OLLY MURS is nervous.
The amiable singer, usually so chirpy and confident, admits the release of his new album Marry Me has made him the most nervous that he’s been in years.
“I’m on edge,” he says with a smile over lunch.
“It’s feels like I’m releasing my first record again so I’m a bit nervous. I’ve worked so hard on it and have really pushed myself.
“I have taken my voice to another place and become more confident in different areas of my voice.”
We are sitting in Soho’s Dean Street Townhouse where Murs is relaxing after a morning of radio promo, chatting about his return to music with his seventh record which is on course to give him his fifth No1 album today.
Looking tanned and trim, he has lost a lot of weight, having not drunk a drop of alcohol since New Year’s Eve.
His hair is longer and slicked back, showing off his cheekbones.
“I wouldn’t say I’m at a crossroads in my career but I’m definitely not that young teeny pop star any more.
"I’m a fully fledged 38-year-old man with a fiancée and that’s reflected in my music. It’s a more grown-up release, for sure.”
Marry Me is — as the title suggests — influenced by his forthcoming nuptials to partner Amelia Tank.
“But the album isn’t a love story,” stresses Murs. “It’s a fun pop record with nuggets of little stories between me, Amelia and our relationship but it’s not just about me and her.
"In fact, there’s only one song, the last track on the album, that is about Amelia.
"The rest of them have a lyric that makes me think of her.”
Murs says how when he played album closer Let Me Just Say to Amelia, she burst into tears and said it was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her.
Murs has enjoyed a huge level of fame since he was runner-up to Joe McElderry on The X Factor in 2009.
JACK OF ALL TRADES
And while Marry Me might be heading to the top of the charts today, the singer says he never takes success for granted.
He says: “I’m not your typical pop star, I’m a jack of all trades.
"Some artists stick to their lanes, but you’ll see me on This Morning, then Starstruck and then singing my new song.
“The music industry has been good to me but there’s been times when I’ve felt like because I’m from a reality TV show, there’s a bit of stigma around me.
“So when I’ve had support from people like Sir Tom Jones, Lewis Capaldi, Stormzy, Ed Sheeran and Paul Weller (who wrote the track Let Me In for his 2015 album Never Been Better), it’s meant a lot.
"They’ve all been respectful to me when I’ve met them.”
Murs admits he’s had to overcome some difficult times in the last year.
He says he’s still not over the death of good friend and former X Factor co-host Caroline Flack, who died by suicide in 2020, and at the start of the year he had to have a THIRD major knee operation
“With Caz I don’t know if I’ve processed the grief,” he admits.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get over losing her, of hearing the news and the fact she took her own life.
“I’m such a positive person and so to go to such a negative place has been hard.
"I try to think of all the positive things Caroline did and the great times we shared.
"All the lovely messages that I had with her, the lovely phone calls, the lovely times we shared together and the memories of us performing and presenting TV shows together.
“Me and Caz were best friends and when I get the chance, I will rewatch some of the moments we shared.
"Some people don’t have that luxury. I’ll never forget her.”
Having more major knee surgery following his anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in 2019, Murs was forced to cancel all his summer shows this year which left him fearing his career was over.
“I’d already gone through two operations on my knee since 2019 and my life is about performing, dancing and entertaining people so I was scared it was all going to be taken away,” he admits.
“I was on stage last summer, and my knee popped.
“I was on the brink of crying, with my head in my hands all the way home after the gig. I couldn’t believe I was going through it all again.”
MY VOICE IS BACK
Murs was forced to rest at home for eight weeks and found the lack of mobility a struggle both mentally and physically.
He says: “I couldn’t walk. I sat on the couch eating what I wanted. I was fed up. It was crap. I was fat.
"It was b*****ks. I didn’t know if that was it.
"I couldn’t just be a stand-up singer, without the dancing I would lose the enjoyment of it all.
“But I took it one day at a time and I started to train and have physio. And in the end it came together.”
Dealing with fame and the ups and downs that go with it, Murs says he’s proud of how he’s come through relatively unscathed.
“I lost my voice for a month too. I was suffering from silent reflux and having problems with my vocal cords.
"I had a song called Die Of A Broken Heart and I couldn’t even fing sing it for a while.
“Luckily I got it sorted and my voice is back and I’ve dealt with my mental health quite well.
"To be thrown into the spotlight at the age of 25 changed my life.
“I was in my own little world then suddenly I was in the limelight and in the newspapers and I think I’ve dealt with it well. I’ve had anxiety and there have been moments of depression — you know, waking up and feeling low and lonely.
“But I give myself credit that I’ve come through 13 years of this crazy showbiz industry in one piece.
"There’s been times I’ve needed help and times I’ve needed a chat with someone. But I’m OK.”
And Murs says it was working with new songwriters, duo David Stewart and Jessica Agombar, who have worked with BTS, Jonas Brothers and Shania Twain, that reignited his desire to return to music.
“They got me excited about new music again, he says.
“I didn’t know where I stood and whether I was going to make a covers album, or what. I didn’t even have a record deal.
"There was nothing there then I met them and all of a sudden, everything just fell into place.
“David had the enthusiasm and Jess was the pulse of the melodies and lyrics. Together they made me feel alive again.
“The confidence they had in me was amazing.
"I walked in the studio, and they were like, ‘Don’t forget who you are, Olly. Don’t forget what you’ve done or about the hits you’ve had — we’re going to do it again’.
"I was blown away by their belief in me.”
It’s a more complex and evolved sound for Murs and songs like 25, Dancing On Cars, I Hate You When You’re Drunk and Die Of A Broken Heart are all upbeat, feelgood pop songs.
I FORGOT I'M FAMOUS
Standout song 25 was written after Murs broke up with Amelia briefly, when he was full of regret.
He says: “It was when we first got together. We split and after 25 days I was like, What the f*** have I done?
"I was scared of commitment, like most men are. We sorted it out, thankfully.”
Dancing On Cars was inspired by meeting Amelia and falling in love.
Murs says: “I love that energy when you first meet someone. Even though our first date was terrible.
"We had the worst roast dinner in Essex and I forgot I’m famous but that day all the Olly Murs fans were out so there were kids with their noses at the window. Watching us eat food.
“I said to Amelia, ‘Please don’t get freaked out by this, as it never happens’.
"We’ve been together three-and-a-half years, we’ve never had a worse date.
"I Hate You When You’re Drunk makes me smile and laugh every time I listen to it.
“I played it to Guy Garvey from Elbow — we are both on the film, The Miracle Of Christmas. Anyway, he absolutely loved it. He couldn’t stop laughing.
“I also played it at my sister’s 40th in October and my nan was singing it in her wheelchair, pointing her finger at all the family. It was so much fun.”
Family is important to Murs and he says he’s not given up hope that one day he and his family will be reunited with his estranged twin brother, Ben, who cut himself off from Murs when he missed Ben’s wedding in 2009 to perform in the live semi-finals of The X Factor.
Murs says: “I do believe that we will work it out one day — I have to believe that.
“As a family we talk about Ben like he is here. Even though he is not in our lives any more.
"We never forget him. But there’s no anger or hate, we are full of love.
“And the door is always open for him.”
As our lunch comes to an end, Murs says he’s savouring every moment making music.
“I’ve been lucky and who knows where I’ll be in ten years?” he says.
“But I do know that I’ll be entertaining people. Whether that will be on a TV show, or down the local pub, I’ll be entertaining somewhere.”