Welcome to Metro.co.uk‘s The Big Questions, and this week, we’re diving deep with Lucy Spraggan.
The singer-songwriter became a household name overnight in 2012 when she wowed judges and audiences watching from home on The X Factor with her unique original tracks.
While the star didn’t finish the show, quitting due to illness, it helped her to make a name for herself – and she is now back with a bang with new single Bodies, and a memoir and a new album set for release this summer.
Lucy is known for being unapologetically herself – part of the reason she was a smash hit on the TV singing competition – and her new album sees her open up even further.
She has also long been an LGBTQ+ icon, having been openly gay since she was 14 years old, and always encouraging others to be themselves.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk ahead of launching into the celebrations of Pride Month, Lucy recalled her own coming out story – or in this case, a lack of one.
‘In my family, none of us remember me coming out, because it was just not a big deal,’ she said.
Lucy says it was a ‘privilege’ to grow up a family when you were allowed to be yourself (Picture: WireImage)
‘We all remember different things. My brother and sister don’t have any memory of it.’
In the Spraggan family, ‘you were allowed to be whatever you wanted to be,’ acknowledging it’s ‘a privilege so many people have not been afforded.’
‘I’ve always been around people who celebrate being different and celebrate authenticity my whole life. It’s such an amazing way to be brought up.’
These values are still being passed on to the newer members of the family, Lucy recalling that her five-year-old niece recently told her sister: ‘Mummy did you know that some people are born little boys and when they grow up they’re girls?’
‘Why the f*** is it that easy for a five-year-old to understand and it’s so difficult for adults to make that formula work in their minds?’ Lucy despaired, before grinning: ‘That was like, oh my God, we’re raising great new Spraggans!’
The star has been openly gay for as long as she’s been in the spotlight and encourages others to be themselves (Picture: WireImage)
Being an openly gay person in the spotlight means a lot to Lucy and her LGBTQ+ fans, with the star revealing she receives messages ‘every day’ from people who have helped by her being unapologetically herself – one fan even coming out tot her parents during her show, which she calls a ‘mind-blowing’ position to be in.
She went on to detail a positive message to any other 14-year-old getting ready to come out to friends and family, declaring: ‘Anybody who doesn’t want you as your authentic self, anyone who can’t celebrate your authentic self with you, does not deserve your authentic self because you are incredible.’
If their family cannot accept their ‘authentic self,’ she added: ‘There’s a family in every LGBT community. Every gay bar, every sober gay meet-up, there is a family waiting for them. Because that’s how this community works.’
Lucy is preparing to bring out her new album, Balance, in August, which contains open and vulnerable songs – one track, Caroline, is inspired by the late Caroline Flack, which Lucy admits ‘brings up a lot of emotion for me.’
Lucy found fame 10 years ago after appearing on The X Factor with her unique original tracks (Picture: Redferns via Getty Images)
‘I’m excited,’ she begins, before correcting herself that ‘excited is the wrong word’ and she is ‘anticipating sharing that with people.’
Her new single, Bodies, relates to Lucy’s long struggle with body image, with the video – made up of her own close friends rather than actors – showing people swimming in cold river water.
‘I’ve always struggled with body image,’ Lucy explained.
‘I’ve been a lot heavier than I am now, I’ve been a lot leaner than I am now. I’m constantly changing and the more I look in the mirror the less happy I am with my shape. I really struggle with body image, I always have, and I wanted to put it into a song. Because I know a lot of people, women especially, in some way or another relate to that and I wanted to be real about it. Even when I look like a bodybuilder, which I did at one point, that’s not what I saw in the mirror and I sure as hell wasn’t happy at that point. And I just wanted to say that.’
She went on to say Bodies is a track she would have liked to have heard herself when she was really struggling, revealing that the lyrics ‘I am not my thoughts, this is my house and these are my rules’ were inspired by something her therapist told her.
‘When you look in the mirror you think, “I am this, I am that,” but not all of those thoughts are to be listened to,’ she said.
‘Sometimes you might walk down the street and think “I’m going to jump off this bridge into the water,” and my therapist said they’re the same. Pick the ones you want to absorb and throw away the ones you don’t.’
Performing these incredibly personal songs on stage each night could easily take a toll on your mental health, but Lucy knows what works for her: keeping moving.
‘As soon as I arrived in Glasgow yesterday I got off the tour bus and went to the gym, I ran a 5k this morning. For me, moving my body helps my brain a lot,’ she explained.
