Watch Roman Kemp pick up the Gamechanger Award for Lewis Capaldi at the Rolling Stone UK Awards in collaboration with Rémy Martin
'I implore artists to do it and I implore labels to allow artists to do it, to not put that much pressure on them and that is why Lewis Capaldi is a game changer'.
By Nick Reilly
Roman Kemp was in attendance at last night’s Rolling Stone UK Awards to pick up the Gamechanger Award on behalf of Lewis Capaldi. You can watch his acceptance speech in full below.
The singer, who is in the middle of a career break to focus on his mental health and ongoing battle with Tourette’s, won the award in recognition of his continued efforts to bring attention to the neurological condition.
“This award is the first of it’s kind and it’s going to someone who I would class as a close friend of mine, a good mate, someone who all of you in this room know probably too well, I’ll give you a little hint,” the Capital FM DJ began.
He continued: “I texted him and I said: ‘Gotta get this award for you do you want any message to pass on?’ and he just said: ‘Get tae f**k. You do it yourself, freestyle something.’ So you know it’s Lewis Capaldi right?’
Roman then went on to outline how Lewis bravely battled through a performance at Glastonbury last year.
‘”You can see how much he tried to get through that all whilst battling with something that he was going through in his personal life,” said Roman.
“That’s Tourettes. That’s something Lewis lives with every single day and is dealing with part of him, part of who he is.
He added: “It was the best thing I ever heard him say, I know that for him that’s a scary thing and I know for a lot of artists in this room have that voice in the back of their head saying this is a lot: ‘I’m losing touch with who I am.”
The DJ, who has been open about his own mental health struggles, went on: “The mental health thing gets thrown around a lot. Sometimes artists are forgotten about in this.
“We put these people on this stage, put them in front of thousands, in front of stadiums and we expect them to come off stage and be okay because they’re getting paid loads of money so who cares?
“But every now and again someone, like Lewis, will come around and say you know what there’s a point where I do need to step back really regroup, see my friends, see my family, focus on who i am and take proper time out.
“I implore artists to do it and I implore labels to allow artists to do it, to not put that much pressure on them and that is why Lewis Capaldi is a game changer. He is one of those artists that stood up and said that.
“To be able to say you know what I’m not going to walk out in front of thousands of people, I’m not gonna walk out to adoring fans and people to sing my name every night.I’m gonna go back and I’m gonna look after myself, that my friends is a real f**king rockstar. That’s Lewis Capaldi.”
The first Rolling Stone UK Awards featured performances from The Last Dinner Party, Kenya Grace and Louis Tomlinson.
You can look back here for all our coverage of the Rolling Stone UK Awards.