X Factor alumnus Josh Daniel stuns with classy debut “Nowhere to Hide”

Debut single “Nowhere to Hide” has been months in the making, and the result is a huge pop record built around a soulful vocal. Topped off with big band elements and a massive chorus, it’s got the depth and credibility so many artists from reality show backgrounds fail to deliver.

“I’ve been wanting to release music since February, March time, when I got back from a little tour off the back of the show,” he tells us. “I was ready to go but I understood that I needed to build a much bigger catalogue of music, and find my sound properly. I really needed to be ready before I made the statement of stepping out.”

“The thought process behind the song was talking about two voices that I had in my head when all of this started. It’s basically the conversation that I had with myself about whether or not I was ready to step up and be that artist that I’d always wanted to be. When you want something for a long time and you work towards it, then you get it all come at once - almost overnight - it’s actually quite scary. I wrote the bare bones of the song about the conversation I had with myself about not being able to escape the fact that it’s what I wanted to, and the fear of not knowing if I was ready or not to step up.”

“The first version of “Nowhere To Hide” sounded completely different to the version we’ve got now. I had absolutely no idea that it would even be a contender for the single. It wasn’t really one of my favourites, and then we sent it away with the producers. When the song came back it sounded somewhere close to how it does now. I don’t think any of us could believe it was the same song! It was an unexpected dark horse out of all my demos.”

“John Legend’s always been one of my main inspirations. My Mum introduced me to his music when I was younger - he’s where I first started getting my soul and R&B vibes from. I like to think that he’s still very much an inspiration, but I’ve drawn [from] a lot of different musical styles. I think what we’ve managed to do with “Nowhere to Hide” is make a solid pop record that still has those soul-y, R&B elements in it. I still get to keep what’s me and my roots in the record; we’ve not compromised too much in terms of style.”