Stormzy has revealed the unlikely inspiration behind his Glastonbury performance in 2019 – admitting that none other than Beyoncé was the reason behind his life change
Stormzy turned his life around before headlining Glastonbury Festival – thanks to one global megastar.
The musician whose hits include Shut Up and Vossi Bop headlined Worthy Farm back in 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic brought the world to a halt. But the 31-year-old rapper has revealed that one fellow musician was the unlikely inspiration behind his transformation which saw him hit the gym and reconsider everything he puts into his body.
Stormzy took to the Pyramid Stage at the globally renowned festival, performing to a staggering 120,000 music lovers who had flocked down to see him deliver hits including Blinded By Your Grace P.3 and Crown. Now, he’s revealed that Crazy In Love singer Beyoncé was the driving force behind his change as he branded her “superhuman”.
“I was trying to get into a shape I’ve never been in in my life. I’m not someone who grew up super fit. I’ve always just been kind of bog standard,” he said in a new interview. Stormzy went on to say that he took his body and nutrition to an “entirely new place” while he attempted to create a “flipping iconic, legendary set.”
“This was pulling out all the stops,” he told Men’s Health UK. Prior to Glastonbury, Stormzy didn’t have an eclectic catalogue of music which now includes soul, gospel and R&B. He added that his 30-minute sets would see him delivering all of his energy which often left him with nothing “in the tank.”
The Croydon-born music star realised he wanted a nutritionist after watching Beyoncé’s 2018 Coachella set, referred to as Beychella, which features in the documentary Homecoming: A Film By Beyonce. He explained: “There’s a part in Beychella where she talks about her diet, and I was thinking, ‘Yeah, now I want a nutritionist.’
“I want to be someone who is able to deliver a live set for 90 minutes with full energy and not stutter on my vocal, not be out of breath, not need to take a break, just be almost like a superhuman on stage, the same as I’ve seen Beyoncé.” He made history in 2019 by becoming the first black British solo artist to headline Glastonbury.
In 2020, the vest he wore at the festival, designed by Banksy, was nominated for a Beazley Design of the Year prize, and was subsequently donated to the Design Museum in London by the rapper. Stormzy, real name Michael Omari, has had four number one tracks in the UK singles chart with Vossi Bop, Take Me Back To London (with Ed Sheeran), Own It, and Backbone, featuring Chase And Status.
General sale tickets for Glastonbury next year sold out in less than 40 minutes in November. Veteran rock star Sir Rod Stewart will play the coveted legends slot next year.
Stormzy fronts and guest edits the January/February issue of Men’s Health UK, on sale from Friday.
Follow Mirror Celebs onTikTok,Snapchat,Instagram,Twitter,Facebook,YouTubeandThreads.
