RIZZLE KICKS: Letting Go of the Pressure to Succeed | GREAT MOMENTS

Jordan and Harley aka Rizzle Kicks, are currently smashing it on the festival circuit following their long-awaited comeback. So, it felt like the perfect time to revisit my conversation with them. Rizzle Kicks first burst onto the scene in 2011, bringing good vibes, great music and undeniable joy to so many people’s lives. But their rapid rise to success also came with the pressure to perform at the highest standard, time and time again. In this Great Moment, Jordan and Harley look back on where it all began, the weight that came with early fame, and why making music together now is simply about enjoying themselves. Listen to the full episode HERE! If you enjoyed the show, you can also follow us: Instagram-@greatcompanypodcast https://www.instagram.com/greatcompanypodcast/# TikTok -@greatcompanypodcast https://open.acast.com/networks/611e511b4ec6dc00134bced2/shows/65d737dfdc02e00016c413b2/episodes/www.tiktok.com/@greatcompanypodcast And if you've got thoughts, questions and comments, you can email us at: [email protected] THE CREDITS Producer: Helen Burke Assistant Producer: Issy Weeks-Hankins Video: Josh Bennett Social Media: Laura Coughlan Exec Producer: Ewan Newbigging-Lister & Jemima Rathbone Great Company is an original podcast from JamPot Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:30Speaker 01

  I've got big news. I switched to Verizon and got the new iPhone 18 Pro. Shh. I can keep my old phone. And I also get the latest iPhone every year. Shh, anything else? Verizon let me choose Apple Watch Series 12 or iPad on them.

• 0:43Speaker 02

  Everybody, listen up.

• 0:44Speaker 01

  Shh. Switch to Verizon and get the new iPhone 18 Pro now. No trade in needed. And the latest iPhone every year with Simplicity Plan. Plus, choose Apple Watch Series 12 or iPad on us. Simplicity Plan with Simplicity Pro required. Plan and device payment purchase are separate agreements with separate terms. Service plan for Watch or iPad required. Additional terms apply for all offers.

• 1:05Jamie Laing?

  Hello, everyone. I'm Jamie Lang and this is Great Moments.

• 1:11Jamie Laing?

  Hey, everyone. I hope you're well and welcome back to Great Moments. Now, if you're new here, this is the place where I'm going to bring you a standout moment from one of my favorite Great Company conversations. These are the moments that have stayed with me long after the recording, and I hope you can take something away from them. Now, if today's conversation leaves you wanting more, you can find the link to the full episode in the show notes. So, sit back, settle in, and here it is.

• 1:39Jamie Laing?

  You guys find each other bright and you connect. You start creating this music. You put it on YouTube. You're found on YouTube. You know, Island Records, isn't it? That say, right, we want to sign you guys. For any, like, especially at that time, the sky's the limit.

• 1:53Speaker 04

  It was organic, for sure. That's what it felt like compared to this day and age, you know?

• 1:58Speaker 05

  We got like, you know, we got, yeah, three offers. And we went with a guy called Nick. Who's, he signed, he had signed Adele and Dizzy Rascal. So, we were like, yeah, he sounds good.

• 2:13Speaker 05

  And then another guy offered us an iPad and we thought I was a bit dodged, so we just...

• 2:18Speaker 05

  So, that wasn't the only deal, as well as money. It wasn't just his and iPads.

• 2:24Speaker 05

  At the time, bro, iPads were wild. This is like, this is 2010. iPhones came out in 2007, so that was like revolutionary to have like a... But yeah, it was, it was, yeah. But again, like I really emphasized, I was truly delusional as a teenager. So, I didn't even think it was weird. I was like, oh, yeah, we get signed, sure. And then I reckon we'll probably just like be high in the charts.

• 2:48Jamie Laing?

  But isn't that the magic of being a teenager, being young as well, right? There's no experience. There's always that poem, which I love, which is about innocence and experience, how experience kills innocence. And actually, we kind of want to say innocent forever because then we're not learned. We don't learn these things.

• 3:01Speaker 05

  Yeah, but isn't innocent there just being used as a replacement for ignorance?

• 3:06Jamie Laing?

  Yeah, possibly.

