Myles Smith's song Stargazing - a thumping pop-hoedown full of stadium-sized chants and euphoric romance - was one of the biggest hits by a British artist last year, racking up nearly 700m streams on Spotify, spending 40 weeks on the UK chart and breaking the US Top 20. Tonight it is up for song of the year at the Brit awards, where Smith is also nominated for best new artist and best pop act, having already won this year's Brits rising star award.
Ed Sheeran is an admirer and confidant, and has booked him as support on a stadium tour.
But the weirdest moment for Smith, he says, was when he recently phoned a utilities company to sort a new wifi deal. "They put me on hold, and it was Stargazing playing. Those are the types of things that still seem absolutely bizarre."
At the Brits, he is up against big names such as Charli XCX and Dua Lipa in the pop category, but his music skews very differently. Animated acoustic guitars and banjos mean that it cleaves to the trend for pop-leaning country music. But with Smith's open-hearted yet bruised vocal style, plus plenty of whoa-oh-ohs, piano and ethereal production, it has a touch of Sheeran and Coldplay.
With a keener political acumen than most pop stars his age, the 26-year-old Smith is sharp and engaging company on a video call as he tours Britain. Born and raised in Luton, he casts himself as a small-town oddball.
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