Lewis Capaldi Gets Intimate with ‘Before You Go’ at 2020 American Music Awards

Lewis Capaldi made his American Music Awards performance debut with a rendition of “Before You Go” on Sunday.

The Scottish singer-songwriter performed a stripped-down rendition of the ballad, with just a piano backing his voice as he sang into the nearly empty and echoing Microsoft Theatre. The isolated yet intimate feel of the performance was fitting for the 2020 AMAs, held in the middle of a pandemic with a reduced in-person audience.

Capaldi was nominated for three AMAs this year, including New Artist of the Year, Favorite Artist (Adult Contemporary), and Favorite Song (Pop/Rock) for his breakout hit “Someone You Loved.”

📹 Trecho de Lewis Capaldi cantando "Before You Go" no #AMAs pic.twitter.com/kT4cOYyrrz

— Popzando #AMAs (@PortalPopzando) November 23, 2020

Capaldi released his debut album, Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent, back in May 2019. The album featured both “Someone You Loved,” while an extended version included the follow-up hit, “Before You Go.” Earlier this year, Capaldi earned his first Grammy nomination for Song of the Year for “Someone You Loved.”

While Capaldi was supposed to spend much of 2020 touring North America and Europe, he was forced to call off those dates due to the pandemic. In an interview with IndieLand, Capaldi said he was using the time in lockdown to reflect on his rise and start working on his second LP.

“I’ve been writing songs about specific nights that I’ve had on tour and people I’ve met during my travels,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, a lot of [the new] songs are still about how girls don’t like me — but how maybe an Australian girl doesn’t like me, as opposed to one from Glasgow. I’ve found in my travels that I am equally repulsive to women halfway around the world as I am to them in my hometown, which is a heartwarming thing.”