Craig David talks new music, TS5 and surviving 25 years in the business

In a year that marks a quarter of a century in the music industry, UK garage icon Craig David is still finding ways to test himself. This summer, he has taken on the challenge of transporting his TS5 DJ sets to the live arena, blending elements of the former with the live musicality of his solo shows. He’s also tapping into the current well of new UK talent, and in doing so, adding further still to his status as one of the most successful and influential artists of his generation. Headliner caught up with him to talk the past, present and future of TS5, new music, and the art of surviving 25 years in the industry.

You can listen to this interview here or read in full below. 

Hard as it may be to believe, a quarter of a century has now passed since Craig David exploded onto the UK music scene with his groundbreaking debut album Born To Do It. In that time, he has sold over 15 million records the world over, landed a sparkling array of Top 10s in the form of hits such as Fill Me In, 7 Days, and Walking Away, and achieved multi-platinum status in more than 20 countries.

He's also created and developed one of the most sought after DJ events on the calendar, with his TS5 sets taking in new cities, countries, and continents year after year. And in 2025, he’ll be fusing TS5 with his live solo show in the form of the UK Commitments tour for the very first time.

New music is also on the agenda. He recently featured on the song Abracadabra with rising UK star Wes Nelson, which the pair performed on Love Island All Stars, and during our conversation he discusses his fondness for being able to flip between dropping surprise singles and EPs out of the blue, and building towards a more traditional and substantial body of work over a greater period of time.

Despite the hectic schedule – our conversation takes place via Zoom during a short break from his TS5 tour – David is at once bubbling over with excitement yet innately serene. There’s a youthful exuberance that feels somewhat at odds with an artist about to enter their 26th year in the business. At the same time, he speaks with an ease and a calmness that can only come with that degree of experience. The warm smile he greets us with barely leaves his face throughout our conversation.

“I’m currently in London in my home studio,” he says, gesturing to the brightly coloured space behind him, all light blues and hazy pinks. “This is one of the places I spend most of my time in. We’ve made a couple of albums here so it’s a special spot. I do a lot of my vocals here. We did the KSI tune Really Love here and I’ve tried to make it as colourful and fun and playful as I possibly can. It reminds me of my little bedroom when I was making my first album. It’s funny how we love those creature comforts.”

At the time of our chat, the news that David will be incorporating TS5 into his live show next year is still only a matter of hours old. It seems like an opportune time to explore the origins of the phenomenon, as well as its evolution through the years.

“TS5 really started as something I did when I was DJing and making mixtapes back in that small bedroom in Southampton,” he recalls. “Throughout my teens I was buying vinyl, mixing records, selling them at the local barbers, and then I got gigs as an MC for DJ Flash. Then I started to DJ myself around the south coast while my first album was being written. As soon as that was released it changed my life overnight and I was able to incorporate the DJing element into it. All of a sudden, I was going from Southampton high street to Wembley Arena, which was unbelievable. I was doing full band shows and acoustic performances, so for me it was always a loss of part of my arsenal.”

It wasn’t until over a decade into his career that David would take the essence of those formative years on the DJ circuit and transform them into the formidable spectacles they have become today.

“I ended up moving to Miami in 2010,” David continues. “I was doing these house parties, and I started to DJ at them. I’d grab the mic and sort of host them, and I was playing other people’s songs. Next thing you know, I started recording them and people were asking me to give them out at the end of the night and put them up on SoundCloud. Then they were getting heard back in the UK; radio stations were playing them and they were being broadcast live. I thought, if we could do shows with TS5 it would be unbelievable.

“So, we started doing shows in Hackney and then Brixton Academy, and eventually Glastonbury. I always wanted to incorporate it into my full band show, and now feels like the right time to amalgamate it properly. Rather than having two separate sets in the same show, we will have the band playing in and around what I’m doing with TS5.”

While the millions of sold records, the chart-topping tracks, and the sold out tours all serve as tangible landmarks in what has been a stellar career to date, David insists that the opportunity to continue to test himself creatively is the thing that excites him the most.

“We’re on our seventh year doing a residency at Ibiza Rocks and that pool party could only really function with me presenting it as a DJ set,” he explains. “We could do an acoustic set and a full band show as well, but they are each completely different. They live in these beautiful worlds but in isolation. To bring it all together as one is great, and it means everyone in the band has to be on their toes, because TS5 is me as a one-man band. So, I can change something on a dime, and I need to have that synergy with every member of the band on stage. I don’t want it to be some time-coded triggered thing. Like, you’re going to have to riff over this and vibe with me.”

The new look live shows for 2025 will also be accompanied by plenty of new music. And as an artist whose career has thrived on either side of the streaming boom, he’s keen to harness the more immediate nature of today’s singles-driven music market, as well as the more album-focused approach that framed his breakthrough.

“I’ve been working so diligently in the studio to finish things off and now I just want everyone to hear what I’ve been working on,” he beams. “And the landscape is really beautiful right now for music to land in different ways. It’s not like everything has to be geared towards the big new single… you want to have all eyes focused on something but also you can drop two tunes just like that at the same time. Or you could drop something new through radio, but at the same time have something else that just drops and lives in streaming land. That’s something that this year is going to be about for me, about music just being out there.

