-Was it something you ever thought about before that moment in High School, or was that really the big moment?
It's strange. I think that was the moment. I mean, the singing thing I had definitely thought about. Like, "I love singing. What if I could sing for my whole life?" At that point, there was no way that made sense.

For some reason, guitar had never crossed my mind until this one moment. That's when the light came on. I wasn't even planning to start songwriting, but it was a natural thing. About a month in, I wrote my first song.

I was someone who had always kept my thoughts to myself, so for the first time - with songwriting - I had these means to vent and say all these things.

-You got a huge break with the Crash The Superbowl contest, but what were you doing up to that point?
Up to that point, I'd been writing since mid-High School and all throughout college. I'd been gigging around and doing every Open Mic Night possible. Right after I graduated college, I moved to Austin, Texas to do music full-time there for a bit. It was the first time I got to focus solely on music, which was good. I worked in a coffee shop and took every gig I could get.

-Do you think that makes you appreciate where you're at a lot more, coming through in that way?
I definitely think so. I remember early college wishing...oh gosh, what if I got signed right now? I could finish college, and play music. Thinking back, I have learnt so much about my music and about performing.

Had I not had this background, busking at the side of the street for three hours at a time - it's really given me a better appreciation for what I do and how to do it.

-How was the whole Crash The Superbowl process?
It was a pretty insane time. The voting worked out that every person could vote one time a day. My thinking was, how do I get them to do this without being realy annoying? So, I decided to make this site and put up a new video every day, so that they had something from me every day, and it'd also be a reminder to go and vote.

I guess it was through that process that I realised YouTube wasn't just a video hosting site. It was this incredibly powerful tool. It was enabling strangers to happen upon my music. Through that, I started growing this network of people around the world supporting me, and they started calling themselves Kinas, it was the Kination.

The process itself, with the voting, was definitely important to my entire career. The contest itself, they flew out the three finalists for the Superbowl and had us in this viewing room. They said "Okay, after the first quarter one of your music videos is gonna air".

We had no idea who it was going to be. It was one of the most nervewracking things I've ever done. It was incredibly emotional and very surreal, but one of the coolest feelings I've had.

-Do you think YouTube is starting to replace MySpace now as a platform for unsigned artists?
Oh definitely. It's really powerful. People can't really happen upon artists on MySpace now - it's become more about the mainstream. YouTube is one of the only places these days where people can find new artists, and then follow and support that person.

One thing that makes it more personal than MySpace is that it's not just the music you're getting, but a conversation. Not only can they find music, but they get to know the person and follow the journey too.

-Is having that transparency important?
Oh, so important. I think especially nowadays, where everything is Twitter, Facebook, it's all about what's happening right now. This has enabled these people to be completely on the journey with me.

From the beginning, it's not been just about me. They voted me into the contest, they voted me so that I won. They supported the album so that it made Billboard. It's very much been a big team effort, in my mind.

-You had a major label deal that you left after a while. What made you do that?
Well, we started having some meetings with them, and their plan was...let's take the next couple of months to develop you, having you write with different songwriters...things like that.

In my mind, I had been developing since I started writing. I had this body of work that meant a lot to me, and I was ready to record it. It just didn't feel right to me that, at this point, having people all over the world that supported me for who I was, to then write someone else's album.

Luckily, I could get out of the deal, and that's when I started making Stairwell.

-Do you think it was important to retain the level of control you have now?
Yeah, I definitely think so. It might've been a different story if I'd have had zero following and zero other chances, but at that point I felt like...however big or small what I have is, I know that these people support me for who I am.

Music isn't going to be fulfilling for me unless I make the music that's important to me too. I needed to keep that in perspective.

-Looking past the last London show, can we expect a full UK run at some point?
Yeah! I'm actually coming back in February for a full UK and Europe tour - I'm really, really excited to be back.

-What shout-out would you give to the people who've supported you over the last few years?
I'm thanking them all the time, but there's no amount I can thank them enough. They're the whole reason I'm getting to do what I love every single day and share my music.

Female First - Alistair McGeorge