In the afterglow of the massive success of Supernova (his number one collaboration with Kanye West) Mr Hudson looks like a man returning home as he wanders into the Hobgoblin to meet me. He has worked with some of the biggest stars in R&B and tonight he’ll be supporting Calvin Harris. One thing is for certain: Mr Hudson opens up the possibilities for what you can do with an English degree from Oxford.
What is it like to be back in Oxford?
I come back so rarely, it’s always very moving to look around. It brings back lots of memories and ways of seeing the world. I’m reminded of blissful, lazy times but I’m also full of regret that I didn’t do more. I was just thinking, as I walked through town, I wish I’d got a first or a third. I wish I’d either just wallowed in English in the library, or just had an amazing time, and I did neither. I got a good 2:1. I survived. I was just one of the boys. It’s weird when you come back and don’t know anyone. I’m wandering down the street as an observer, not expecting to recognise any faces. It’s good to go away and come back.
How did you find studying here?
It’s funny to think how small my world-view was. At the time I thought I was more open-minded than my peers. I moved out of college, for example. Everyone thought Cowley was so street. I used to live half a mile away from college and people thought it was a massive trek. I was three minutes away by bike. I think living in college felt a bit claustrophobic at the time and St Anne’s was a big college. With the new album, I’ve been to Hawaii three times, worked in LA and New York, Chicago, Texas, toured Europe a couple of times. It’s blissful to come back and have a more focused world view.
Did you get into music while you were here?
I don’t know what it’s like now but back then there wasn’t really a scene that I knew of. I hid in my room and wrote songs. It wasn’t really until I left and moved to London that I really applied myself.
As ‘Mr Hudson and the Library’, we made the point of wanting to stick out like a sore thumb. We would play anywhere but the conventional venues. We had a residency at the Candy Bar (a lesbian bar in Soho), we played at my hairdressers, did a tour of libraries in England. We played anywhere that wasn’t a boring box where everyone else played.
And it’s funny, everyone’s like, ‘why did you ditch the band?’ as though I chopped their heads off – two of them left! The two founding members are still in the band. It’s just we don’t put them in the posters anymore.
What brought about the R&B sound of your new record, Straight No Chaser?
Well it was always there in the first record, it’s just evolved. Obviously having Kanye involved and working in America on his album and on Jay-Z’s album helped, listening to radio in the cab, nights out, watching music videos in hotel rooms. Coming back two or three years later, I think it would be a shame if I was making the same sounds. Do I have to be trapped in 2007 for the rest of my life? That’s wishing torture on me; I can’t do it, I’d rather go back to pulling pints and driving a white van (I’ve done a lot of shitty jobs).
Your work with Kanye West went to number one – any other people in mind you’d like to work with?
I’ve just done a duet with Estelle for her new album, and a track with N Dubz. I like to be in the studio, I like working with different people and producing. I’m not just always working on my own stuff. I’m not as narcissistic as that.
Your latest single is called ‘White Lie’ – what’s the worst white lie you’ve told?
I’ve told a lot. But really, white lies aren’t that bad. The song’s dark enough so I’m gonna think of something funny. This girl from St Anne’s has just come into my head who every lunch was a pound short and I suddenly realised, hang on, you’re making about £300 a year because no one ever asked for it back, but she obviously had the money. I used to lie all the time for tutorials when really I just didn’t want to read Middlemarch.
The darkness comes from considering the possibility that I might be a good man who does bad things or a bad man who does good things. Life’s not black or white, it can surprise you.
