With Chesney Hawkes set to perform in Chester next month as part of his upcoming UK tour, Nub News caught up with him to discuss his latest album and how his rapid rise to fame in the '90s continues to shape his music today.

Having shot to fame at just 19 with his single 'The One and Only', Chesney's career has taken many forms.

His latest album, 'Living Arrows', recently named BBC Radio 2's Album of the Week, turns the lens inward - exploring his past whilst opening up about the moments that have shaped him.

What sets this album apart from earlier work, he revealed, is his decision to share a more vulnerable side, therefore creating a deeply personal and emotionally resonant collection of songs.

"I'm actually very free in my own skin right now; very happy and open. I want to be honest and I want to be vulnerable," Chesney told Chester Nub News.

"I just thought, I'm going to just look at some crazy shit that happened to me in my life that I'd never addressed. Maybe a little bit in therapy, but never really told anyone about these things and never really kind of dealt with how I really felt.

"At the time, I was like I'm fine - and then you move on. But you look back and you think, actually, that did affect me. I am a bloke; I'm a person that lives in this world and has been through stuff - so I've been very personal."

He added: "There are songs on this album about loss, abuse - there are songs about suicide. Probably subjects that most people would not think that I would be writing about."

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Given the range of themes covered, Chesney credited his longtime friend Jake Gosling, who produced and co-wrote the album, as "one of the big elements of the album's success" - explaining how their friendship allowed him to open up emotionally.

Chesney noted how this level of trust enabled the duo to write the deeply personal track, '13'.

He said: "I told him the story of that which I hadn't really told many people, and there were tears. I was able to kind of write that with somebody that I love."

Initially hesitant to release the song, he added: "That's what art is; it's songs or it's kind of subjects that people can relate to. I started to get amazing messages from people that related to it. I guess that's the power of music; it's the power of art, isn't it?"

With his 1991 single now widely regarded as a classic, this latest album also served as an attempt for Chesney to reclaim his artistic identity, expressing himself beyond the shadow of 'The One and Only'.

"I feel like I've got to a certain point in my life where I definitely worry less about what people think of me," he added.

"I love the nostalgia thing. With this new tour, I want people to come and leave their inhibitions on the door and come and relive their youth. Nostalgia is a beautiful thing and it's part of my history; it's part of their history.

"But the truth is, there is obviously more to me than one song. It's striking a balance of me trying to embrace the 'One and Only' thing, and still be an artist and move forward in my career. It's a difficult balance to try and keep, but hopefully I'm doing it the right way."

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By writing about his earlier experiences and formative moments that don't typically shape his work, Chesney hopes to provide an example to his own children, as he said: "I want to show them you can be vulnerable and you can open up.

"Therapy is not a bad word, you can talk to your friends about these things, it's okay to cry as a man - all that kind of stuff, I want to show them that that's okay."

The album's opening track, 'Nobody Like You', was the song that "started everything off," according to Chesney.

Describing a spontaneous writing process with Jake Gosling, he said: "We got together one sunny day outside his studio… and this song just kind of popped out.

"We were just talking about our crazy ex-girlfriends… It was so fun and such a laugh. You always know the good ones come out like that. That's why I kind of wanted it to be the first song on the album, because it was the first song that started this whole renaissance off."

'Living Arrows' came to life through a process of fully confronting his past, with Chesney aiming to bring the same emotional honesty to his next album.

"I'm going forward into the next album now and I'm going deep on this one too," he added, "This album was like a springboard and it can only be a positive thing, I suppose."

Chester's Live Rooms is the penultimate stop on Chesney's 'Smash It to Pieces' tour on Saturday 21 March 2026. You can find tickets and more here.