• 3:07Speaker 05

  Because, because like the whole, yeah, you get a beautiful window where you can, you can excuse idiocy. And like with, you can be overconfident and be like, you know, being... You can be overconfident and stupid, but it's excusable on basis off of age. But the dream is to be so experienced that the confidence comes from an informed understanding of what you can do in the world around you. That's the, that's the kind of dream, you know? But I do think, yes, the innocence and the naivety and the overconfidence based off of like, what is the world? Brilliant and super fun. But for me personally, I can't speak for Harley, one of the hardest things when we put ourselves on ice and then we're trying to grow up and, and be more grounded

• 3:51Speaker 05

  and, and establish, you know, healthier roots. One of the biggest complexes I had to overcome was the reality that not everything I try first time is going to be successful. That was wild.

• 4:04Jamie Laing?

  Explain that more.

• 4:05Speaker 05

  Well, it is unusual to see a video on YouTube from a record label's perspective even, go, all right, these boys are good. You know what I mean? We've got like a peel. It's kind of, it's, you know, there weren't many other acts similar to us in that space. And then we tried. We put out one song and it, it went to number eight within a month and stayed there for like almost two, three months. And then another song comes in that's top 10 and another song comes in that's number two. And then our album, like that first, first try, that's not usual. And, and for us, not only did it create a space where I didn't even acknowledge that we'd achieved all of our dreams within one year, but then it was like, right, where's the second album? Do you know what I mean? And then we are now having to live,

• 4:50Speaker 05

  we have to have to live with the expectation of something that where we've overachieved essentially.

• 4:55Jamie Laing?

  So, so, so what you're saying...

• 4:57Speaker 05

  We haven't overachieved. The album is sick, thank you.

• 4:59Jamie Laing?

  No, and the album is sick.

• 5:01Speaker 05

  Both albums, I would say.

• 5:02Jamie Laing?

  But the, but the, what you're saying is that having that immediate success is incredibly dangerous.

• 5:10Speaker 05

  Yeah, I would say that.

• 5:12Jamie Laing?

  So, then what's, Harley, what's the counter to that then? Like if you, if you, because, because all you want, you're going into this industry and all you want is success.

• 5:19Speaker 05

  Nah, it's climb, not climax. That's what I'm saying.

• 5:22Jamie Laing?

  Like, Harley, were you the same? Did you have the same sort of mentality? Because I know what you're saying, Jordan. I agree with you. You're just like, you're not used to failure. So then when failure hits you, it hits you like a bullet.

• 5:33Speaker 04

  What's wild is that like, so our first album, Stereotypical, it's done, it's double platinum now, I think, which is, which is insane.

• 5:39Jamie Laing?

  What does that mean for the listeners?

• 5:40Speaker 04

  Like, it's, it's over 600,000 records. And in a time, you know, that's, that's a lot.

• 5:46Speaker 05

  No one has platinum albums anymore really, unless you're like a super, you know?

• 5:50Speaker 04

  It's a lot of records, basically. But then...

• 5:53Speaker 05

  Physical as well back then.

• 5:54Speaker 04

  So, and then on our second album, which, you know, I'm super proud of that album.

• 5:59Speaker 05

  Love that album.

• 6:01Speaker 04

  It's, it's, it went gold, which...

• 6:03Jamie Laing?

  Which is amazing.

• 6:04Speaker 04

  Which is incredible, but it's only 100,000. I think it's done like over 200,000 now. But like, at the time, over 100,000. And, but because that wasn't as good as our first album, it was not seen as like a failure, but like...

• 6:18Speaker 05

  Well, there's a business context. Yeah, you own a business.

• 6:21Speaker 04

  To, to, to, you know, if, if it's not going up, then technically...

• 6:25Speaker 05

  Growth, bro.

• 6:26Speaker 04

  It's a failure. But like, if, for example, the first time round, we had sold...

• 6:30Speaker 05

  50,000.

• 6:30Speaker 04

  50,000. The label were like, wow, that's great for you guys. And then you, on the second one, you said, do 150,000. They go, wow, it's growing, it's growing. But because we sold fucking 600,000 on the first try and then only 100,000 on the second try, your, your, your view of what success gets so skewed to the point where you just then are like lost a little.

• 6:54Jamie Laing?

  You, you guys are young. You, you think you're cool. There's a huge success straight away. Unfortunately, that is typically a recipe for disaster in, in terms of...

• 7:04Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 7:05Jamie Laing?

  Your, you know, we can get into it, right? There's drugs, there's alcohol.

• 7:09Speaker 04

  We've probably had a very similar-ish experience.

• 7:11Jamie Laing?

  Yeah. But, but for you guys, you're young, you're successful, you're good looking.

• 7:19Jamie Laing?

  How do you, how do you, how do you not drift into that dark side of life?

