying' to a therapist and 'telling them what I thought they wanted to hear'.
Of therapy, he said: 'I really struggle with it, it's not fun.
'I don't have a fun time there.
'I feel amazing after, it's like going to the gym, I think, which obviously I'm well versed in.'
He continued: 'Sometimes it can be really difficult, but I think I do it because I realise how important is for me to continue to feel good, because I've felt the best I felt in a long time through therapy, I would say that has been the cornerstone of like, why I feel how good I feel now.
'I think that's a big thing that I've noticed or found, is that different therapists work for different people.
'So I think it's all about giving the time to therapy as well, also not expecting that quick fix and I'm someone who likes instant gratification and sort of the quickest thing and all the rest of it, so I think coming to terms with that was a big thing.'
'I think I'll always be an anxious person,' he added.
'I think accepting that that's always going to be there for me is a big thing.
'It's about how I respond to anxiety and how I respond to a lot of stuff in my life.
'It's how I, I don't like this phrase, but 'show up for myself'.
'I have neglected to look after myself in the past, both mentally and physically, and I have made promises to myself that I haven't kept.
'I think for me, it's accepting that I'm always going to have this stuff there, it's about how I sort of respond, what steps I take to sort of remain at like base level.'
On his preparations for Glastonbury this year, Capaldi said he had performed 'secret gigs' that were 'warm-up shows' in Scotland to 'ease in'.
At his first warm-up show in Edinburgh, Capaldi said he felt a 'rush of adrenaline' before managing to calm himself.
'Before I did the last song, I was just explaining to everybody who was there how grateful I was that they had shown up and come along and I think I didn't realise how much I actually missed being on stage and then I just started to cry,' he said.
During the 2025 Glastonbury show, Capaldi performed his new track Survive, which has since gone to number one on the singles chart.