Lewis Capaldi talks panic attacks, body positivity and Beyonce

Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi has shared his brutal response to a hater who called him “ugly” online in a post that attracted 75,000 likes.

Lewis Capaldi doesn’t look like your average pop star, a fact online trolls frequently remind him of.

But instead of letting their cruel messages get to him, Lewis, 23, has taken to sharing his spectacular clap backs with his six million Twitter and Instagram followers.

“There are haters, yes,” Lewis tells Patrick Abboud, who is bringing his hit pop culture interview series #patchat to news.com.au. “I’d love to look like Zac Efron. I don’t. I look like me. But I don’t get upset about things that don’t matter.

“Like if someone says to me, ‘you’re ugly’ online. It doesn’t matter to me. It’s not something that bothers me really. It doesn’t keep me up at night as a person.”

You know who we reckon is losing a fair bit of sleep over comments like this? The trolls who are stupid enough to call Lewis ugly and all kinds of horrible things online.

One charming person wrote “u’re ugly eww u don’t deserve ur ‘success’ at all”, to which Lewis replied with a brutal audio message declaring the troll to be a “gimp” among other things, in a post that got more than 75,000 likes.

Just me replying to some well wishers this lovely Christmas Eve 🎄❤️ pic.twitter.com/BrU4A7CwLJ

— Lewis Capaldi (@LewisCapaldi) December 24, 2019

It’s a tactic he’s used over and over again, to the delight of his fans, who applaud his slapdowns.

IT’S SATURDAY LET’S GET IT!!! 💯 pic.twitter.com/sOMjJwRQn6

— Lewis Capaldi (@LewisCapaldi) February 29, 2020

Don’t let the cat out of the bag molly I’m trying to buy a g-wagon https://t.co/rAAO1RihaF

— Lewis Capaldi (@LewisCapaldi) January 29, 2020

could be less painful to just turn it off https://t.co/7TPARcv9Ni

— Lewis Capaldi (@LewisCapaldi) December 15, 2019

someone: tweets me an unflattering photo of themselves with the caption ‘lol I look like Lewis Capaldi’

Me (Lewis Capaldi): pic.twitter.com/xxkcBlI0Cp

— Lewis Capaldi (@LewisCapaldi) December 3, 2019

Despite not looking the part of a typical music star, Capaldi has enjoyed phenomenal success. He became an almost overnight music sensation in 2018, becoming the first unsigned artist to surpass 25 million streams on Spotify and selling out an arena tour before he’d even released an album.

Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi arrives for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in January. Picture: VALERIE MACON / AFP

His breakthrough single, Someone You Loved, made the top 100 in more than 29 countries and spent seven weeks at the top of the UK singles chart.

But this success at such a young age, and so suddenly, brought problems of its own. Within weeks of announcing his US tour, Capaldi was suffering inside.

“I think now, in hindsight, it was a case of, I went from doing f**k all pretty much every single day to having this mad, mad schedule,” Capaldi says. “I just remember, we were doing lots of gigs, playing lots of shows. I was trying to finish this album.

“I was looking at these dates of gigs I was doing and I was like ‘Oh god’ I was anxious and having these panic attacks and that was when I was like, ‘I’m not going. I’m not going to America to do these shows.’”

Lewis with everyone’s favourite royal Prince Harry. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images for Sentebale

Fortunately, for his fans and social media as a whole, Capaldi sought help and managed to get his situation under control.

“I stopped drinking booze for like two months, I stopped drinking caffeine to this day and basically just learning, how can I minimise this thing?” he says. “But if I hadn’t done that, I’d probably be in a much worse position with my panic attacks now.”

This month, Lewis has also launched Liveline, a new mental health initiative designed to help fans manage anxiety and panic attacks at his arena tour.

Liveline allows concertgoers to find “gig buddies” online before the concert starts, to reduce social anxiety, and also provides an email support service that provides information about the venue’s facilities before the performance begins. There’s also a help desk, a quiet space and mental health professionals at every gig, ready to assist anyone who may be struggling.

The candid interview is with award-winning journalist, TV presenter and documentary-maker Patrick Abboud’s first collaboration with news.com.au, the new home of his #patchat series, which has already clocked up more than 26 million views across social media.

Patrick Abboud is bringing his #patchat series to news.com.au. Picture: Supplied

Each fortnight, pop stars, politicians and everyday people with extraordinary stories will get personal with Abboud.

“When news.com.au approached me about bringing my #patchat interview series to Australia’s #1 news site, I was thrilled,” Abboud says. “After deciding to move on from The Feed, the show I founded at SBS, and where I started #patchat, I’d hoped to continue sharing these incredible people and stories I’m so lucky to get access to, and the news.com.au audience is the perfect fit.

“There’s so many big names alongside some incredible Australians with amazing stories that you will fall in love with as much I do every time I sit down with someone new.”

Visit news.com.au every second Thursday to catch the latest #patchat