• 7:26Speaker 05

  Can I say?

• 7:27Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 7:27Speaker 05

  I didn't think I was cool. I, I, I definitely enjoyed the music that we made and I understood that we were good at it. Like, I, I thought my delusion was like, I know I'm good at writing lyrics. And people would actively be like, you're shit. Like, your, your music's awful. I remember I tried to sing on a song when I was younger and somebody like clipped it up and just sent it around everyone on MSN. And everyone was just sending me, just like laughing at me, saying I was all shit.

• 7:52Jamie Laing?

  That's so weird.

• 7:53Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah. But this is, but I'm saying it didn't, that was normal to me. So, I didn't think like, oh, everyone's going to think I'm cool. I was like, I'm going to show these cool kids what hard work means. And actually, my drive and ambition was, was spurred on. Again, this is another thing I'm now dealing with as a response. I'm now having to motivate myself in a place of harmony, not having to prove people wrong. And I found that hard. That's something I still struggle with, you know?

• 8:17Jamie Laing?

  Yeah. Because I think, you know, what I was, what I was getting is that you guys had sort of these two journeys where, Jordan, and you've been vocal about it, I want to talk about it, about drugs and alcohol and that space. And, and I admire you for being open about it, right? But Harley, what a lot of people may not know is the anxiety attacks that you had. You, you, and I remember speaking to you, Jordan, about this years ago. You probably won't remember. You were on stage, you had a panic attack and that was like a light switch for you, wasn't it?

• 8:47Speaker 05

  That was it, yeah.

• 8:48Jamie Laing?

  What happened? Tell me about it.

• 8:52Speaker 04

  Like, yeah, in like, kind of like a physical sense, it was just, we, me and, I'd started like, doing this other music, music project, uh, and.

• 9:03Speaker 05

  Which is amazing, by the way.

• 9:04Speaker 04

  Thank you. And I had a show and, no, I don't know, I'm starting to learn a little bit more about it, but I don't wanna like, put confirmation on that in terms of why it happened. But a big part of it, cause as, as you can, you know, see in our dynamic, Jordan's very upfront, he's like very good at talking to people, he's like, you know, probably the best conversationalist I've ever met. And.

• 9:26Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah.

• 9:27Speaker 04

  And, and when, uh, and, but that also translated to being on stage. So like, I kind of got used to being able to like go on stage, Jordan ramping up the crowd, like doing this. And then I'd be able to just like chime in with a little sign, whatever. And it was cool. And I, and I always felt comfortable, but like, even if like Jordan like went off stage, like changed his T-shirt, whatever, I'd be on stage like, uh, uh, I wouldn't feel nervous, I don't know what to say. Um, and I think, you know, doing that thing on my own without Jay was like, I felt, I felt all of a sudden like really exposed. And also, a lot of the music that we wrote,

• 10:06Speaker 04

  especially on our first album was, it was fun, it was happy, it was jolly, it was about kind of random shit you do as teenagers, da, da, da, da. But this was, this music, I'll bet, it was heartbreak. Um, a lot of heartbreak stuff, a lot of love songs. And I used to be a very emotionally shut off person, like a, like a stone, like proper, like stoic man, no emotion type thing. And all of a sudden, I'm in a room of people singing about how I got my heart broken. And all of a sudden, it's just like this wave of like, oh my God, I can't believe you're exposing yourself like this, like hit me. And, and then, yeah, so we, from that, like, you know, I had a panic attack, Jordan was there, ambulance was there, I thought, I thought I was having a fucking heart attack, all this shit. Um,

• 10:50Speaker 04

  and then we had a tour, had to cancel that because I just couldn't visualize doing that, which was, you know, I still feel fucking awful about that, but I, at the time I had to take care of myself. But that anxiety spilled into everything, every part of my life. You know, I couldn't get on the tube. I couldn't like, I couldn't, I couldn't even like, have, the idea of doing this, like, you know, I've said this before, but the idea of like sitting opposite you and like having a chat in a room of like ten people, whatever. If this was, yeah, four or five years ago, I would have found any excuse not to be here. I would have, you know, crumbled, I would have been in bed for days, I would have, you know, been throwing up, I would have had anxiety.

