who is
casey lowery
When Casey Lowery's grandfather passed away in 2023, he left him a caravan; an old holiday home on the English coastline, which contained a history Casey hadn't previously thought about. When he arrived, moving in temporarily with his dog, removing himself from the metropolitan music industry he'd spent over half a decade trying to make sense of, it unlocked something within him. There, amongst the company of pensioners and nature, the final pieces of Lekkerland, his debut album, came together.
The album is his effort to "reconnect with my past a bit," a reflection on the kind of community once promised to him by a music industry system he's trying, in a more modest, loving form, to reshape and make work for him. "Lekker" itself is an Afrikaans term Casey picked up on the road and means "something pleasing." After years of recalibrating, Casey has found a way to make something that pleases himself as much as it pleases others.
Casey was born in Chesterfield, a market town in the English Midlands; an only child with a penchant for the spotlight. Growing up, he was exposed to the greats of early 00s English pop culture, like Gareth Gates and Robbie Williams. His mother signed him up to clarinet classes, which he played for eight years, all while his musical taste grew more refined; from pop-leaning indie bands to eventually becoming an Arctic Monkeys boy.
Growing up working class, singers felt like a lifeline. "There's an element that I just wanted to be cool too," he says. "I've always wanted to do it." So, like most kids at that time, he wrote songs for fun. "Trampoline," a euphemistic, buoyant paean to romance written at 14; became a viral hit that drew the attention of industry big hitters. Soon he was moving to London and signing a record deal, working on early EPs that leaned into a poppy sound he was already trying to grow out of.
Then the pandemic hit, and the decision was made for him: Casey was dropped and moved back home to Chesterfield. His TikTok covers; and later his diaristic, tongue-in-cheek original songs, picked up steam in a way he couldn't have engineered. Within a week of posting, he had 150,000 followers and interactions from everyone from Doja Cat to Rihanna. Today, he has 5 million followers on TikTok alone.
As soon as Covid restrictions lifted, Casey toured globally, expanding an audience that now stretches from European cities like Berlin all the way to South Africa. Since 2021, every tour has sold out completely, all without releasing new music since 2022.
Lekkerland is the product of two years spent figuring out how he wanted to make and release music, built almost exclusively with his producer Raffer. "He knows who I am," Casey says. "He's been very loving and caring. I've never had that from a producer before." The two grew so close that after Casey's grandfather died, Raffer met him at the caravan to put the finishing touches on the album together. Both of their grandfathers passed within three weeks of each other.
The album's lead single "Not Ready" was born from "the feeling of trying to process grief before it's happened." "Caroline" leans into Casey's cheeky side; a self-aware love song to his therapist. "Blue Cords" is a wry, understanding take on modern dating, born from a date that took an unexpected turn. And "Blood Line" is about Casey's adopted eight-year-old sister, a song about making sure she's okay. "She came along and her story was so profound compared to mine," he says. "It made me realise that everyone has a fucking story."
Having been through the ringer, Casey is conscious to hold onto the people who support him and give back. He founded his own management company, keeps his shows affordable, and when he tours South Africa, he brings on local crews to support the local creative community. "I've got a really cool community that allows me to be more myself," he says. "People just tell me to be myself."
From his grandad's old caravan, Casey is constructing a distinctive, accessible world for himself and his fans, and his intentions are good.