Sam Ryder joins The Independent for a candid interview, opening up about the heartbreak and raw emotion behind his latest music. He reflects on the “open, raw wounds” left by breakups and how songwriting became a form of release.Catch Sam’s unforgettable Music Box session, where he delivers powerful, stripped-back performances of his latest releases, “OH OK” and “Armour” – available to watch on YouTube and Independent TV.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The deepest misery you've ever felt is like post breakup at the time of writing
00:05Armour it was really fresh and like the wounds were like open you know and raw
00:11and I was in the studio writing that a few days after and it just sort of it
00:16came out at that point from from myself thinking that I was writing this to that
00:23person like saying if you could hear this song this is how I feel and this is
00:27what I think about you and I was singing this thing for the first time and I was
00:30like wow like I didn't realize the song was actually to me so it was really
00:35interesting moment I've never had that with a song before
00:38Sam thanks so much for doing Music Box it was brilliant and smashed it so this is
00:46two new songs and so you've got Oh Okay yes yeah so we talk about that one first
00:51okay let's talk about that one yeah it's sort of about well it's not sort of is
00:54completely about the what I call the post game of a relationship that's ended so
00:59I would kind of took I don't know influence from being dumped in the past which has
01:09happened to a lot of us we can all speak for yourself yeah many times just been
01:16booted to the side right but that feeling right of when you're kind of you're both
01:20you're so close and then all of a sudden you're not anymore but both of you are so
01:24in each other's heads that you're trying to make each other jealous from far and it's
01:29kind of it is this uh real rush to be as blasé as possible about the whole thing that used
01:36to mean so much um but not just being blasé and not caring to yourself in your own world
01:41you have to put that on show because otherwise how are they not gonna like a competition and
01:45it's like who's winning more at life now we're not together like yeah exactly so I like that you
01:50kind of worked in this quite like kind of petty nature because I don't think that's anything that
01:54people would associate you with oh well like then you wrote this and this was based on like a real
02:00thing and then was it cathartic to write it was yeah yeah um it was kind of I don't know you never
02:06forget those moments right like no matter how long ago they happened and we're going back like 13 plus
02:12years that this happened but I sort of I don't know I find it fun to write I've never been dumped
02:17since right I can't say it's like a karma yeah yeah so um but yeah like looking back um that I'm
02:25stoked to have been with my partner now for like 12 13 years basically um but yeah drawing on memories
02:32before that has been interesting to write from yeah um it's clearly been at the back of your mind for a
02:37while it stays with you because you see it in in other facets of your
02:42life they're not romantic that like completely platonic whether it's like working relationships
02:46or um what we'll talk about with the next song armor like uh friendships or like working relationships
02:52breaking down you kind of still operate in that same manner like it's very much like I must let
02:59people know that I'm doing fine but not just people but that person has to know and they're thinking
03:04the same thing and it's it's just a um this portion of humanity that all of us have I don't think
03:12anyone's transcended that no no no like I think we've definitely all been there and I think also
03:16probably especially like in the internet age when you can post stuff like you know the filtered
03:20Instagram pictures whatever no no that's the problem like stalking is so easy these days
03:24just lurking lurking in misery exactly yeah so anyway no it's brilliant and again super relatable I
03:31think and it's kind of yeah I think it's fun for fans I imagine to kind of see like a slightly
03:35different side of you armor which is like the b-side yeah this is like a super serious one you
03:40know um no armor is about resentment and yeah a lot more visceral and uh less maybe playful than
03:49oh okay but then again oh okay still although it's portrayed in a playful manner it's not to say that
03:56those instances when you're in them aren't really painful like when I I look back to those moments
04:01it's like the the deepest misery you ever feel is like post breakup when when you you've been with
04:08someone that means a lot to you and um and just anything like that all of us can relate to that
04:13feeling so it's not to sort of I don't know minimize that but armor is um about resentment which is
04:21like something that you carry and it it's a different kind of pain I think it's and it's a
04:27bit more it's more dangerous I think yeah or can be it's kind of like vengeful almost yeah yeah because
04:32it can um like the sort of I don't know falling out of love with someone or losing love before you
04:40wanted to lose it is is a sadness but it's um you know it's not as pointy or sharp as resentment
04:48and resentment like it's got his teeth feeds on you way more so I'm always about a relationship
04:54that I had with someone in my life I won't go into details because it wouldn't be right but um
04:59that I no longer have but it was at the time of writing armor it was really fresh and like the
05:06wounds were uh like open you know and raw and I was in the studio writing that um a few days after
05:14and it just sort of it came out at that point from uh from myself thinking that I was writing this
05:21to that person like saying if you could hear this song this is how I feel and this is what I think
05:26about you it's like a song in my mind of pointing a finger you definitely get that vibe I think it's
05:31like super direct yeah you know and but it's so interesting right because when I was singing this
05:36thing for the first time and I was like wow like I didn't realize the song was actually to me because
05:43me pointing the finger and essentially how I felt when I was writing the song it wasn't true all of
05:51those lyrics are about like my resentment and like essentially me taking poison and waiting for someone
05:59else to die not literally but you know what I mean it's sort of like accusatory but then almost kind of
06:04like turning it inwards and like yeah me even putting the energy into this is a show of my
06:12resentment which that person isn't I don't know what that person's doing but presuming that they're
06:17carrying this resentment when actually it's completely me like I've put the time in sat down