“But also, there is definitely a focal point in having a full album,” he continues. “I grew up in an era where the pinnacle of releasing music was having a body of work that represents where you are at that chapter of your life. And even with the landscape changing, the premise of making something that feels like a body of work shouldn’t change. It’s still as important as ever. Otherwise, it’s a bit algorithmic, like, that was a hit, that got a lot of Spotify plays… and then it becomes a NOW 2025 thing. That has a place, but to make moments that aren’t always the go-to radio tracks, the ones that live in your heart, are really important.”

One of those more instantaneous releases of which he speaks landed recently in the form of Abracadabra, his hit single with Wes Nelson. Much like the release of the track itself, its creation almost seemed to arrive out of nowhere.

“It’s fun and exciting to have an opportunity come along and be able to land like that,” he says. “You can have all these plans set up, but then something comes along that you just weren’t expecting. Like meeting Wes at my Ibiza Rocks pool party. We got in the studio, recorded the song, it lived for about a month between us, then all of a sudden there’s a call asking if we’d like to perform the song on Love Island. And it wasn’t even really to do with Abracadabra; they just asked if we would like to perform because it was an all-star season.

“So, you have that moment. You have Wes who was on the show and is now forging a career as an artist in his own right; we have a song together; he’s got his distribution going on with TikTok; and Love Island is like the Apex of all this. It changed the dynamic. You can be hoping that those moments come, but they tend to come when you least expect. I’m like, when you feel it and the iron’s hot, strike. Strike, strike, strike!”

The collaboration with Nelson, the Love Island appearance, and the ongoing evolution of TS5 are each emblematic of David’s place in the world today. The runaway success of Born To Do It and the juggernaut singles it spawned will forever be defining features of his career. Yet the ceaseless desire to connect and engage with new audiences and artists alike has ensured he maintains a contemporary appeal. Fans who may not even have been born when Fill Me In was dominating the airwaves are discovering his music through those collaborations with new talent and TS5, while those who have been there from the start seem captivated as ever by his work.

When asked if he ever reflects on how he has continued to stay in the game for more than two and a half decades, his response is thoughtful and considered; the enormity of what he has achieved during that time far from lost.

“When you say 25 years it’s just, like, wow,” he says looking skyward. “If someone said to that young kid back in Southampton they’d have a career that would last this long and that they’d go to the places they’ve been and work with the people they’d go on to work with… it’s just crazy. When you first start off you are the new thing on the scene. Garage was the new sound and I was at the front end of that. Then I drop this debut album that connects around the world. And when I looked at artists who had long careers like Sting or Elton John, I always recognised that there would be ebbs and flows.

“You don’t really know about the lower ebbs of your career until you are in them. And it’s a different juxtaposition as you look at it from a position of, OK, my spirit and my essence haven’t changed, but maybe the focus has shifted. So rather than chasing the spotlight all the time, if you stay in position, that spotlight will come back around. But if you remain stationary and don’t embrace new things and try new things, and keep telling the same old story of how good it was back then, and how many records you sold back in the day…

“It’s like, if you’re in the studio with an 18-year-old artist, generally they do not care about that. They’re like, cool, my older brother or sister used to listen to your music, and I respect that, but I’m the guy or the girl right now doing my thing. So, you have to get back into the essence again. Forget the story. Let’s get in the booth and play a track, a couple of chords, and I will sing my heart out. I will sing like it’s my first record. I’ll give you ad libs for days. I’ll give you the melodies coming off the dome. I’ll give you everything I’ve got just to get that, ‘Craig, you still got it!’ reaction. Because all of a sudden that reaction is real time, we’ve landed, and we have a relationship.”

It is, he continues, all about striking the perfect balance between recognising what you have accomplished while always moving forward.

“I’d say for any artist who has been around this long, you have to savour those moments and have that relationship with the current place you are in,” he states. “The stories are beautiful legacy things, and we can all sit down and reminisce about how great it was and look at the awards, but the currency is what you are doing right here, right now. That has served me really well. If I like a song and someone wants to work with me, I’ll work with them. I was working with AJ Tracey early doors; LMA early on; Muni Long; Sigala. I love it when you are on the precipice of someone else about to go off. I don’t need to be on the rocket with them but it’s nice to just be amongst the mix.”

With a creaking schedule to return to, David thanks us warmly for taking the time to speak with him, emanating a genuine air of gratitude for the career he has had so far, and an almost childlike optimism for what the future holds. Before we part ways, he takes a moment to express precisely why he still loves what he does.

“When you’ve had a long career it’s all about using that wisdom you’ve acquired in constructive ways to help people. The No. 1s are beautiful, but you can’t define yourself by the numbers. You can never get too lost in that because time will tell how the music hits. I’m just grateful to still be going onstage and delivering those songs and giving people those memories,” he says with detectable emotion in his voice. “Because that’s what it’s all about.”

Ticket's for Craig David's upcoming tour can be found here.