Chart-topping DJ Sigala: ‘I’m looking after myself after seeing where it went wrong for Avicii’

Sigala, aka Bruce Fielder, is a DJ and producer who has worked with some of the biggest names in the business. From Paloma Faith and Kylie to David Guetta, Lewis Capaldi, Ellie Goulding and Sam Ryder, he has been at the forefront of dance culture since his breakthrough hit Easy Love in 2015. But dance culture comes with certain expectations – which can lead to some serious comedowns.

As he returns with new music, including the single It’s a Feeling – a late contender for sound of the summer, some might say – Fielder has spoken to Big Issue about his newfound sobriety, and the mental health struggles that came with the nocturnal lifestyle of a successful DJ.

• Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody: ‘I’d tell my younger self to just be happier’
• Jayda G went from environmental toxicology to the Grammys. Now she’s creating ‘science you can dance to’

“When I first started touring, it was around the time Avicii was being very open about his problems. And that really hit home to me, because I feel like me and him have very similar personalities. He was very shy and I don’t think he really wanted to be the massive superstar he was.

“I can absolutely relate to that. Because that’s never been my ambition. I don’t want to be famous. My goal is to make good music that people enjoy. So I suppose I was lucky to be able to see it go wrong for somebody else, whereas Avicii didn’t really have that.”

It has always been music first, party second and fame a very distant third for Fielding, who has been one of the leading lights of the genre that became known as Tropical House and is expanding his sound on his new tracks.

“I’ve suffered really badly from anxiety,” he says. “Not anymore, but in the years after leaving university and before having any success in music, I was just an anxious mess.

“I was having panic attacks daily for a long time. So when I started to have success, I knew I’m not going to be able to cope with massive amounts of fame. It’s just not how I’m wired.

“Some people thrive off it, which is great. I really don’t. I’m very shy and private. So seeing stories like Avicii’s, like Tim’s [Tim Bergling was Avicii’s real name] or Amy Winehouse where it has gone wrong – it’s about trying to take something from that I can use to protect myself.

“So I was able to make some changes, even down to things like not being in the music videos or on the artwork or doing a million interviews. I don’t want to go on TV and talk about my life. I want that very separate. I want to live my private life. Then, when I want to DJ, I put the Sigala hat on, go on stage, and have fun.”

In his early days as Sigala – when Easy Love, Sweet Lovin’ and Say You Do became the first of his eight top ten singles in the UK – he admits he felt the pressure to join in with the lifestyle. Which he did willingly.

“When I first started touring, I had loads of fun drinking and partying and staying up till early hours of the morning after shows,” Fielder recalls. “It was such a new thing. I’d never really been involved in the club scene growing up in Norfolk.

“I didn’t want to be the only sober person in the venue. When I when I first started doing it, everyone else was drunk, so I guessed that’s what I needed to do as well. I got stuck in for years. But it was definitely unhealthy. I was struggling. You know, I can see how a lot of artists go down that route when you spend your life on the road. It’s a coping mechanism.”

But for Fielder, this was unsustainable.

“I’ve walked into venues where all the staff are in the green room with their faces on the tables,” he says. “I was shocked by how unprofessional some places were when I started out – where the drink and drugs were such a big part of the culture.

“But I have become very aware of how lucky I am to be in this position. And I perform best when I’m sober. So my absolute priority is giving the crowd the best show they can get, because they have paid to see somebody perform. But let’s just say that’s not how I’ve always operated!”

Rewinding a little, Fielder says he began playing in bands as a kid before “getting a bit sick of carrying massive keyboards on the tube” or not being able to afford to record in a proper studio. Then, after moving to London from Norfolk and doing a degree in commercial music, he spent years working at his music before achieving overnight success.

“My dream was just to be able to pay my rent with music,” he recalls. “I worked so hard for so many years trying to have success with music and was on benefits most of that time. I had no money. I was just desperately trying to make something happen with music.

“It was a freak accident, really. I made this song in my bedroom by messing around with a Jackson Five a-cappella. And it turned out to be a number one smash and changed my life overnight. But I definitely did my 10,000 hours before that.”

Since then, Sigala has thrown himself into collaborations with some of the best in the business, alongside the releases under his own name.

“Sometimes it takes a long time to find the right person for a song,” he says. “Lullaby, which I did with Paloma Faith, was like that. We worked with a bunch of people on that song until Paloma came in and just smashed it. And Sam Ryder is the nicest person in music and was super easy to work with.

“That was a song I actually wrote with Tom Grennan that he decided he didn’t want to be on. So my label suggested Sam Ryder – I didn’t know his name, but recognised him and his iconic hair from TikTok and he has this amazing, big, Freddie Mercury-style voice, so I knew it would be great. I grew up listening to Queen and he’s the closest I’ve heard to someone with that power.”

Now, the new music is flowing freely after Sigala lost an entire year to licensing issues, with his then new album .

“I had a bit of trouble last year with an album that was supposed to come out that never did,” he says now. “There was a sample we thought we cleared. For a year we were discussing it and trying to make it work. It got to the point where I basically just gave up. There was loads of other music building up in this bottleneck. So I made the decision to put that album in the bin and just move on with my life.

“But it’s an exciting time for music, because there’s not really any rules. The trends are changing so quickly because it’s just based on what people are watching on TikTok and not about some gatekeepers at radio stations or A&Rs or whatever anymore. It’s really about what the consumer wants to hear and they don’t overthink things.

“And I’ve never wanted to follow trends anyway. When everything’s going over here, I always get try and go the other way. I have much more fun doing that than chasing trends and trying to, like, copy whatever Calvin Harris or Tiesto is doing…”

It’s A Feeling bySigala x Trevor Daniel x 24kGoldn is available to stream and download now.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy of the magazine or get the app from the App Store or Google Play.