Craig David Talks New Single, 'Commitment' Tour And More In Exclusive Interview

UK Music icon and multi-award winner, Craig David MBE is back after a two-year hiatus with the release of his brand new single 'In Your Hands' and his upcoming 'Commitment' tour which kicks off in 2025.

Craig David is an icon in the UK music scene, with a discography boasting timeless tracks like '7 Days' and 'Fill Me In'. His new single is his first release in two years and could potentially be the start of a thread of new releases: "When you're on a roll, you're flowing and it's doing its thing, the momentum is kinda carrying you through, which is a beautiful thing. But I've also seen that sometimes you are away for two years, we put the 22 album out, I had the tune with Nippa with 'G Love', you do all the shows, I've got the Ibiza Rocks residency which was the 7th year this year and it gives you a bit of a break. I haven't put in my mind that I have any pressure to hit any markers, I feel like it makes life easy and it means that you just start to handle it like I did when I was releasing my earlier music. I feel like sometimes you can be too present. I didn't know any of that stuff was gonna do what it did I was just having a good time in the studio and I just put it out, and that's the approach I took with this one and I just wanna see where the land lies."

Speaking on the pressures of hitting previous heights, Craig David says "There's part of you as an artist where you want as many people to hear the song as possible and to feel it and it to connect, because when you then go and do a live show, you can feel that. I know when I do 'Fill Me In' and '7 Days' I can feel it, and it hits, so you want that from the live perspective. I've also seen songs that breathe for a bit and then they hit. A song I've got with Kaytranada called 'Got It Good' that tune was living and then now it hits differently when I perform it. So now it's a different game, like how is it gonna land like 15-20 years down the line rather than in the first week of sales."

The track is a nostalgic offering, with the music video showing Craig David putting on his debut album on vinyl, and then the video rewinds to a younger version of himself. The track itself is also nostalgic in lyrical content, with the chorus resembling a hymn which, if you went to school in the UK, you will recognise immediately: "I wrote the song a good ten or eleven months ago with a producer called Mike Brainchild, and when we got in I was like I love where we're going melodically, I love the story, we didn't have the whole world in your hands part at the time and we lived with it. This was hitting, and this was before the cusp of around the time when Beyonce dropped her country-based record, Shaboozey came through with his thing, and I just thought I just wanna live with this tune. I walked out of the studio and we had a different chorus and I started singing 'In Your Hands' and we properly pondered on it for a while and every time we did a session together it came back every time. Rather than getting too heady about the whole thing, let's just put the tune out and let it live, let it breathe and don't get in the way. I know it meant a lot to so many different people, the verses give it context now as well."

Speaking again on the nostalgia element of the track, David also said: "I wanted to feel that you could use it in different contexts. You could use it about a parent to their children to say you've got the whole world in your hands, you could say it as an empowerment song to anyone to say you've got the whole world in your hands. There's a point where you've got to make the step and meet the universe halfway. You wanna win the lottery but you ain't bought a ticket. That's kind of the sentiment of the whole vibe. I knew a lot of people would know it in a certain context, and if I could just bring it out of that context slightly and give it a different feel, we'll be in a good place."

Craig David's 'Commitment' tour is coming up at the beginning of next year (February 2025) and will be visiting a vast number of cities and towns up and down the country: "I have so much gratitude for the fact that I get to perform in arenas.When I think of the O2, I remember rocking up to the O2 to see other people perform and you're pulling up and you're seeing posters knowing that you're about to perform, this is wavy. Especially when you're going through the car park, and you know you're about to perform there, it's the waviest feeling and it gasses me up."

Artists whose names hold as much weight as Craig David's does are crucial to young artists that are trying to make it in the scene. The advice that comes with longevity in the game is golden, and people like Craig David who have that longevity and experience and wealth of knowledge are key: "The feeling I had from 'Rewind' or the feeling I had writing 'Fill Me In' in my bedroom or any of those songs from the first album was you just know. I don't need anyone to tell me anything. When you get that feeling it would be lovely to have me currently going back and saying that feeling is what you should use as your litmus test for everything in life. When you feel it, things are gonna happen, it's gonna be a rollercoaster ride for you. You're gonna be riding the wave, on the surfboard, you're gonna come off and be treading water for a bit but you're gonna get back on the board, trust me."

Craig David's new single 'In Your Hands' is available to stream now on Spotify and and tickets for his 'Commitment' tour which takes place from February next year are available now.