12th/Capital FM Webchat

Nathan was at Tori Kelly's concert last night

@NathanTheWanted thanks for coming to my show! great seeing youuu

Nathan for Teen Now UK

I: So when did your voice issues start?
N: Well, back in February I was having a few difficulties, but I didn't think anything of it. It was just a bit of sore throat, I'd get over it. Then I was like, 'Oh, my voice isn't sounding too great at the moment! And when i got to America, it just got worse. People might think it was dramatized in the tv show, but it actually wasn't. If anything, it was underplayed. at one point the surgeon sit me down and said, 'I know it sounds harsh, but you don't really have a choice about having the operation because your voice is gone, and it's just gonna keep getting worse. But if the operation goes wrong your career's over.'.
I: Whoa!
N: Yeah, it was really horrible. I had to sit there and think, 'I may have go back to England without a career'. I thought it was over. The surgeon told me I had a hemorrhaging nodule that was just getting worse and worse. I'm a big believer in everything happen for a reason, though. And eventually this experience has taught me a lot of things, like how to look after your voice properly - you have to warm up and warm down after gigs, be careful what you eat and drink and be careful on nights out. If you're in a smokey room, or if it's really loud so you have to shout, it's not gonna do your voice or throat much good.
I: So it's ruined your social life?
N: No, it hasn't. It's made me more aware of my social life. And it's made me see that the way I talk
is even wrong.
I: it doesn't sound wrong to us?
N: Well, i was basically like a 100m sprinter running on a broken ankle. I didn't even realize it was
that bad, but the doctor said I'd probably had this for about a year, maybe even two.
I: How did you feel when he told you how serious it was?
N: I went out of the room and rang my mum to tell her. It was the worst phone call I've ever made -
It was horrendous. I just sat there and sobbed. I just cried my eyes out. It was horrible. I thought this
could end my career.
I: What did your mum say?
N: She just started crying. but she was amazing. She was like, 'It's all going to be fine, everything
happens for a reason. When something bad happens, something good always comes of it.'
I: So did you tell your mum before you told the rest of the group?
N: Yeah, I rang her as soon as I walked out the door. I sat in this walkway and cried my eyes out.
N: I think it was just the shock of it. Then I got this really positive attitude of, 'It's fine, I'm gonna fight it. I'm gonna improve. I'm gonna get better.'
 N: The surgeon said my voice had probably been held back from it's full potential because I'd been fighting the problem with my voice without even realizing it. Then he doc said, 'So what you could see happen is that when you recover from the surgery, your voice will improve massively!'
I: Then did you tell the boys?
N: No. I rang the head of the record label in England. I said, 'Look, I'm gonna have to have some time out.' and I told him why. Then I thought, I can't ring the boys - they're just going to be like, what the hell? And not really understand it. I needed to explain everything to them.
I: Were they like, 'What's going on?'
N: They knew I was going to the doctors and I when I got back, Tom looked at me and said 'It's surgery, innit?' and he just went, 'You'll be fine.' It was a really cool moment. I didn't need to explain anything.
I: So the TV show didn't get everything…
N: Not at all…I needed a bit of privacy which meant I missed three days of filming while I locked myself in my room. I just said, 'Look, I need some time, otherwise I'm just gonna go.' I was at the stage where I had my suitcase out and I was like, 'Right, I can't do this. I'm going back to England.' I kind of freaked out and then I spoke to our tour manager Kev and he said, 'Look, you just need to calm down. Go and ask for a bit of privacy and they'll give it to you." Kev's like the dad of the group. He really looks after us. He's really good at giving advice!
I: Was it one of the scariest things you've ever had to deal with?
N: Yes! There's a lot I still want to achieve in this industry. As a group we've obviously done amazing things, but there's still such a long way to go and there are so many things we can do. We've come so far. We went from doing a school tour and getting shouted by 11 year olds to being booed by 13 year olds and lads that thought they were too cool, to playing Wembley stadium , selling out an arena tour and selling four million copies of Glad You Came in America. It's crazy! So yeah, there's still so much to achieve. I was not ready to give up.
I: Do you ever think this could all be over?
N: I was like, if this operation doesn't go to plan, I really wouldn't know what to do with myself. It would absolutely destroy me - singing is my life! But I just had to be like, there's life after this. It's fine.
I: What were you thinking before you went in to the operation?
N: I had a panic attack. I'd been preparing myself for the worst, but trying to think positively. But as they were telling me what they were going to do, it just hit me, like, Oh my God, this could be the end of my career! If the next 45 minutes don't go to plan, and he gets this wrong, I'm done. I like being in control and just felt that I couldn't do anything about what was just about to happen to me.
I: Who was with you before you went under?
N: My mum, but obviously we were separated when I went in the operating room. They were just about to knock me out and I was like, "no, no, no! Don't! Don't do it…' and I started having an asthma attack. They were like, 'Breathe, breathe!' I need my inhaler - I was absolutely panicking. The anesthetist was saying 'You need to calm down and count back to from 10' and I'm like, '10…' and then I just said, 'don't muck it up'. They were my last words. When I came back around, the doctor said, 'That's the funniest knock out I've ever seen in my life. I've never had anyone tell me not to muck it up.'
I: What did you think when you first woke up?
N: I was thinking all sorts, I was still away with the fairies, which is obviously highly entertaining for everyone who came to see me.
I: Who was there?
N: Everyone. My mum, my sister, my mum's partner. And then the boys came to see me too - that was quite emotional, actually.
I: What did they do?
N: They all just stood there and cried. I think the thing that got everyone was when Kev started crying. Big Kev started going, and he had to leave the room. Then they left me for a bit while I came round properly.
I couldn't talk for like two weeks after. I downloaded an app where you just type in messages and it flashes up in big letters. So two hours after being in the hospital, I thought, right, it's my birthday, and I want to do something. So I typed into my phone, 'Let's go get some ice cream!'. And we did.

