“Drill Is Very Honest” Headie One Interviewed

Whilst some can try to emulate, everything just seems to flow naturally for Drill’s biggest star, Headie One. The artist possesses a nonchalant and stoic attitude to life, whilst keeping up a high workrate. From headlining shows at Wembley arena, new brand collaborations and his new releases of music.

Headie’s mixtape ‘Too Loyal For My Own Good’ which came out the latter end of 2021 received high praise, and continued to show the artist’s versatility. Recently, the artist has been teaming up with artists from Italy and Germany to further spread the word of the genre, as it becomes so popular across the globe.

Clash got the chance to speak with Headie to catch up on his recent work and collaborations.

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You’ve just finished your recent EDNA tour – How was the experience? Did you feel the love from around the UK?

Performing live is always special, especially as we all have been starved of live music for a while. So it was sick to go everywhere and connect with the fans. It’s a mad feeling still. Seeing and hearing the love from those who come out to see you is something that can’t get anywhere else. The love is mad. It was a movie in every city all over the UK.

The Wembley event looked live in particular, is it a dream when you get to play at huge stadiums like that – like a moment you see how much things have blown up the past few years?

It was a big moment. A very big moment. Something that I’ll never forget, for sure, but it’s just the start. I want to do more and keep working, it’s a big world out there and the sky’s the limit. I want to keep going, keep growing and making bigger and better shows.

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Recently you’ve also linked up with Chivas Regal and their new concept club Regal FC. You captained Regal FC Icons in a football tournament. How did the tournament go?

The Regal FC Rooftop 5s tournament was great, so many people came together to play in an amazing setting. My team, Regal FC Icons made it to the final against one of the community teams, Under The Radar FC. We didn’t win the final, Under The Radar were fire on the pitch, but as a lifelong Manchester United fan I was gassed to play on the pitch on the rooftop of Hotel Football, opposite Old Trafford. I enjoyed meeting Wes Brown too, who was playing for the Manchester United FC team.

Did you have fun on the day?

Yeah, it was vibes all day. Additional football entertainment was put on throughout the day, and we all celebrated with some Chivas pina colada slushies at the end of the day too! I took part in the Regal FC ‘Walk In Challenge’ before the tournament started, where we had to style outfits with the Marc Jacques Burton collection – I didn’t win – I was robbed, my outfit with the jeans over my shoulder was definitely the most creative. It was great to link up with some mates that I hadn’t seen in a while, like my co-captain Harry Pinero – we all share a love for football so it was fun to be a part of this together.

Do you think it’s good what Regal FC is doing, by bringing creatives together from across the globe for these types of events?

Regal FC is all about celebrating the people who make up modern football culture in their own way, so meeting global community teams like Nivelcrack FC, who have launched a creative studio alongside their football team in South Korea, was so interesting. It reminds you how far reaching football culture is, and how being a fan is such a universal experience. It’s great that people from music, fashion, TV and more can all come together and celebrate football together.

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British designer Marc Jacques Burton created the kits, did you like what he did with the designs?

I’m into Marc Jacques Burton designs. The Regal FC jerseys were cold. I like my fashion, so I was more than happy to wear one of the exclusive kits designed by Marc for Regal FC. It will be cool to see what other fashion collabs Regal FC has in the pipeline too.

You recently teamed up with Italy’s Shiva on the Drill track ‘Aston Martin’ – did you believe the drill scene would get this big across the globe?

Everyone around the world is always open to new sounds. Drill is very honest. When you’re not sugar-coating anything and you’re telling the whole truth, you’re just being true to yourself. You’re sharing a story, making people know that reality, and people feel that. It’s why drill is everywhere now – because it’s real. I think everyone can relate in some way and that’s why it will always grow.

You’ve been releasing a lot of music recently, with the mixtape ‘Too Loyal For My Own Good’ and the Edna deluxe album. it seems like you’ve always got so many tracks ready to release. Are there ever periods you switch off from making music, or is that something constant?

I’m always working. In the studio, writing lyrics on my phone or working on myself. I’m always trying to be better, trying to get my energy right so I can keep moving forward. I want to keep testing myself, releasing new music with different beats and producers.

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Words: Joe Hale //@Joesquestions

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