Hi I’m Elyar. I sang for millions of people, toured arenas, topped the charts, and then disappeared into thin air. PART 3

Part 1 // Part 2

At 16 I started putting acoustic YouTube covers online under the name ‘Elyar Fox’. I didn’t really think too much about it, it just felt like something I should do. The videos started to go viral and got millions of views in a matter of weeks. It was totally surreal.  

Suddenly I had fans. It didn’t feel right to think that, after all, I was just some kid making YouTube covers. But very soon, what followed were major record labels, mangers and publishing companies. I was having conversations with Lady Gaga’s manager, Bieber’s, Ed Sheeran’s, Elton John’s. I felt out of my depth; praise de lord I had my best friend Jamesy (best friend/mogul/Just Me Again’s merch guy) to help me reply to emails less like a 16 year old.  

In 2013 I signed a deal with Polydor Records (Universal) and made sure Jamesy got a job at my management company.

15 year old Jamesy and I at a concert in 2010.

Six months in however, things started getting confusing. It went from writing songs I loved that felt original to trying to write a hit record so the label would actually put something out. My A&R guy (Day to day guy at the label) was fired the week before I signed my deal and had a new A&R guy every few months with a different vision for the ‘project’. I marched on, doing sometimes 3 studios sessions, with different producers in one day. (I have an insane amount of unused songs in my back-catalogue). I’d arrive home at 6am some mornings. Trying to create that ‘hit’. Eventually the deal didn’t work out after a brawl with my management and label so we found another label (Sony RCA)  

The new label were keen to put out a dance record I’d written two years prior and I agreed to go ahead with it, but felt confused about the musical identity I’d once been so excited to discover. The promotional whirlwind began. I played hundreds of shows, up to four a day sometimes including schools and colleges. Went on a UK Arena tour opening for a huge act at the time (The Wanted), radio tours, 2 top 10 singles... It was exhausting, but my god, it was incredible.

Leading up to 2015, and I felt something was changing. I was turning 20. The music, YouTube covers, the teen mag columns and all the people that surrounded it no longer reflected who I felt I was or was becoming…  

Continue Reading: Part 4