A GRIME star from Swindon is celebrating after racking up two million views on YouTube.

Rapper Paul Dowman – better known as Grim Sickers – collaborated with The Streets' Mike Skinner and Chip on Call Me in the Morning and was awarded a plaque from the GRM channel after it reached the magic seven figures online.

The 31-year-old former Honda worker said: “A million views is a huge amount, people are still listening to the song now and with what everyone and our industry is going through at the moment, it has given me great strength to hang on in there, keep producing music and keep inspiring people.

“The song itself was great to work on and I’m not surprised it has done so well as we all have our own following and musically we complimented each other perfectly.”

Originally from Abbey Meads, Paul left his job at Honda in 2015 to pursue his career in the music industry and has since released a number of tracks, including collaborations with Jme, Ghetts and Jaykae

Like all performers he has been hit hard by the pandemic and the closure of venues and said the award had been a highlight in a bad year for the industry.

He said: “It’s one of the few positives I’ve had this year.

“I’ve had no shows. I was going to be doing all the festivals, I was travelling all over Europe on tours, so this is an accolade to show how far I’ve come this year.

“It’s a good thing to come out of a bad situation.”

The star wants to provide inspiration to the next generation of musicians from the town.

“I’m still creating music," he said. "I feel like I’m making amazing music easier than I ever have before, so I guess I’m in my prime at the moment.

“I’m looking to drop a project next year and I want to help out as many musicians as I can and give them knowledge on the industry.

“Being a musician in Swindon and trying to break through was hard but I want to help as many people as possible and provide them with a blueprint.

“Recently I feel like I have matured and so has my music, I want people to listen to my songs and feel like I wrote it especially for them, that is what music is about and if I can help people do that then I will.”

Paul is looking forward to 2021, with a new album and some interesting show plans in the pipeline.

“I want to wait to release until things pick up,” Paul said. “It’ll probably only be on digital platforms until I’m out and about again.

“I’m looking to do a headline show in Swindon as soon as I can. I’ll make it for charity and hopefully we’ll be able to fill the Meca out.”