Sam Tompkins’ New EP ‘who do you pray to?’ Is An Authentic Body Of Work
Samantha Colleran, March, 2022
One thing a lot of people look for when listening to their favorite music is relatability. You want to know you’re not alone in your feelings and thoughts, so you search for songs and artists who write about the emotions you may be experiencing. Enter Sam Tompkins, a singer songwriter from the south coast of the UK who began his career busking in Brighton at the age of 16. Busking led Sam to gain the confidence he needed to become a performer, and it was then he realized his life’s purpose was to create music to make people all around the world feel less alone. Sitting down to have an in depth conversation with º1824, Sam discussed the success of his cover of “Talking To The Moon” originally performed by Bruno Mars which took on a life of its own, what inspired his most recent single “Hero”, and his upcoming self described “honest” EP who do you pray to? which is set to release March 18!
Sharing a bit about his success with “TO THE MOON”, Sam said that he recorded the cover in his living room after experiencing a tough breakup. He never set out to make a viral sound on TikTok, so it was strange for him to see all of the success of the cover; while he was heartbroken, people finally began to listen to his music and see him as an artist. Sam felt a mix of excitement to see his career take off while also being fearful of the sudden rise in fame and no longer being able to hide in the shadows. The success of “TO THE MOON” helped Sam realize how powerful social platforms are and what they can do for an artist’s career. It taught him how to draw on topics and ideas other people are writing about and cater it to fit his niche audience, which is a challenging task that Sam executes perfectly with every new release.
Prior to the release of the full who do you pray to? EP, Sam dropped a few singles to get fans excited for his new music. “bloodline”, “whole”, and “hero” set the stage for the general themes of the seven track EP, which focuses on the close ties of family and the coping mechanisms Sam uses to work through hard times. “bloodline” was written just two days after Sam’s grandfather passed, which was an unusual writing method for the songwriter. Normally, Sam doesn’t write about hard subjects until he’s dealt with them and can approach the subject with a clearer head, but he wrote “bloodline” while feeling the raw emotions of grief which was difficult to do, but allowed Sam to be completely authentic in his feelings.
“hero” is another touching moment on the EP. A raw and emotional song lyrically, Sam talks about his father’s struggles with depression. When Sam was young and his parents divorced, he lost a bit of respect for his dad because he didn’t truly understand what his father was struggling with. As he got older, he learned about his father’s fight with depression and gained that respect back, and he began to feel some of the same things his father had been dealing with. Sam expresses the fact it’s hard to find people to talk about these tough subjects with, and he now sees his father as a trusted confidant and a role model in life. Sam’s father makes an appearance at the end of the “hero” music video, which really drives the song home. It’s incredibly humanizing, people can see themselves in Sam’s songwriting no matter how big or small their struggles in life are, and it’s a touching dedication to someone so important in Sam’s life.
As a younger artist himself, Sam made sure to leave conference attendees with a lot of great advice relating to starting out in an oversaturated market. His first piece of advice, and perhaps the most important, is to be genuine and authentic in the musical message you want to share with the world and find a way to stand out among the people who are in the same field as you. People are able to tell when someone isn’t being honest and will be quick to move onto another artist the second they feel as if a person’s message is inauthentic. Sam also suggests covering other artist’s songs when first starting out; people are drawn to familiarity, and if you’re an artist that people don’t know yet, putting your own unique spin on something people already know and are comfortable with will allow listeners to pin down your musical style and may lead them to want to hear more of your original work.
So, what can we expect from Sam in the future? Sam has a wide range of musical appreciation, from Justin Bieber to Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, but one style of music he grew up listening to and still loves today is R&B, which is a genre of music he would love to lean into. If you ever see Sam switching up his musical style for a project, it’s because he appreciates the history and evolution of the genre, which is something a lot of genre jumping artists will never admit. With musical messages as powerful as Sam’s, it’s only right that his music videos have the same impact that his lyrics do. Music videos put a visual to the emotions behind the lyrics, and Sam expressed his desire to act and direct more music videos in the future.
It was an absolute pleasure to sit in on such a genuine conversation with an artist as humble as Sam Tompkins. Be sure to follow Sam on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to stay up to date on his future releases! Make sure to presave who do you pray to? on your preferred streaming service (Apple Music, Spotify, any other service), and drop a comment sharing which song you’re most excited to hear on Friday!