The great English singer-songwriter and his new life after giving up alcohol
An essential figure in British rock since his debut with the legendary group The Jam, Paul Weller continues to fascinate with his sincerity and his ability to reinvent himself. Considered one of the most respected English singer-songwriters of his generation, the artist has never hesitated to speak candidly about his personal life, particularly his relationship with alcohol.
In an interview given a few years ago to the British newspaper The Guardian, the musician explained how his sobriety had profoundly transformed his relationship with music. After more than a decade without alcohol, the ex-frontman of The Jam claimed to feel a much stronger connection with his art.
« Since I’ve been soberi.e. for eleven years this year, music gives me much greater satisfaction. Not just my music, but all music. It makes more sense to meit speaks more directly to my heart and soul. And it’s even more true when I play it. Singing sober is so differentbecause we are more conscious, more present. And that changes everything,” he confided.
For Paul Weller, this new way of living also transformed his experience of the stage. The emotional intensity of music today seems increased tenfold, both in the composition and in the interpretation. An evolution which perfectly reflects the journey of an artist in perpetual mutation, capable of combining power, introspection and authenticity.
The British singer also explained that this decision had nothing aesthetic or superficial, but was above all a personal and family necessity.
« I quit because I knew I had to. Otherwise, I would have lost my wife. I didn’t stop out of vanity, because drinking was more important than vanity,” he explained before returning lucidly to this complicated period of his life.
“Now, when I think back to that period, from the 2000s onwards, I say to myself: “My God, what a state I was in!†I looked so much older, puffy and red… I was completely wrong. »
Even today, Paul Weller remains a major figure in British rock, admired as much for his musical legacy as for his disarming honesty.
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