Ed Sheeran is detailing his rise to fame, which – it transpires – involved lots of toilet venues and anxieties around his weight, but few showers. Now, Rag’n’Bone Man is talking about the difficulty of getting other artists to return his calls. If their candour seems unusual, that might be because both are in conversation with George Ezra, on the singer’s new podcast, George Ezra & Friends. The premise is long-form conversations promoting “honesty” between musicians; in other words, a way for the most seemingly beige names in pop to show that – beyond hits tailor-made for Sainsbury’s shelves – they do in fact possess a charismatic side.
Ezra is the latest musician to give it a go, with his show debuting at No 1 on iTunes last month. Jessie Ware’s Table Manners also topped the pod charts at the end of 2017, while the second run of Homo Sapiens – co-hosted by Will Young – is at No 14 at the time of writing. While musicians crossing over into radio is nothing new, podcasting offers a platform for artists to further sex up their personal brand, something which Ezra could arguably do with (at BBC Introducing’s 10th-birthday show last year, Steve Lamacq could offer few rock’n’roll anecdotes about the Hertford singer-songwriter, instead recalling that he had showed up for his first songwriting workshop with a packed lunch in hand).
What’s more, podcasting is a medium free from the usual stipulations. “I imagine [musicians] appreciate retaining control of their ‘voice’ rather than being asked to conform as a radio host,” says pod producer Joel Porter. He sees the format as comparable to Carpool Karaoke, which showed how an informal setting “can open up a more natural conversation”. Rather than being a faceless, vanilla crooner, Ezra is freer to show a bit of personality. Here, he can moan about stressful schedules and drop the occasional swear, straying slightly from the clean-cut, gap-year vibe.
Besides, it is a pretty low-stakes business move. While TV shows such as The Charlotte Church Show (2006-2008) or Lily Allen and Friends (2008) saw pop stars trying and failing to ape the chatshow experience with studio audiences, live acts and VTs, podcasts are a much safer marketing tool. Ware’s was released just after her latest album, Glasshouse, and arguably outshone the record, which peaked at No 7 before quickly slipping down the charts. Ezra’s new album Staying at Tamara’s is due at the end of the month, and you imagine the umpteen news stories rehashing his Sheeran interview won’t hurt. Indeed, it seems there are plenty more confessionals – and column inches – to be had for chart mainstays looking to play things less safe. Now, when is the Sam Smith Show out?
Episodes of George Ezra & Friends are on iTunes now
• This article was amended on 5 Mar to clarify that George Ezra hails from Hertford and not Harlow.
