Lewis Capaldi has become a beloved figure in British music. The Glasgow-born singer is renowned for his captivating concerts and has performed around the world, touching hearts with his raw talent and hits like "Someone You Loved" and "Before You Go." During a concert in Germany, Capaldi experienced tics due to Tourette Syndrome, causing a brief pause in his performance. In a touching moment, his fans stepped in to help him finish the song.
Image Source: British singer Lewis Capaldi performs live on stage during a concert at the Mercedes-Benz Arena on February 16, 2023, in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Frank Hoensch/Redferns)
Tourette Syndrome is a neurological disorder marked by repetitive, involuntary movements and vocalizations known as tics. The estimates that around 1.4 million people in the US have this disorder. During the final chorus of "Someone You Loved," Capaldi experienced a shoulder twitch and had to momentarily turn away from the microphone, pausing his performance. His dedicated fans stepped up and finished the song for him, ensuring the show went on.
Image Source: British singer Lewis Capaldi performs live on stage during a concert at the Mercedes-Benz Arena on February 16, 2023, in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Frank Hoensch/Redferns)
As the audience sang, Capaldi stepped back and tossed his remaining guitar picks to fans. The entire moment was shared on X by user @Elle_srs, with the caption: "Sharing this because as an absolute fan of Lewis Capaldi, it's beautiful to see fans see him experience his episodes and instead of being mean or selfish about it, they sang until he gained back control."
Capaldi posted a message on his Instagram account for his fans, thanking them for their efforts. He revealed that he had to take a break from singing temporarily to focus on his well-being. His post read, "I'm very sorry to let you know I'm going to be taking a break from touring for the foreseeable future." He further informed his followers that he was still learning to adjust to the impact of Tourette's and needed to spend more time working on his mental and physical health. The singer concluded the post, "Playing for you every night is all I've ever dreamed of so this has been the most difficult decision of my life. I'll be back as soon as I possibly can."
This was not the first time that the Scottish singer has experienced tics during a concert. In early 2023, his fans expressed their concern for the artist. To explain his situation, he posted a clip on TikTok. He started the video by addressing the viral clip featuring him. He then explained, "I've got Tourette's, so I'm just twitching a bit here. It's not an issue in the slightest, I'm absolutely fine." He explained the condition to his fans, "This just happens when I get tired, nervous, excited, whatever...This is at the end of an hour and a half gig and I'm singing in front of 15,000 people." He ended the video by hilariously asking his fans to come to his concert to see him "twitch live in person."
The clip soon found messages of support from his fans, with many admiring his courage to speak about the disorder. One user, @sinnat_rlfs, commented, "My son, he's 10. He has Tourette's. I can't even begin to explain how happy this video made him! Mind blown a famous singer has Tourette's." Another user, @fireimp76, commented, "This human must be protected at all costs. Fabulous talent and just saying ‘oh, it’s Tourette’s’ shows he’s 100% honestly himself all the time."
Image Source: TikTok | @bruno.pt2021
Image Source: TikTok | @tinajeffers80
Capaldi revealed his diagnosis of Tourette Syndrome in 2022 in an Instagram live video. He stated that he was diagnosed several months prior. In an interview with Lorraine Kelly on ITV News, he talked about his condition. He told the reporter, "It made a lot of sense. I kind of raise my eyebrows quite a lot, I do this kind of shoulder thing, I take these deep breaths every now and then." He added, "And I thought I was dying. I’m a bit of a hypochondriac, so I thought I had some degenerative disease, but I don’t, so good news on that front everybody."
This article originally appeared 3 months ago.
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Will your current friends still be with you after seven years?
Professor shares how many years a friendship must last before it'll become lifelong
Think of your best friend. How long have you known them? Growing up, children make friends and say they’ll be best friends forever. That’s where “BFF” came from, for crying out loud. But is the concept of the lifelong friend real? If so, how many years of friendship will have to bloom before a friendship goes the distance? Well, a Dutch study may have the answer to that last question.
Sociologist Gerald Mollenhorst and his team in the Netherlands did extensive research on friendships and made some interesting findings in his surveys and studies. Mollenhorst found that over half of your friendships will “shed” within seven years. However, the relationships that go past the seven-year mark tend to last. This led to the prevailing theory that most friendships lasting more than seven years would endure throughout a person’s lifetime.
In Mollenhorst’s findings, lifelong friendships seem to come down to one thing: reciprocal effort. The primary reason so many friendships form and fade within seven-year cycles has much to do with a person’s ages and life stages. A lot of people lose touch with elementary and high school friends because so many leave home to attend college. Work friends change when someone gets promoted or finds a better job in a different state. Some friends get married and have children, reducing one-on-one time together, and thus a friendship fades. It’s easy to lose friends, but naturally harder to keep them when you’re no longer in proximity.
Some people on Reddit even wonder if lifelong friendships are actually real or just a romanticized thought nowadays. However, older commenters showed that lifelong friendship is still possible:
“I met my friend on the first day of kindergarten. Maybe not the very first day, but within the first week. We were texting each other stupid memes just yesterday. This year we’ll both celebrate our 58th birthdays.”
“My oldest friend and I met when she was just 5 and I was 9. Next-door neighbors. We're now both over 60 and still talk weekly and visit at least twice a year.”
“I’m 55. I’ve just spent a weekend with friends I met 24 and 32 years ago respectively. I’m also still in touch with my penpal in the States. I was 15 when we started writing to each other.”
“My friends (3 of them) go back to my college days in my 20’s that I still talk to a minimum of once a week. I'm in my early 60s now.”
“We ebb and flow. Sometimes many years will pass as we go through different things and phases. Nobody gets buttsore if we aren’t in touch all the time. In our 50s we don’t try and argue or be petty like we did before. But I love them. I don’t need a weekly lunch to know that. I could make a call right now if I needed something. Same with them.”
Maintaining a friendship for life is never guaranteed, but there are ways, psychotherapists say, that can make a friendship last. It’s not easy, but for a friendship to last, both participants need to make room for patience and place greater weight on their similarities than on the differences that may develop over time. Along with that, it’s helpful to be tolerant of large distances and gaps of time between visits, too. It’s not easy, and it requires both people involved to be equally invested to keep the friendship alive and from becoming stagnant.
As tough as it sounds, it is still possible. You may be a fortunate person who can name several friends you’ve kept for over seven years or over seventy years. But if you’re not, every new friendship you make has the same chance and potential of being lifelong.