Playing live takes a lot of energy, but Lucy gets that energy right back from the crowd (Picture: Getty Images)
‘Also playing shows is such a privilege. Yeah, it absorbs a lot of energy but when you’ve got thousands of people in the room giving you their energy it’s like a replenishment, it’s like having a ginger shot on stage with that energy coming towards you, it’s mad.’
Lucy has had command on the stage since bursting into the spotlight on The X Factor 10 years ago, and in the decade since, she’s learned a lot – articularly about ‘giving yourself permission to be yourself.’
‘I did it quite a bit on the show, like when they said, “we’re going to dress you up as a gothy rock chick!” and I said, “no, you’re not.” The older I get, the more I’ve just said “This is who I am and I love myself.”‘
Lucy now has a solid working relationship with Simon Cowell, who is helping promote her career and new album, but she reckons they have ‘more of a friendship’ than anything else.
‘I think he must have been a different person 10 years ago and I was very much a different person … I never even met him on the X Factor because he wasn’t a judge that year. Our paths met 10 years later and I believe that’s when they were supposed to meet,’ she mused.
‘I know him as the guy I go and have dinner with at his house, who I’ve been to a bloody petting zoo with. I feel really grateful to be championed by someone who is so supportive and such a good friend.’
The musician has been a vocal critic of how mental wellness is tackled on reality shows, having spoken out about her own treatment on The X Factor – and ‘absolutely’ believes Simon has taken this on board.
Lucy and Simon have developed a close friendship as he supports her career, with the pair often speaking about mental health (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)
‘We talk a lot about mental health. I’ve told him everything about my experience and the experiences of some of my friends. But in terms of that broader perspective of mental health, we talk about our mental health independently and together. If there was to be another [X Factor] there would be a considerable amount of change,’ she insisted.
Lucy has been through a rollercoaster in the past 10 years, from body issues to struggles with her mental health and becoming sober, and is now in an exciting, positive new place in her life and career – and says if her 14-year-old self could look at her now, she’d say: ‘I knew this was going to happen!’
‘It wavered a little bit between the ages of 20 and 30,’ she admitted,’ ‘but I think my 14-year old self would be beaming with pride.’
Her memoir, Process, is due to be released in July, ‘and after every chapter there’s a letter from me now to myself in that chapter.
The star is learning to have more compassion for herself through the writing of her memoir (Picture: Rex Features)
‘I’ve been working on having that compassion for the decisions I made. It’s been a really positive experience.’
‘There’s a lot in [the memoir] that will surprise everybody,’ she added. ‘Stuff I’ve never spoken about publicly.
‘There’s a message of perseverance in there. Through poor mental health, through considerable trauma, in an industry run by straight white men. Perseverance as a queer person in that industry. It felt like something I wanted and needed to do.’
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As for something she’s proud to have achieved in her lifetime, she has an answer ready.
‘I’m proud of the compassion I have for myself now. The understanding of myself that I have now. That’s probably what took the most to get.’
Process is out on July 20; Balance is set for release August 11.
What does Luxy Spraggan’s weekend look like?
What does your typical Saturday look like?
Probably a lot like going for a really long walk with the dog, somewhere where there’s a big lake or body of water so I can jump in. Well, get into it nice and slowly! And do a bit of cold water therapy. I love it.
How have your weekends changed over the years?
I’m four years sober in July so my weekends have changed quite considerably, as those that stop drinking tend to do. My weekends used to be spent hungover most of the time. So very different.
What is a recent weekend that you loved?
I shot a music video for my song Bodies. This isn’t a plug by the way, this is genuinely the best weekend that came into my mind! I asked a load of my friends to come and do this breathwork thing with a guy in a river and we were in this little yurt and we filmed the video with like 11 of my closest friends and my dog, and we shared this lovely experience with cold water dipping in the countryside and all spent time together, using our bodies for functional stuff rather than caring about what we look like, and then we all went for a roast afterwards. Aside from the video, we went for dinner after and it was just lush.
What TV shows do you binge on the weekends?
I’ve been watching – oh f***, what’s it called? I keep telling everyone to watch it as well. It’s on Netflix, they drop them off in the middle of nowhere in Alaska and they have to fend for themselves in the wilderness and survive by themselves. The only way they can survive til the end is if they’re part of a team. Outlast! It’s Outlast! I love it because I fancy myself as a bit of an outdoorsy person but as soon as I see anything like that I think, “Wow, I would have left immediately.”
MORE : Lucy Spraggan directly addresses Simon Cowell about welfare of X Factor contestants
‘Why the f*** is it that easy for a five-year-old to understand and it’s so difficult for adults?’