I: You couldn't speak could you?
N: No. And I had to be very careful what I ate. I had a weekly plan of what I could eat. Soup, ice cream and smoothies. No fizzy drinks, no hot drinks, just water.
I: How hard was it not to speak?
N: My discipline levels went up as I knew how important it was to be quiet.
I: So when they told you to try and speak again, what was it like?
N: In the morning, when you haven't used your voice for 10 to 12 hours, it always sits a bit deeper. I hadn't used my voice for like 10 days, so you can imagine how sep my voice was, like, (does a very deep voice) 'Hello, you alright? and I just went, 'Oh my God, what has he done to my voice?' and my mum's like, 'Oh my God!'. I thought my life was over. he'd ruined my voice.
N: I went to see him and asked him, 'what have you done to my voice?' he said, 'you just haven't used it for a while so obviously it's going to be deeper.' And was like, 'thank god for that!' then I had it checked - I had the scope down my throat and he asked, 'How desperately do you need to go home?' I said, 'If I don't go back with my family, I will probably have a breakdown, because they're looking after me.' All the boys have left - they were working in New York, I had no one there, apart from the people in the office that manage me. I didn't want to be bothering them all day just like, 'Oh, could you get me some soup?'
N: I told him, 'I need to go home!' He was like, 'You shouldn't fly for three weeks'. I said, "Mate, I want to be back at work in three weeks!'.
I: How did you feel knowing the boys were doing all this stuff without you?
N: I didn't watch any videos of the lads. I watched one and regretted it. They were all like having their jokes and stuff. I watched one interview and was like, 'Right, I can't watch this anymore.' Now they all talk about certain interviews and I'm like, 'Haven't seen it. Weren't there. Don't wanna see it'. It's weird. It made me more driven to get better, and work really hard with my vocal coach. I was really focussed on getting it right. I also played a lot of Playstation - Assassin's Creed, and I love a bit of Fifa. I'm not very good at it though. I kept everyone involved on Twitter so the fans knew what was going on - the fans kept me positive. It was nice to see that they didn't give up on me. And I hung out with friends and my family, and that was it really!
I: Your first gig back was the Summertime Ball at Wembley. Nobody knew if you were going to come back…
N: For me it was such an incredible moment and I was so nervous. It wasn't the best vocals I've ever done - it was the first big thing I'd done since the operation. I'd only sung with my vocal coach and a bit at home. I sang it the day before and was like, OK, this could work. I wanted to prove my worth in the band and that's why that show meant so much to me. It felt good to be back.
I: And now The Wanted have a new album out! So what's like?
N: I'm not going to lie, I was listening to it earlier and I think Word of Mouth is by far the best thing we've ever done.
I: Oooh exciting - what's your favorite song on it?
N: A track called Show Me Love, which I wrote. I guess it's the one I'm most personally connected with.
I: What's the group favorite?
N: We all have very different favorites - but I know we love We Own The Night. It kind of leads us into the album, it's the sound that everyone knows us for. There's a brilliant track that Siva and Jay wrote called Done (sorry, didn't catch the title…might be wrong) It's quite rocky - it's great.
I: Now, Ariana Grande…She's been 'bigging' (?) you up on twitter and MTV!
