After seven years away from releasing an album, Matt Cardle is stepping into a new creative era defined by confidence, freedom and rediscovery. Multi-Platinum artist and BRIT Award nominee, Cardle returns with The Great Escape, a record more than a decade in the making that finds him reconnecting with his passion for songwriting and embracing new ways of expressing himself — both musically and lyrically.
Led by the uplifting new single Fading Lights and the hypnotic slow-burner Drinking Dreams, the album blends classic songwriting with modern production, alt-pop textures and expansive, emotionally charged arrangements. With a career that spans chart-topping singles, platinum albums and acclaimed West End roles, The Great Escape marks a moment of renewal for Cardle — an artist no longer driven by expectation, but by instinct. In the interview below, he reflects on stepping back, finding his way forward, and why this album represents a true creative turning point.
The Great Escape marks your first album release in over seven years. What did stepping back from releasing music teach you about yourself and creativity during that period?
Stepping back from making music for such a long period of time made me really focus on why I was doing it in the first place. All the music I’ve created over the years has come from personal experience, and I felt like I’d exhausted everything – I would just be going over old topics, scenarios and situations. I didn’t want to just release an album for the sake of it. So after the Purple Crayon EP in 2019, I decided to step away to reconnect with why I record music in the first place and to find more reasons to be creative – it showed me that there are other ways in which I can be creative lyrically and musically – and this album is definitely an expression of that. It’s a bit more abstract and commentary at times but there is still songs on the album about relationships, love and loss, but it’s a little bit more abstract than previous albums.
You describe this album as “a body of work over a decade in the making.” What was the earliest seed of it, and when did you know it was finally time to share it with the world?
The earliest seed of this album goes all the way back to 2015 with a song called “With You” that I wrote with Dan McDougall – we both knew that it was a beautiful song and would definitely appear on an album at some point. It never made it onto album four, ‘Time To Be Alive’ and it wasn’t right for the ‘Purple Crayon EP’ and in these situations a lot of the time things can go stale, and songs can get old and you move on from them. But “With You” was one of those ones that never ever left us or anyone around me that heard the song – even fans had heard versions of it live were hoping it would make it onto the album! So it’s over almost 10 years in the making! Other songs on the album were written 5-6 years ago, so it really is a collection of songs that’s been in the making for well over 10 years.
What does the title The Great Escape personally represent to you, an escape from what, and into what?
‘The Great Escape’ represents me artistically and creatively escaping the topic of ‘love and loss’ – a hole that I got stuck in with previous albums. It’s allowed me to branch out and to be more expressive in different kinds of ways like commentary on the state of the world we live in and simple poetry or quite abstract ideas. I’ve allowed myself to pull things out of thin air rather than it be just being completely about broken relationships. Reaching my 40s I think you know it’s time to think outside of the box and with this album I have done that, so ‘The Great Escape’ really does represent a change in me creatively and artistically.
After 15 years, millions of records sold and multiple reinventions, how does this album reflect the Matt Cardle you are today versus the artist the public first met back in 2010?
Yes, it’s been 15 years or so since The X Factor – I feel back then I was perhaps expected to do certain things; expected to act or behave in a certain way and not talk about certain things because it was very much focused on being very clean, pure pop – which wasn’t me. Time has allowed me to look back fondly as I tried running away from it for a while, I’m proud of what I’ve achieved. I guess what I’m saying is back then, I had things I wanted to say but couldn’t so I’m able to say it now with ‘The Great Escape’. I’ve grown up in 15 years and that’s why I feel liberated to be able to write about the things that I’m writing about and to be abstract in the ways that I am being, and more artistic than I could be back then. I’m a completely different person and learned so many lessons. I’ve gone through so much between then and now and I think that reflects in the music.
The album explores heartbreak, vulnerability, love and optimism. Which emotion was the hardest to sit with creatively, and which was the most healing?
I think the very vulnerable exposing songs like ‘Strong Enough’ and perhaps ‘Mirrorball’- they’re the hardest ones to sit with creatively because you’re co-writing and you must be a completely open book with the producer or the writer. But I’ve been blessed as my producer Dan is one of my best friends and he totally understands me as an artist and as a person, so it’s very easy to go down those rabbit holes with him and dig up that sort of emotion. It’s very important to be on the same page as people you’re working with but yes it always the most vulnerable songs are the trickiest and challenging in the studio.
You speak about needing to reconnect with a feeling inside you had lost. What was that feeling, and what brought it back?
The feeling I’d lost was what I had when I was growing up and when I first picked up a guitar with something to say and felt like there was something inside that needed to be expressed. I feel like I’d lost that for a while and it takes time and experience, highs and lows, loss – all those things need to simmer inside you until you feel that you need to express them again. I have never written or created anything for zero or little purpose – it’s always been because I’ve had that feeling. I have now definitely had that re connection with why I’m doing it and with how I’m going to express myself this time.
How did life’s highs, lows, love, loss and escape manifest lyrically or sonically across the album?
I think usually these things are consciously expressed through lyrics, but subconsciously, I’m sure melodically some of the places that we’ve gone are also expressions of that. But on face value I think you really understand those feelings through lyrics. I’ve reflected on stuff that I’ve done where you can hear the pain and sometimes you can hear things in a song without lyrics needed, or just by the way things are being sung – but 9 times out of 10 it’s through the lyrics.
