5. Home is where the heart is
“Ed Sheeran messaged me on Instagram saying that he fucks with my music. He said that he was doing a remix for a track off his album with Stormzy, and he wanted to do a Manchester version and a Birmingham version, and get me and Jaykae involved... Ed came up to our cities to do the video, and that was when we met him. I’ve got to rate Ed, he’s a sick guy. He’s proper. We just wanted to keep it original. But I had to represent and take it back to Manchester. I had to go full Manc mode, and just go in.”
Staying true to his word, Aitch did go “full Manc mode” on that "Take Me Back To London" remix, tearing out of the blocks with yet another ice cold one-liner:
"Old school raving, back to scally / and the AP, packed with gally / take me back to Manny."
Aitch’s charm is rooted in his unapologetic Northernness. Not since the early 2000s when the Arctic Monkeys crashed their way into the charts has there been a proper Northern accent on mainstream radio. Having grown up in the North West myself, Aitch’s voice reminds me of home, my mates, my family: it’s comforting.
But it’s not only Northerners that Aitch’s sound is resonating with. The "Take Me Back To London" remix stormed the charts at number one. In the same week Aitch had three hits in the top 10. As I write this, he is currently sitting at number 1 and 2 in the singles chart. With the release of AitcH2O, he wanted to leave his mark on 2019; to go out with a bang: and he did. AitcH20 went straight in at number three in the UK albums chart. His tips for success might not sound like rocket science, but judging by those numbers, Aitch is definitely someone worth listening to.
Aitch20 is out now.
Read the live article here