N: Yeah, i've done a track with her called Almost Is Never Enough. It's on the Mortal Instruments soundtrack. I'm not really a big book reader, but I was on the phone to my sister, and I was saying, 'Apparently it's going in some film' and she was like, 'Oh what film?' I was like, 'I don't know, I've never heard of it, it's called City of Bones'. And she was like, 'CITY OF BONES! Oh my God I'm reading that book right now! It's incredible!' Then she had this fangirling fit down the phone.
I: Haha! So how did you get together with Ariana then?
N: The song's incredible on it's own, but I think they just wanted to stick a duet on it. Her voice is so out of this world so it's quite hard to find someone to put themselves on a track with her. I think the only person they found who's stupid enough to do it is me. And i didn't even know if I could sing it. This was the first vocally challenging track that I recorded since the op. I was like, this is a massive test. i'll just have to try it and see what happens. So I went in, and something really good happened. and then the song got sent over to the producers.
I: How did the boys feel about you going off and doing the solo?
N: I'm not really sure, but Siva's doing his modeling, Tom's doing his clothing line, Max is doing a bit of acting and modeling and Jay does a lot of writing, he's really turned into a brilliant writer! So everyone's got side projects just to keep other interests going. This opportunity approached me and I thought that this could be a little side project as such. I thought it would just be an album track and there'll be nothing else from it, but now it's obviously in the film.
I: Have you met Ariana?
N: yeah! She's lovely. The song got sent over to her and she was like, 'who's this?' and they said, 'If we said it's Nathan from The Wanted, what would you say?' and she was like, 'It's not him, it's not him, it's really not him.' And they said, 'No, actually, it is Nathan from The Wanted. and she's like 'Oh wow, that's really cool!' and then I got a text off her - a really excitable text - saying 'Oh My God, you sound ridiculous on this track, oh my god, it sounds incredible, oh my god oh my god oh my god!' I think she was happy! (laughs)
I: Were you friends before that?
N: Yeah we were friends already. She's really cool, I saw her at the video recording and that was the first time I'd seen her since we recorded the track.
I: So, when's that out?
N: It's on the soundtrack now, which is out before Ariana's album. There's the soundtrack version and the album version. I prefer the album version because it's a lot longer. The soundtrack version is like there and a half minutes. It's really cool. I was absolutely honored that she even let me be on the track.
I: You've been working with other artists like newcomer Ollie Marland - is it N: exciting to help start someone else's career?
Definitely. I've become really good mates with Ollie. He's very, very talented - it's great to work with new artists who have all this ambition. Three years ago, we were the ones asking everyone for advice. Now other people are asking us for advice. That's really weird. So I've been working with Ollie, and I've done some writing for Union J as well, which is really exciting. They're great lads and I think they've got a really long career ahead of them.
I: If we told you three years ago you'll be living in America and on your third album and having it large, would you have believe it?
N: Probably not. it's very surreal. Like, it's nice to hear people say that you're still the same person that you were three or four years ago. Even though situations around us may have changed, we haven't. I think that's down to the amazing team we've got around us and our friends and family, who are really supportive and keep us grounded.
I: So you're not going to have a diva moment on us anytime soon?
N: Definitely not yet!

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