17 year old rising star Alfie Templeman's riotous new single "Forever Isn't Long Enough" is out now on Chess Club Records. The record premiered exclusively on Monday 28 September as Annie Mac's "Hottest Record In The World" on BBC Radio 1 - Templeman's third consecutive Hottest Record. "Forever Isn't Long Enough" is the first single from Alfie Templeman since the release of stellar EP Happiness In Liquid Form in July this year. This month Templeman also features Dork Magazine's new cover star.
"Forever Isn't Long Enough", with its undeniably catchy funk groove and disco rhythms, may sound breezy but the lyrics tell a different story. Templeman elaborates: "Some days I can't stop thinking about how short life is and how you only have so much time to spend with the ones you love. Deep, right? Honestly I've made so many songs with the titles "Forever Isn't Long Enough" but this one felt the most meaningful." Despite only being 17, "Forever..." creates a space for Templeman to share some newfound wisdom: "I'm still way too young to give anyone life advice, but this track to me is about how I've noticed that the further away you are from your memories, the closer they are to your heart."
The track's title carries even more poignancy, given Templeman's diagnosis of childhood lung disease following a stint in hospital last year. "It doesn't really bother me, but I'm one of those "'vulnerable to Covid-19" people, so I've been shielding since March," he reveals. "It's been a long summer!" Until the diagnosis, Templeman and his family thought he had bad asthma. You wouldn't think he had any sort of condition to hear him - or, indeed, see him onstage. "It can get messy," he laughs. His gigs, including a sold-out first London headline show at COLOURS in Hoxton earlier this year, are raucous affairs, filled by screaming fans only too happy to catch him whenever he hurls himself offstage. After a string of UK performances in 2019, including his triumphant BBC Radio 1 Introducing Set at Reading and Leeds festival, Templeman is eager to get back to it.
A reminder to live life in full colour, the music video works as a perfect visual aide to the heart and soul of the track. Directed by Thomas Davis, Templeman explains: "I've always wanted to make a really colourful video and this hit the spot. Thomas and crew did a wicked job of capturing how no matter what age you are, you just gotta have a bit of fun! That's really what the song is about."
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Happiness In Liquid Form followed Templeman's trio of rapturously received EP's - 2018's Like An Animal, and 2019's Sunday Morning Cereal and Don't Go Wasting Time - in introducing the world to a prodigiously talented young musician, songwriter, producer and performer. The Bedfordshire-born teen has enjoyed a meteoric rise and cemented his place as one of UK indie's brightest lights with swathes of support from BBC Radio 1 (amassing over 160 plays at the station), BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, Radio X, Beats 1, and more. The title track from the acclaimed Happiness In Liquid Form EP and subsequent single "Obvious Guy" received strong support from BBC Radio 1 DJs such as Annie Mac and Jack Saunders, culminating in two consecutive C-List playlistings at the station.
With an impressive 100k Instagram followers since his first post in 2019, almost 1 million monthly Spotify listeners, and a cumulative streaming figure of over 30 million, Templeman has come a long way since the release of debut track "Like An Animal". He was handpicked by Apple from a global shortlist of rising artists to front their #shotoniphone campaign last year - the coinciding music video for "Stop Thinking (About Me)" has now amassed 3 million views - and was chosen by YouTube Music to be a worldwide "Foundry Artist"' in 2020, following in the footsteps of artists such as Dua Lipa and Rosalía, featuring on 90 foot billboards in Times Square in NYC and Central LA. In February this year, Templeman was H&M Artist of the Month in the UK, with accompanying store visuals and playlist support.
