Paul Weller not pressured by music sales anymore

3 October 2017

Paul Weller doesn't feel "pressured" to release hit music.

Paul Weller

The 59-year-old star feels "comfortable" in what he does and isn't too worried whether his music is received well or not by his critics, as long as his fans like it.

He said: "Mainly it's just the feeling of mortality. I don't know, maybe the older you get you think, 'F**k'. You know, you look around and someone says, '25 years ago this record was out' or, 'It's 40 years you've been making records'. And you're just like, wow, it goes by so quickly. So I think there's an element of that: I've just got to do as much as I can. Time's running out. And time goes so quickly. I've got to keep writing and keep trying to produce work.

"But then I think also in lots of ways the pressure is kind off really. I mean, apart from my own self-competitiveness, I'm not trying to compete with a market, you know. I'm not in competition with other artists. I suppose, because I've been doing it for such a long time, you kind of feel comfortable, this is what I do. And people either dig it, or not dig it. And that's fine. I think there's a pressure that gets taken off.

"I think without that pressure, it becomes a lot more enjoyable and there's more room to experiment and go places, whatever comes to me really. Whatever I sort of think it could be or want to try. Who knows what will happen in the future, but I think I've kind of earned the right to be able to do that. And I feel that's quite a fortunate position really."

And the 'Going Underground' singer doesn't get "hung up" about what is selling anymore.

He told Gothamist: "I think probably just the feedback from people really. That's mainly through playing the songs live. But also, if people are lucky enough to hear it on radio, or hear the records, people will come up to me in the street or social media and just say how much they like the record.

"So, I don't get quite as hung up about what is selling or not. Because them days are gone. So I think it's more just the general reaction from people."