Tom Odell

Odell was signed to In the Name Of, an imprint of Columbia Records. He was discovered by the label head Lily Allen, who remarked that "his energy onstage reminded me of David Bowie".[11] He released his debut extended play, Songs from Another Love, in October 2012.[12] He made his television debut in November 2012 as a performer on Later... with Jools Holland; the show's producer Alison Howe later described it as "a classic Later debut".[7][13] Odell was announced as one of 15 nominees for the BBC Sound of 2013 poll in January 2013.[14] Also that month, his single "Another Love" was used by the BBC to advertise their 2013 schedule.[15] Odell's music has been used in numerous Burberry fashion runway shows.[16] He was named the BRITs' Critics' Choice Award winner, previously won by artists such as Adele and Florence and the Machine and was the first male artist to win the award,[17] and was interviewed alongside previous winner Emeli Sandé during the television ceremony in February 2013.[11]

Odell's debut album, Long Way Down, was released on 24 June 2013[18] and reached No. 1 in the UK Official Chart. He was due to support The Rolling Stones at London's Hyde Park on 13 July 2013,[19] but was unable to perform because of illness.[20]

Tom Odell, Zelt Musik Festival 2015 in Freiburg, Germany

Odell performed his first new song since the release of Long Way Down, entitled "Alex", on 7 February 2014 at the Plymouth Pavilions.[21] The show kicked off the last leg of his UK Long Way Down Tour.

Odell was named 'songwriter of the year' at the 2014 Ivor Novello Awards ceremony.[22] Odell's song "Can't Pretend" was used in the TV series The 100. "Can't Pretend" and "Long Way Down" were also featured on The Blacklist and the award winning movie The Fault In Our Stars. His song "Grow Old With Me" was featured in an episode of Reign. The song was also featured in a major 60 second ad campaign for Kaiser Permanente entitled "Thrive".[23] His song "Heal" was also used in the movie If I Stay, the TV series NCIS, The Vampire Diaries and Elementary along with "Another Love".

Odell's next song, a cover of "Real Love" by The Beatles, was the audio track to the 2014 John Lewis Christmas advert and gained him great publicity. Within hours of the advert being aired for the first time, the track reached to the top of the music recognition service Shazam’s trending list. Within three days of release, it went straight to 21 in the UK top 40, peaking at 7.

Odell's music was featured in a Sony advert in 2016, with a cover of "True Colours" by Cyndi Lauper.

Odell began working on his second studio album in 2015, and played a variety of new songs at Forest Live, a concert series in England's forests by the Forestry Commission.[24] On 4 April 2016, the first single, "Wrong Crowd", was released, and an upcoming second studio album of the same name was announced. In addition, Odell announced that he would be going on tour in the US and Europe.[25] On 15 April 2016, the second single from the album, "Magnetised", was released. The next day, Odell revealed that his sold-out shows were titled the No Bad Days Tour, which kicked off on 20 April 2016 in London.[26] The full album was released on 10 June 2016.[27] In an interview with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on This Morning, Odell revealed that in some countries outside the UK, audiences have misunderstood the title of the album to be an insult, that they are in fact a bad crowd or so to speak the 'wrong crowd'.

Tom Odell performing at Orange Warsaw Festival 2016

On his No Bad Days tour, Odell revealed he was writing for his third album and played several new songs live. In November 2017, he toured Germany on the New Fall Festival in Düsseldorf and Stuttgart and announced that the album had been finished and a first single was to be released imminently. On 20 December 2017 Odell announced in an interview on BBC Radio 2 that the album was scheduled for release in mid-2018. On 14 June 2018, the first single from the album, "If You Wanna Love Somebody", was released worldwide. The album, Jubilee Road, was released on 26 October.

Jubilee Road was inspired by his past neighbours and community. The title "Jubilee Road" is supposed to be a reference to a terraced street in east London that Odell lived on, but when he asked his neighbours if he could use the real name, they responded that they were afraid it would become a tourist destination and would rather him create a fictional name.

"Numb", the first single from Odell's fourth album, was released in February 2021. In an interview with The Gentleman's Journal on 27 February 2021, it was revealed that Odell's fourth studio album is titled Monsters.[28] He stated that the album would feature darker, electro-pop tones, and the lyrics were inspired by artists such as XXXTentacion, Drake and Travis Scott. The second single from the album, "Monster v.1", was released in March 2021. The record touches on heavy subjects and rough experiences he had during a "fever pitch" in his life, particularly struggling with anxiety and panic attacks.[5] The album was released on 9 July 2021.

On 8 September 2022, Odell announced the release of his fifth studio album, Best Day of My Life, scheduled for release on 28 October 2022. The album was preceded by the singles "Best Day of My Life", "Sad Anymore", "Flying" and "Smiling All the Way Back Home".[29]