S15, Ep6 How To Fail: Jordan Stephens on male vulnerability, anger and getting naked

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

Sony Music

Society & Culture

4.8 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 5 October 2022

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jordan Stephens was formerly one-half of the band Rizzle Kicks, formed with his childhood friend while they were both at school. He is now an actor, a solo musician, a writer and - as if that weren't enough - a gifted artist too. He's also a super smart, funny and perceptive human. It's always a joy to talk to him and today's episode was no exception - we cover male vulnerability, sobriety, competitiveness, the challenges of fame (and dating a celebrity superstar but keeping it private), the dangers of reality TV and how the phrase 'toxic masculinity' has outlived its usefulness. Plus, his failure...to get naked. Not one we've ever had before on the pod, but well worth a listen!

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Jordan's children’s book, The Missing Piece, is out now and available to buy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-missing-piece/jordan-stephens/beth-suzanna/9781526618139

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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email [email protected]

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Social Media:

Elizabeth Day @elizabday

How To Fail @howtofailpod

Jordan Stephens @jordanfstephens

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to How to Fail with Elizabeth Day. The podcast that celebrates the things
0:19.3	that haven't gone right. This is a podcast about learning from our mistakes and understanding
0:25.5	that why we fail ultimately makes us stronger because learning how to fail in life actually means
0:32.2	learning how to succeed better. I'm your host author and journalist Elizabeth Day and every
0:38.5	week I'll be asking a new interviewee what they've learned from failure. I first met Jordan
0:44.9	Stevens when he appeared on stage with me at a How to Fail live show. He was so insightful,
0:51.5	interesting, kind and clever that I knew I had to force him to speak to me again for a recorded
0:57.6	podcast and happily he agreed. So here we are. Stevens was formerly one half of the band
1:04.9	Rizzlekicks formed with his childhood friend while they were both at school. They asked a wedding
1:09.4	photographer to make their first video for their single Down with the Trumpets and when it was
1:14.0	uploaded to YouTube it became a viral hit. Signed by Ireland Records in 2010 their fans include
1:21.1	improbably Stephen Fry. But Stevens himself is nothing if not multifaceted. He's now an actor,
1:29.4	he's appeared in both a Star Wars movie and May Martin sitcom Feel Good. He's a solo artist,
1:34.9	his latest album Let Me Die Inside You was released in February and he's a writer. His debut
1:41.1	children's book The Missing Peace tells the story of the determined sonny as she sets off
1:46.3	in pursuit of the final piece of an epic jigsaw puzzle. Yet Stevens himself has never been afraid
1:53.3	of exploring the darker side of life. He has spoken openly about his ADHD, his sobriety,
2:00.0	and the challenges of fame and toxic masculinity. For me he says, a big part of my maturing as a
2:07.7	human being came from facing my darkness head on. Everybody I believe has a shadow self.
2:14.8	Jordan Stevens, welcome to How To Fail. Hi. Hi. You've got an epic, you have an epic intro voice.
2:23.4	Thank you. So nice. I'm actually always really nervous reading out an introduction in front of
2:29.3	someone because I just, I don't know, I think I have imposter syndrome about my own intros that I'm
	...

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