Samm Henshaw

His name might sound familiar to you if you’re closely following the British music scene. Coming straight from London, the 24 year-old singer is now ready to really make his mark in the music industry. After opening for artists such as James Bay or Chance The Rapper, the soul man jumped into another adventure with Epic Records in America to start another chapter in his career. Put on your headphones and sit down while we’re introducing Samm Henshaw to you.

On The Move: Thank you Samm for being with us today. For those who don’t know you yet, could you please tell us how you started music?

Samm Henshaw: Of course! At first, I would play in Church and stuff like that. I was always playing instruments and I was always interested in that. There was always music played around the house. At the age of 4, I saw a lot of people in the Church playing so I wanted to start playing drums and I think that when I was about 13-14, I ended up learning piano, and later guitar and later on I started to sing and went to study it at university. It’s kind of always been in my life.

On The Move: So you knew you would eventually end up in music?

Samm Henshaw: You know what’s weird, I mean I knew I was good at it, so I kind of did it as a cop-out because I didn’t think that I was good at anything else but I didn’t expect myself to do any of those things that I am doing. I studied music in order to be a teacher. I ended up meeting my manager through it and here I am.

On The Move: You’re originally from London. What do you think about the music scene over there?

Samm Henshaw: It’s good and it’s doing very well at the moment. There’s a diversity in British music that doesn’t exist in other places because there are so many different cultures and different ranges of things. It’s a very vibrant scene.

On The Move: You recently signed with Epic Records in America and are spending more time on the American territory than before. Does it help you to shape your music or to take your music into another direction?

Samm Henshaw: Since I got signed here I think my mind has been opened to the scope and the possibilities of where things could go. I’m thinking a lot bigger now than I was before. When I was in London, I mean I still live there (laughs), but my full process was a lot slower and smaller than the way it is now with Epic.

On The Move: Can you tell us the story behind "How Does It Feel?"?

Samm Henshaw: I was in a session with two friends of mine, one being Josh Grant who produced the song, and we were going through a bunch of ideas. We went out to get some food and came back and I started playing the chords of "How Does It Feel?" and started singing the line "how does it feel to be loved" and everyone was kind of like "what is that? that was cool but where are you trying to go with that?". Then I thought about how "How Does It Feel?" could be about someone trying to understand the concept of love and in doing so, he or she meets different people and then someone would say that love is like kindness, patience, love is like those positive things. Then you look the other way and see that someone’s actions is the complete opposite of what someone has just said. Basically the idea was that we just like to talk about love, and the reactions to it.

On The Move: In this song one of the lyrics is "If I have to buy love, then I don’t really want love". In our current society, do you think that people really know how it feels to be loved?

Samm Henshaw: This is a very good question. Honestly I think to an extent people know, but I think that a lot of people don’t. I think that the people who don’t know are the ones who are screaming "let’s show more love" most of the time. It’s not the case for everyone of course but I’ve been one of those people, that’s why I wrote the song, because I could relate to it. I wouldn’t have spoken about love without living it. I think there’s a lot less of it in our society which is a shame because if there was enough love, the world wouldn’t be the way it is. It would be a much different place.

On The Move: You previously toured with James Bay and Chance The Rapper. Did those experiences inspire you and to what extent?

Samm Henshaw: James was great. I was a fan from the beginning and I just came out of University so that was great. Seeing everything that he was doing and where he was in his career, that really inspired me. I learned a lot from him, he gives me advice on things when I need it. And Chance, after the tour I came to LA and I was able to go in the studio for a bit and watch him work and see how he does everything and that’s incredible!

On The Move: You’re currently working on new music. What can we expect from it? Is it going to follow the same sound that you’ve done before or do you want to try new things?

Samm Henshaw: Yes, we are finishing the album. I have a few songs coming out. It’s probably going to be along the lines of what you’re hearing with "How Does It Feel?", that sort of Hip-hop soulful gospel sound.

On The Move: Do you have some collaborations coming up as well?

Samm Henshaw: Yes, there are a couple. I can’t tell more about it for now but there are quite a few.

On The Move: What are your inspirations for this new music you’re planning on releasing soon?

Samm Henshaw: My life, mostly. People’s lives, the things I’ve seen and experienced. The things I’ve been through and the things that people I know have been through. I think this is the most personal music I’ve written, it’s real.

Interview by Pam Charbit | Photos by Heather Koepp exclusively for On the Move