Why Getting Dropped by a Record Label Was the Best Thing That Happened to Me — Taylor Henderson

What happens when a record label drops you after a run of number ones? I sat down with my old mate Taylor Henderson, the Australian singer-songwriter who was runner-up on X Factor Australia in 2013 and has now been independent for longer than he was signed to Sony.

Taylor takes me back to the cafe where he learnt Sony had let him go, the year he spent lost and depressed at home, and Love Somebody, the song the label knocked back that he released himself to 3.9 million Spotify streams. We also get into the strict Pentecostal church that kicked him out for singing, how he ended up owing money after a tour, the old songs Sony still owns that he has to re-record, and his six to eight week plan for a new release.

His advice to his younger self: play more gigs, record more songs and invest younger.