Lewis Capaldi's West Lothian schoolmate says star was ‘always saying’ he wanted to be ‘as big as Ed Sheeran’

Jack Cochrane of The Snuts reveals that pal Lewis Capaldi was always aiming to be a massive star

Lewis Capaldi told a pal at his former secondary school in West Lothian that he wanted to be “as big as Ed Sheeran”.

The schoolmate in question is none other than Jack Cochrane, lead singer of Whitburn indie sensations The Snuts.

Speaking to The Independent to promote his band’s third album, Millennials, Cochrane revealed the Someone You Loved hitmaker “was always saying” he wanted to make it big.

Lewis Capaldi's schoolmate, Jack Cochrane from indie band The Snuts, has revealed the star always wanted to be 'as big as Ed Sheeran'.

“Lewis was always saying ‘I want to be a pop star and I want to be as big as Ed Sheeran,” said Cochrane, who like Capaldi, attended Whitburn Academy.

“My whole thing was ‘I wanna be a rock’n’roll star like The Libertines’,” added the singer. “He’s just gone in this crazy skyrocket direction.”

In the same interview, Cochrane recalls inviting Capaldi to sing at a local charity night – right at the moment his career was starting to take off after the release of his first single, Bruises, in March 2017. “He’d just brought out his first single and the place was stowed out. His manager was like, ‘No cameras!'”.

The Snuts man also discussed Capaldi’s recent struggles as he adapts to superstardom and adjusts to the impact of living with Tourette’s syndrome.

“It’s happened so quickly for him and he’s the OG of having to feel the pressure of what that’s like in this new way,” said Cochrane. “He was first to be super funny on the phone and doing a lot of videos, but it’s been hard to watch him having to deal with everything that’s come with his rise. I find it really intense to see.

“Doing as well as he’s doing and as talented as he his, he should be really happy and enjoy that. But something somewhere’s happened that’s skewed that and I think that’s pretty s*** man,” he added.

The Snuts released Millennials' on February 23, and Cochrane says it is "our most confident record, there is no fear this time round in putting this one out.

“Creating the record has been so much freer – it just felt like friends in a room doing what we love doing... it felt natural.”