• 11:32Speaker 04

  I, it would, it was like, and this is so like casual, like nice and like relaxing and lovely. But like the idea of it just like really, I hated it. And

• 11:44Speaker 04

  it, it kind of caused me to like spiral into quite a deep, deep depression because the thing I loved doing, being a performer, being an artist, being a person who likes being around other creative people was like zapped away from me, taken away from me. And I was kind of left with like this idea of who I used to be, um, and like that longing to be that person again, but with the physical incapability of doing so. Um, and yeah, it really sent me into like a fucking dark, dark place, man. And that was a big part of why we had to, we took a step, step back and just said, look, we need to just work on ourselves. And, and I, you know, that's the best thing we could have done. Like, we could have, I could have powered through and could have like,

• 12:27Speaker 04

  cause I think a lot of people do, cause they're so addicted to kind of like that lifestyle and that celebrity culture and that like, you know, onslaught of like people appreciating you that they can't take themselves out of it. But I think, you know, we, we were strong enough to kind of remove ourselves and

• 12:43Speaker 04

  you know, I had a family, I've got an amazing partner who's like super supportive and I had good people around me, great friends, my children are amazing. And just living in that existence of just like wholesomeness and harmony was really important to be able to now, I've like grown and like sport, like you mentioned earlier, like I use sport, like, like as a, that's a big thing for me, like I need that shit. Um, now I'm a person that, don't get me wrong, like there's gonna be moments during this process where I might have a little fumble or have a little like moment where I'm like, oh, that's a big deal, I don't have a feel about that. But I now have the tools and the understanding of myself to, to, to take that on. And,

• 13:27Speaker 04

  and you know, Jordan's always been like a huge supporter of like since, since, um,

• 13:33Speaker 04

  since I started feeling that, that, in that way. And it was never, I never felt a pressure to be like, let's get back on this wheel. Like, well, the reason why we started making music again was like super organic. We just, you know, we love making music together and that was where it all stemmed from. And it started extremely low pressure, low key, we just got in the studio, did some bits and it was great, it was really great. Um, and that also gave me a lot of confidence. But, you know, it's the past like seven, eight years is, the early part of it was fucking horrible, but the past like four, three, four years has been a lovely, beautiful journey. And, and that wouldn't have happened if I'd, if I'd kept myself in, in that space, you know.

• 14:11Jamie Laing?

  Do you know what really stands out about you both, which is amazing, is the love and respect you have for each other? And, and, um, I, it, I think you see it in bands, you see it in TV shows, you see it in relationships. And talk about the sign of respect, right? And the fact that the success, feels like you guys just had this level of respect for each other. That even though Jordan, you were may, maybe more of the hype man, you actually, you know, how you fell into the role of like quite liking being backstage.

• 14:38Speaker 04

  Yin and yang for sure.

• 14:39Jamie Laing?

  But that's amazing. And that really shines through, guys. It's, it's, and this is why this new music coming, and I swear to, I want people, when I, I, I swear to God, I'm not lying when I say this. I, I swear to you, but I can look in the eyes. I swear to God, I now go on the Rizzle Kicks TikTok.

• 14:58Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 14:58Jamie Laing?

  To see you guys. Dancing.

• 15:01Speaker 05

  So we're doing, we're doing that shit at gunpoint, bro.

• 15:03Jamie Laing?

  Well, it's so good. It's, I don't know what about your rhythm or the vibe, like there's something within it.

• 15:09Speaker 05

  Dude, I just think we're.

• 15:10Jamie Laing?

  It's so, it's, I, I, I can't express more how, how good it is.

• 15:14Speaker 05

  I definitely think there's, there's, we feel less pressure this time, just because, like I say, our values in life, again, I can't speak on behalf of Harley, but just from seeing Harley's life choices, our values have shifted, you know? And we're very much, you know, Harley has had this experience of having two children and feeling that shift of priority of value, like the, a desire of wanting to give love constantly and provide and be there and be present, you know? So slightly less affected by the fact that we have to do a hundred TikToks a day.

• 16:05Speaker 00

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• 16:35Speaker 01

  I've got big news. I switched to Verizon and got the new iPhone eighteen Pro. I can keep my old phone and I also get the latest iPhone every year. Shh, anything else? Verizon let me choose Apple Watch Series twelve or iPad on them.

• 16:48Speaker 02

  Everybody listen up.

• 16:50Speaker 01

  Switch to Verizon and get the new iPhone eighteen Pro now. No trade in needed. And the latest iPhone every year with Simplicity Plan. Plus, choose Apple Watch Series twelve or iPad on us. Simplicity Plan with Simplicity Pro required. Plan and device payment purchase are separate agreements with separate terms. Service plan for watch or iPad required. Additional terms apply for all offers.

• 17:05Speaker 06

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