Clean Bandit revealed that they were pressured to remove string instruments from their songs and told to “stop making pop music”.

The trio – consisting of Jack Patterson, Luke Patterson and Grace Chatto – spoke in a new interview with the BBCand revealed how they were pressured by their record label to drastically change their sound.

The English electronic music group was founded in 2008 and has topped the charts several times through their collaborations with artists such as Demi Lovato, Jess Glynne, Zara Larsson, Sean Paul and others.

While they secured four number one singles, ten top 10 hits, two Ivor Novello Songwriting Awards and a Grammy, the three-piece band revealed that they were pushed by their record label to create their music free of constraints and focus exclusively on the dance genre.

“There was pressure on us to stop using string instruments in our music,” Chatto told the outlet, while Patterson added: “We were also told to stop making pop music. We were sent dance music playlists on Spotify and told, ‘Your music has to be on here – only Harry Styles can make pop music.'”

Some of the pressure they recalled was due to their presence as “shy and unassuming people” rather than instantly recognisable pop stars. “We were told, ‘You don’t have a face, you have to make club music,'” Patterson added, recalling how they began to doubt their instincts and later dropped the violins in favour of a more house-like sound.

“We allowed it because we thought, ‘We’d rather release something than nothing,'” Chatto explained. “But the music didn’t feel like our music… In the end, we thought, ‘What’s the point of doing anything?'”

The publication highlighted that the move did not go well, as none of their records have made the top 10 since 2020. Since then, Clean Bandit has negotiated an “amicable” split from Atlantic Records and was allowed to retain the rights to all of their unreleased songs.

They later signed with the Sony Music label B1/Ministry of Sound and worked closely with Wolfgang Boss, who was one of the first to recognize their talent in the 2010s.

In the interview, the group recalled how he encouraged them to release their long-planned collaboration with Anne-Marie and David Guetta, “Cry Baby,” a song they had been putting on hold for four years after it was rejected by Atlantic.

“It feels like a comeback,” said Chatto. “They said it would cost at least a quarter of a million pounds, so I ended up producing it myself, which is a first.”

Elsewhere in the interview, the trio recalled other times they had suffered setbacks due to the labels they had signed to over the years, but explained that the difficulties they faced had given them renewed creativity. It was also reported that they have enough material for two new albums, including songs with Raye and Elton John.

In addition, starting in 2024, they have collaborated in numerous impromptu sessions with other artists from around the world, including talent from South America, Jamaica and Africa.

“It made us realise that if we did it our way, it would be a fantastic way to live – just travelling around the world and making music,” Chatto concluded.

In 2022, Clean Bandit were listed alongside big names like Ed Sheeran and Queen as the acts that make up the most streamed Christmas number ones of all time in the UK, with their 2018 hit “Rockabye” featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie coming in third.