06:22written something got something off my chest which is basically just resentment manifest onto a page
06:29so um it was very interesting like mid-song just going oh my god like this yeah there must be a
06:37well like after you've written it and mid-performance where you're suddenly like kind of yeah and like
06:42just singing the line like um take off all that armor you can't carry all that weight like that was
06:48meant to be me saying it to this person but I'm like I this I can get rid of this if I want yeah I
06:53don't need this resentment I can't like the burden or like anything exactly so it was really interesting
06:58moment I've never had that with a song before and it was um it was quite magic actually just feeling
07:03that like because you know sometimes you can sing music and go through the motions and it's like
07:08the worst thing ever you know never want to reach that point as a singer like you always want to try
07:12and tap into the feeling and and be in flow with it but this seems to kind of reflect like a kind of
07:17wider period of creativity for you because you're out in Nashville now you've got your studio
07:21yeah working on an album yes yeah all very exciting and then you just announced this big
07:27Wembley arena show yeah which is really exciting how are you feeling about that one I will and I
07:31probably get a spotlight I'm just like please don't do that to me but yeah just like message your
07:38publicist like tell me where machine's sitting yeah yeah yeah god yeah we just announced Wembley um
07:44I uh remember seeing my first ever show there my first ever time seeing a gig in my life was at
07:50Wembley arena who was it some 41 oh amazing that's the sick infected tour yeah and um like I
07:57I remember picturing in my mind when I got the tickets I was like I don't know even how I would
08:02have got it I must have been like my parents would have got me tickets and probably put them in a
08:05birthday card or something like that you know yeah I remember thinking oh what it's going to be like
08:09and it was in my mind I'm not kidding it was like a living room but like a big living room where
08:14everyone would sit in a circle like a school assembly and they'd be there and you could talk to them
08:19or just like like say I'll play this song so you're disappointed when you were like when I turned
08:24up 20 000 people away a little mouse in London for the first time just like what the it's like
08:30very sweet I was so far back it's kind of a well feeling that you're now going to be like on that
08:35stage though and thinking yeah maybe there's some people in the audience hopefully not thinking the
08:39same having gone to the gig you're like I thought Sam Ryder was going to be in my living room
08:42and outraged but I've still got the um I like I framed the tickets like years ago because it was
08:48like to be honest or I was like a bit of an anorak was that like I'd always keep all the tickets to
08:52shows and put them in little frames and now I've still got that some 41 one and I've got the seat
08:56number that I was in so I'm gonna leave something under that's really sweet yeah nothing delicious
09:01just no under the chair so if you live in anywhere around the country you want to come to this play
09:06that's going to be our like our biggest show this year which I'm and if you're in a certain seat
09:10well check under the seats yeah check under the seat I mean like yeah be careful
09:13and then new music so what can you give an idea of like what fans can expect
09:21from so um the the whole sort of genre and uh I guess color of the record is what I'm calling
09:31frontier soul which is um definitely not something kind of like inventing a new genre by any means
09:38it's just combining things in my life that I love which is old westerns scores from like this
09:44certain era of Hollywood um so we're talking about kind of like the good the bad and the ugly and kind
09:49of like exactly spaghetti western kind of thing as well yeah so like yeah a lot of those westerns when
09:54they were filmed overseas as well like to save money which is such an interesting part of that history
09:59but um the way that they're filmed the the color grading the scores the like even just me and my
10:05granddad watching them over and over again together like and still do like it's a real big part of my
10:11life and it's a like part I really look fondly on and enjoy and then mixing that with soul music which
10:17I've always enjoyed singing um so it's kind of like the frontier aspect isn't just kind of this
10:24hang them high tarantino thing it's like what does frontier mean and it's so like a boundary line
10:30which you haven't explored or crossed and and uh start exploration really so I feel like music not
10:37to get too wafty about that stuff but you know what is it you kind of you do have to push your
10:43boundaries and make stuff that you um you know you feel connected to yeah and I think that that is a
10:50certain way that you can explore as um was an artist like but I cringe toes are curling in my
10:56shoes as I'm saying but I know you you understand what I mean yeah and I think also like what you
11:01kind of have previously been doing I think you know fans would be I think totally understanding
11:05and not also not disappointed at all if you've been doing like a similar sound like maybe more
11:09into like the rock side of things yes but I think it's really lovely that you are kind of pushing
11:12yourself into this new thing and also it just suits your voice so well yeah that kind of soulful
11:16kind of I'm so excited for what I can do on the next record as well like I'm I've been listening
11:22to tons of bands that um I hadn't dug back into for years like propaganda like amazing Canadian punk
11:29band who I used to listen to tons they've just actually put a record out but in listening to it
11:34I'm like ah I remember making stuff like this like in 2014 and stuff like that just in my shed
11:43and it'd be cool one day to pick up the thread on that and like really the sky's the limit you
11:48just because you make like one album doesn't mean like the first album like this album's nothing like
11:53it but yeah and that's freeing like to think that um we're certainly living in an era of music creation
12:01where you you don't have to be pigeonholed yeah you don't have to pigeonhole yourself if you don't
12:06want to 100 you can make a lot of different stuff so yeah buzzing about that so tickets for your
12:11tour on so now yes and armor and oh okay also out now now you know absolutely 100 more than I do
12:17that's fine well Sam it's been really lovely catching up with me thanks for coming on
12:21thanks for me to box thank you smashed it peace
12:24you