Tom Grennan is 'sick of' toxic masculinity
The singer-songwriter has spoken out about the meaning behind his new song ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, a rally against toxic masculinity.
Tom Grennan is "sick of" toxic masculinity.
The 29-year-old chart-topper got candid about the message behind his new single ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, which tackles the pressure men face to hide their emotions.
On the podcast Smallzy’s Surgery this week, he said: “I don’t know anybody who hasn’t been told … ‘You need to stop being so emotional, man’. To be honest with you, I’m sick of it.
“We’re human beings, and we all have emotions. As men, we should be able to feel what we need to feel, and we should be able to talk about it openly and freely.”
The singer-songwriter released the track as the third single from his upcoming album ‘Everywhere I Went Led Me To Where I Didn't Want To Be’, set to release on August 15. ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ followed previous singles ‘Higher’ and ‘Shadowboxing’.
Toxic masculinity is a rampant issue in the media at present, with shows such as Netflix’s much-talked about series ‘Adolescence’ addressing the topic of young boys conforming to standards of masculinity.
Grennan drew inspiration for ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ from a meaningful conversation he had while visiting his own male friends back home.
The Bedford-native said: “It was the first time we sat down as friends and it wasn’t all alpha-male, it wasn’t macho. It was like, ‘How are we doing, what’s going on in our lives?’ And we all sat down and really, truthfully had a cry in confidence, and we just opened up to each other.”
He continued: “I know how emotional I am. There were points where I felt like I couldn’t go to people because I’d have been told to man up. It was the first time as friends we weren’t like that.”
The ‘Not Over Yet’ singer noted how masculinity is perceived differently in the “bubble of cities” he’s visited compared to the small town where he grew up.
He said: “As soon as you leave these big cities and you enter these little small towns, it still has that thing of, men need to be men and men can’t cry and men have to be the alpha. It’s a load of bull****.”
But those are the very men he hopes he’ll reach with ‘Boys Don’t Cry’.
He added: “It’s people like that where I want the song to go and who I want it to connect with.”
Grennan hopes the tune will resonate with listeners and encourage them to embrace their vulnerability, as he’s trying to do.
He admitted: “In all honesty, I cried yesterday night watching a show about pottery.”
The singer will embark on his biggest UK and Ireland arena tour shortly after his new album drops. The ‘Grennan ‘25’ tour will kick off on September 3, in Bournemouth, England, and hit 11 cities, including London, Glasgow, Dublin, and Manchester.
