Sam Tompkins may be an introvert, however, it’s not letting him shy away from pursuing his dreams.
The highly-acclaimed British singer/songwriter has been making waves online thanks to his incredible talent paired with vulnerable and honest lyrics, culminating with the release of his eagerly-awaited debut album hi, my name is insecure, which dropped last month (July 26).
But things didn’t happen overnight for tomorrow’s next star. Releasing his first full-length project has been over a decade in the making, as it took time for him to find who he was as an artist and what his music really meant.
“It all started when I was in a shop with my friends and I couldn’t afford a hat, so they dared me to go sing on the street and I went out and did just that. It was pretty nerve wracking, but I’m glad I did it because I came back into the shop about 20 minutes later and was able to afford the hat,” Sam tells Celeb Secrets of his early beginnings. “And now, 10 years later, with a lot of work, songwriting, heartbreak and loss, I found who I was and what my music meant.”
In addition to busking the streets of Brighton, Tompkins brought his talents to the Internet, where he shared covers of some of his favorite songs online for anyone to hear. One of those covers was a simple bedroom clip of him singing Bruno Mars‘ “Talking To The Moon,” and after receiving almost 11 million views, his life changed for the best.
As to why he wanted to cover Bruno Mars that day, Sam shares, “Since I was younger, I always loved my sister’s musical taste. She really liked the 2000s R&B stuff that was coming out, like Usher, Justin Timberlake and Chris Brown, and as she got older, I guess she discovered Bruno Mars’ music.”
“That first album, Doo Wops and Hooligans, was really important to me. I remember I was just bored in my living room and I thought, ‘I haven’t posted in a while, I should probably do a cover of something.’ So I just set up my camera and I was like, ‘Talking To The Moon, that’s a good idea.’ And it really was, because it just sort of took off. I’m so lucky that it did because it brought so much to my life,” he continues.
With a viral cover on his list of accomplishments — plus a strong sense of what type of music he wanted to release — Tompkins put a pen to paper to begin writing original songs that he says are “very vulnerable, honest and even stripped back at times.”
“[My sound] is similar to how I describe who I am as an artist; very vulnerable, honest, stripped back at times, but also not afraid to try like different things. I think on this album, it has definitely been a lot of experimenting. There are also some songs that sound completely different from one another, but the general somber feeling and the honesty shines through in the lyrical contents and the singing. I feel really proud of the whole thing that I’ve been able to build up over these years,” he shares.
Revealing that he wrote 250 songs for hi, my name is insecure, Sam tells Celeb Secrets that curating his first-ever project was a process of finding the songs and their concepts, figuring out what that meant to him and, writing as deeply and as personally as he possibly could. It was also inspired by a scene in Eminem‘s 8 Mile, which is one of his favorite films to date.
“The album title [hi, my name is insecure] comes from a song that is about being at a party and feeling like you need a crutch to get through that situation. And as much as that’s a really important concept for the album, the actual concept is just the title. When I hear that or say that, um, I think back to 8 Mile and that rap battle scene at the end where Eminem’s character lists off all the things that his opponent is going to say about him to drag him down. And then by doing that, he takes full ownership of those things and no one can poke a hole through him with it,” he reveals.
“I find that the album title is kind of doing that. It’s sort of saying like, ‘Hey. I’m insecure and that’s fine and that means that you can’t use those things against me anymore. I’ve taken ownership of them and they’re not yours to own and do whatever you want with them,'” he continues.
“I think that most of my insecurities come from things that I’ve heard from people along the way from being very young. I think me putting this album out and it being the introductory to who I am and not being called, ‘hi, my name is Sam Tompkins’ but ‘hi, my name is insecure’ is like wow, I’m really just bearing my soul here. And if you like it, then you will hopefully stop by and stay. But if you don’t, that’s fine as well.”
The future looks bright for Sam Tompkins as he looks ahead to support singer/songwriter Myles Smith on his North American tour throughout September and October. Later this year, Sam will also be heading out on his biggest EU and UK headline tour, where he’ll perform across the UK and Europe throughout November and December in cities like Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Bristol, Birmingham, Brighton, Bournemouth, Madrid, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Prague, Hamburg, Warsaw, Munich and Amsterdam.
When asked what a Sam Tompkins show entails, he says, “I’m really honest… I bare my soul.”
“When I get on stage, all of those anxieties that I had all day about what I can and can’t put into my body go away and I just sing for an hour and a half. I like to talk through what my songs are about and interact with the audience as much as possible,” he continues.
“When I get off stage, I have this feeling like when it’s Christmas Eve and you just can’t go to sleep because you start thinking about how cool it’s going to be when you go to sleep. I’m the opposite; I don’t want to go to sleep because I don’t want to forget how good this feels,” he concludes.
For more on Sam Tompkins and his music, make sure to watch our full interview below… and don’t forget to let us know what you think of hi, my name is insecure. by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sliding into our DMs on Instagram at @celebsecrets.
You can connect with Sam by giving him a follow on Instagram and TikTok at @samtompkinsuk.
LISTEN TO “HI, MY NAME IS INSECURE.” HERE:
