Arthur Hill is the Man In The Middle

Since Arthur Hill posted the infamous TikTok that earned him a spot on the general pop-culture radar, he’s gained a few things: a moustache, a load of tattoos — his “shittest” being an ‘on’ button, which he absolutely does not use as a pick-up line on girls (anymore) — and some vibey pop tunes. As we chat on a stiflingly hot afternoon in July, the content-creator-turned-musician is about to drop his single, ‘Man In The Middle’. It’s the latest in his roster as a singer-songwriter, which evolved from his debut single ‘Tiny Room’ into his EP, In The Middle Of Somewhere, and a set list worthy of a sold-out UK tour, including an impressive finale at the O2 Academy Brixton this coming November.

Despite his legacy as a TikToker and Youtuber, an evolution into music probably isn’t as expected as you might think. And if doing Elvis impressions at four years old counts as the early inklings of a music career, Hill has actually been sowing those seeds for over twenty years. Throw in a role in his school’s version of the Queen musical at fourteen, and the signs were all there. But, of course, the ‘Appetite’ singer didn’t know that. Actually, it was a career in acting that initially piqued Hill’s interest. “I wanted to be in Hollywood, ya know?”, he says in an ironic old Hollywood accent (you can take the boy out of the skits…) That dream soon expired, however, when he was asked to embody a “ball of water” during an audition — something he succinctly describes as “a load of bollocks.” 

When it came to forging a music career, things happened much more serendipitously than that short foray into acting. “I was still doing my singing at home and was still obsessed with all these big artists,” Hill tells me, “but before TikTok, it felt like, because I didn’t really play instruments, how am I ever going to write stuff? So I sort of gave up on it.” That all changed, though, when Hill posted some characteristically unserious musical impressions on TikTok — including one of James Blunt, who he’s since collaborated with in an equally unserious follow-up video (filmed in the ‘You’re Beautiful’ singer’s bed, no less). “Then I got hit up by a guy who used to work at my management,” he continues. “He was like, this is really weird, but you sound like you actually have quite a nice voice — have you ever considered singing?” The next thing he knew, Hill was in a studio in London with some producers, ‘Tiny Room’ was born and the rest is Hill-story (the singer’s upcoming tour is literally called Stella Artour, so a shit pun was inevitable).

Scarlett Coughlan: So, you also just got back from playing the Isle of Wight festival. How was that?

Arthur Hill: It was, like, the most fun I’ve had on stage! I honestly think it’s because I went and saw Robbie Williams the week before and, I know he’s not dead, but it was like the ghost of Robbie Williams possessed me. 

SC: While we’re on celebrities — tell me how you wound up making a TikTok with James Blunt.

AH: I’d done the impressions of him and then I went into his pub and he just happened to be there. I somehow managed to make myself seem like I was a big deal, and then we got in touch through managers. I had to do a Zoom with him beforehand actually, and he was in Switzerland in his ski chalet. It was the most intimidating thing. And then, yeah, a few days later I was in his bed topless.

SC: How do you come up with TikTok ideas like that?

AH: I used to be way better at it. Since I started thinking about music more, I’ve definitely just come out with dumb stuff. But when I’m in the shower for some reason. I don’t know if I’m in some kind of half-meditation, but that’s my place for ideas.

SC: Yes, you’re onto the music now. But you were doing comedy even before TikTok. Tell me about that.

AH: I sort of reconsidered acting, and my old teacher told me she thought I should do stand up because I was always better at the funny stuff. I basically lived at home and worked at, do you know Everyman Cinemas? I worked there, and I’d go up to London and do standup gigs. 

SC: Were you any good?

AH: I don’t think I was ever bad — although I watched a few of the shows back recently and I was a lot worse than I remember being.

SC: Why did you stop?

AH: I decided I wanted to be a screenwriter and, it’s not the best uni in the world, but Southbank took me in with my mediocre A level grades. I actually had a really fun time in the first year, and then it got ruined by Covid. Then halfway through second year was when everything started picking up on TikTok and I shamefully stopped caring about it.

SC: What inspired you to start TikTok? 

AH: It’s such a classic answer, but just being bored in Covid. I suddenly started seeing a couple of people doing Vine-esque stuff and I was like, actually, there are people being funny on TikTok now — I’m just going to see if I can do some of my own stuff. I think it was, like, the third one I did that just went crazy. It was me at the dinner table talking about masturbating, which was nice… I’d dreamed for so long of having some kind of foot in the door, and I was like, this is it. 

SC: Then it led to doing music. How did that happen?

AH: I posted a video of me doing musical impressions, and then I got hit up by a guy and he was like, I’ll just set you up with a producer. Then a couple weeks later, I went up to London and got put in this session and we made ‘Tiny Room’. It was so lucky.

SC: Where did the idea for ‘Tiny Room’ come from?

AH: When I was traveling a few years before, I had a fling with this girl in Canada and she had the tiniest bedroom, and I was so soppy about it when I left that I wrote this poem. I had no idea what I wanted to write about so I just made that into the song.

SC: How was that first writing session? 

AH: I was, like, in the corner being really shy, just sort of murmuring stuff. And they were like, what are you doing? I also remember we were there from like 12pm until 9pm and didn’t leave the room and I was thinking, is this normal? We’ve missed lunch and dinner. I’m so hungry. I just want a meal deal. But I was too shy to say anything.

SC: How did making your more recent stuff like ‘Appetite’ compare?

AH: That one was really fun to make because I did my own sort of DIY writing camp for the first time. I found this really weird Airbnb in the Cotswolds. It looked like somewhere that Queen would’ve written in, like, the ’80s. There was a huge wooden giraffe in the living room and all these Banksy things that were terrible, but it all just worked. Me and my friend and producer, Danny [Casio], got there a day earlier than the other two guys with, like, no equipment, just this mini keyboard and a mic, and we were just fucking around trying to find something. Then we wrote ‘Appetite’ in about two hours, and we were like, why is this kind of really good? [Laughs.]

SC: Is there any story behind it?

AH: I wouldn’t say it’s anything that’s actually particularly happened to me, but it’s just about a long-distance relationship. Missing someone so much you can’t eat the terrible plane food.

SC: When this comes out, you’ll have just released ‘Man In The Middle’. What’s the story behind that?

AH: That came from the same camp, but when everyone was there, so it was an equally fun day. It’s about liking two girls at once. Have you watched Friends? You know when Ross writes that pros and cons list about Rachel and the other girl? That’s kind of what it felt like. I was like, I don’t know, there’s nothing wrong with either of them, so I’m probably the problem here. 

SC: I’m also wondering where the concept for ‘Hey Arthur!’ came from. Why the boxing theme? 

AH: ‘Hey Arthur!’ is a funny one because we made that, like, three years ago, then just forgot about it. But at the time I wrote it, I was in this thing where I felt like it was me putting all the effort in and I was metaphorically fighting this girl in the boxing ring all the time. 

SC: So it’s not because you’re the next YouTube boxer?

AH: No. Because I can’t think of anyone I could definitely beat. 

SC: Will you stick with YouTube, though?

AH: Yeah, definitely. I really enjoy doing it. I’m literally just hanging out with my friends and recording it, so I think I’d be an idiot not to do it. But don’t get me wrong, if the next song that comes out gets a hundred million streams, I might be like, okay, I’m just going to be a musician now.

SC: Have you found it difficult to balance being a funny YouTube and TikTok guy with also being a serious music artist? 

AH: Yeah. I think I’m still working it out. I definitely feel like, over the last like year, I’ve prioritised the music a lot more. But I think being more on the YouTube side of things, instead of doing TikTok sketches, has helped because, when you’re constantly playing different people on TikTok, people know you as this guy that’s like doing silly voices all the time. But with YouTube, it’s my personality and my friends’ personalities, and how we all get along in a funny way. It’s more authentically me.

SC: So, between YouTube, TikTok and music, what would you say you’re most proud of?

AH: Selling out Brixton Academy. That’s still very surreal and quite bonkers, to be honest. 

Listen to ‘Man In The Middle’ here.