When Myles Smith reflects on his journey - from an 11-year-old kid playing guitar and piano to a charting artist - he feels he's continuously exceeded his own expectations. This year, the 26-year-old from Luton has had a top five single, played Glastonbury, smashed past one billion streams and just been named BBC Introducing's Artist of the Year. "I guess it’s taken a long time.
But I finally feel comfortable in my own skin and I feel proud of the music," he says. When Myles speaks to BBC Newsbeat, he is in Montreal, one of the stops on his North America tour. "What I think this year's taught me is that expectations are there for comfort.
But very rarely are they exactly what we imagine. "My expectations when I started 2024 was not in a year to have played over 100 shows or the billion streams." Myles says he will never take the opportunity for people around the globe to choose to listen to his music for granted.
His breakout hit, Stargazing, has achieved worldwide acclaim, been platinum-certified and even featured on former US President Barack Obama's summer playlist. "For me it was just about prioritising writing music that comes straight from the heart and trying not to filter too much of that brain to mouth barrier. "I just wanted to write something that was simple, but something that we all experience and feel at some point in life.
"I feel like doing that, it resonated with so many more people around the world," he says. The song, which he says was made in about 15 mi.