Clean Bandit have revealed that they were pushed to remove strings from their songs and “told to stop making pop music”.
The trio – comprised of Jack Patterson, Luke Patterson and Grace Chatto – opened up about their time in the industry during a new interview with the BBC, and revealed how they were pressured by their record label to drastically alter their sound.
The English electronic music group formed in 2008 and have gone on to top the charts multiple times for their collaborations with the likes of Demi Lovato, Jess Glynne, Zara Larsson, Sean Paul and more.
While securing four Number One singles, 10 Top 10 hits, two Ivor Novello songwriting awards and a Grammy, the three-piece have revealed that they were urged by their record label to remove strings from their music and turn their sights solely towards the dance genre.
“There was a push for us to stop having strings in our music,” Chatto told the outlet, while Patterson added: “We were told to stop making pop music, as well. We were sent dance music playlists on Spotify and told ‘Your music has to sit on here – only Harry Styles can make pop music’.”
Part of the push they recalled was due to their presence as “shy and unassuming people” rather than as immediately distinctive pop stars. “We were told ‘you don’t have a face, you need to make club music’,” Patterson added, going on to recall how they began to doubt their instincts and later erased the violins for a more house sound.
“We allowed it to happen because we were like, ‘We’d rather release something than nothing’,” Chatto explained. “But the music didn’t feel like our music…In the end, we were like, what’s the point in doing anything?’”
The publication highlighted how the shift didn’t go well, as none of their records have managed to crack the Top 10 since 2020. Since then, Clean Bandit negotiated an “amicable” split from Atlantic Records, and were allowed to keep the rights to all of their unreleased songs.
They would later sign to Sony Music label B1/Ministry of Sound, and work closely alongside Wolfgang Boss, who was one of the first to recognise their talent back in the 2010s.
In the interview, the group recalled how he encouraged them to release their long-mooted collaboration with Anne-Marie and David Guetta, ‘Cry Baby’. This was a song that they had had in the wings for four years since it was rejected by Atlantic.
“It feels like a comeback,” Chatto said. “They said it would cost at least a quarter of a million pounds, so I ended up producing it myself, which is a first.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the trio went on to recall other times that they faced setbacks due to the labels they signed with throughout the years, but explained that the difficulties they faced led to them feeling creatively reinvigorated. It was also reported that they have enough material ready to share two new albums, including songs that feature Raye and Elton John.
Beyond that, they have also been collaborating with other artists from across the globe in a variety of spontaneous sessions from 2024, including talent from South America, Jamaica and Africa.
“It made us realise that if we were doing this on our own terms, it would be a fantastic way to live – just going around the world, making music,” Chatto concluded.
Back in 2022, Clean Bandit were listed alongside huge names like Ed Sheeran, and Queen as the acts that make up the UK’s most-streamed Christmas Number Ones of all time. Their 2018 hit ‘Rockabye‘ featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie came in at third place.