Sonically and emotionally, does Drinking Dreams serve as a doorway to the rest of the album? What does it prepare listeners for?
I think ‘Drinking Dreams’ was definitely a nice entry for the people that have been waiting to hear music from me, because I personally feel like it expressed sonically a more modern side of the album and it wasn’t like anything that I had released before which was what I wanted to do initially. You start of slowly and you build to a crescendo and I think it was just nice to put something out that was a little bit more abstract and left field because that’s really where my heart sits the most.
You worked with an incredible team, Jim Eliot, Michael Champion, Ben Cullum, Tim Bran, Dan McDougall and EG White. What did each collaborator draw out of you that you couldn’t access alone?
Every time you work with someone you there’s always something different that they will draw out of you. There’s a classic thing that every time you buy a new guitar there will always be a new song that comes from it because of the way that the guitar behaves in your hands and the things it inspires! It’s lovely to work with such an array of incredible writers and producers over this whole album. They each have different ideas and draw different things out from me. It’s the combination of those two things – your ideas and their ideas, which equals something that would never have happened if it was just, you on your own. And Dan McDougall, the producer has drawn all these ideas and sewn them together so perfectly with the way he’s produced the whole album.
The album blends classic songwriting with modern production, alt-pop textures, strings, and soaring falsetto. What new sonic risks or discoveries define this record?
I think the real risks were taken structurally across this album. I’m a huge fan of grunge music and songs that bloom and blossom and people just don’t have the time for that these days, especially at radio. The attention span of people has shortened over the years, and I feel like the real risks were in the slow burning songs; ‘Blunt Steel, ‘Raining Diana’ and even ‘Drinking Dreams’. The experimental side that Dan has done with some of the electronic stuff and the way he’s managed to blend that with the acoustic stuff – was just brilliantly done. I think the riskier side of things was definitely the way that we structured some of these songs.
Your journey has been extraordinary, from a platinum debut to duets with Melanie C and performing with Rihanna in front of 20 million viewers. What moment still feels surreal when you look back?
There are so many surreal moments when I look back over everything – even The X Factor experience itself was just monumental: the viewing figures, getting to do a duet with Rihanna, afterwards doing the duet with Mel C, the number of records sold, selling out tours – it was all just mind blowing. Even after Mel C we then did the collaboration with Trevor Horn – it’s been a hell of a journey. ‘The Great Escape’ wouldn’t sound anything like it does now have it not been for everything that happened before. It’s like everything in life really, it’s all leading to somewhere and what’s happened previously has all been leading to this, but then this will also lead somewhere else!
You’ve built a dual career in music and theatre from Jesus Christ Superstar to & Juliet. How does the stage feed or challenge the songwriter in you?
The only real challenge I feel with blending the stage and the studio career is you must sing a certain way on stage to survive eight shows a week and that kind of can tend to remove the individuality from a performance voice. So if I’m doing a show and then going to the studio it’s quite tricky to you know find my voice again and that’s happened at times and vice versa – if you’re in the studio for six months writing an album recording and then you go and do a stage show you have to quickly unlearn all that individuality and get back to that more supported musical theatre technique. I love them both, it’s challenging, and being on the West End stage is magical. I can’t wait to start rehearsals for Kinky Boots, landing the role of Charlie Price is a real dream come true.
After everything chart success, theatre acclaim, creative pause, what does success look like to you now? Has it changed?
Success to me now is simply just a continuation of everything that I’ve been doing – longevity has always been at the forefront of my mind when it comes to the industry. The industry is fickle and it’s tough – having a stage career alongside it has helped fill those gaps between releasing albums but I never intend on stopping. As long as there’s something inside me that needs to come out creatively, I will always be in the studio writing. I nearly have the album after this, it’s not finished but there’s a lot of it there. I think just keeping going is at the forefront of what I’m doing, that gives me purpose.
With The Great Escape arriving April 10th 2026, what do you hope listeners feel the moment they press play?
I just hope the listeners feel as excited as I was when I was in the studio writing these songs with Dan producing them. And that they feel the same energy that I was giving and that comes over in the music. It’s a whole different game when the songs out and I want to know what their interpretation is of a lot of it and what they’re feeling from it because it’s not about me at this point – it’s now about them. I just I hope they enjoy it, I hope they get the direction of it, and I hope they get what I was intending – but more importantly, I would love to know what they think.
Is there a track you feel truly defines the emotional core of the album, and why?
For me ‘Blunt Steel’ really defines the album emotionally. I think that’s one of the slightly more left field, experimental type of songs on the album. It’s always been a standout for me and covers some of my greatest influences like Kate Bush and some of that grungier stuff that I used to listen to. I like a song that blossoms from something very insignificant to something absolutely ginormous, so I think artistically ‘Blunt Steel’ is the song of the album for me.
Looking forward to what chapter comes after escape? Where do you see yourself heading creatively?
I already have a huge chunk of my sixth album together, which will be a huge departure from where I’m at now with ‘The Great Escape’. That happens with every album though; it captures a time in your life. All my albums sound different. Right now I’m focused on this album, spending the next five months in London’s West End, releasing more singles and hopefully I’ll be able to tour this album too. Behind the scenes I do a lot of songwriting with other artists so that excites me too as I go to places with them that I wouldn’t go to for myself.
