Following on from the success of his single ‘Changes’, which landed in Spotify editorial playlists such as ‘Pop Brandneu’, ‘Easy’, ‘Pop Relax’ and ‘New Pop UK’, was played on Apple Music’s Radio Show ‘New Music Daily Deutschland mit Aisha’, and highlighted in Billboard’s 10 Cool Pop Songs feature, British singer and songwriter Sam Johnson now releases his brand new EP ‘Are We There Yet?’ alongside the powerful new single ‘Shoulder To Cry On’.
Featuring the previously shared cuts ‘Nineteen’, ‘Peter Pan’, ‘Changes’, and ‘The Kids Are Alright’, the new five-track collection sees the artist embark on one of his most ambitious and euphoric projects yet. With a consistent theme of bold and uplifting compositions, matching his own soaring aesthetic, ‘Are We There Yet?’ marks a pivotal moment in both his personal and professional life.
Speaking about his new EP, he said, “‘Are We There Yet?’ marks a definitive farewell to my childhood on both a personal and musical level for me. It’s an EP that maps my recollection of a time gone by that I miss greatly and contemplate often. Written with both optimistic intention and wistful yearning, it is a body of work that sways in torrents of emotion that even I struggle to define or understand. On a musical level, it’s been a part of my growth, but on a personal level, it’s a much-needed bit of closure to a beloved time in my life that I need to leave behind in order to move forward. Are we there yet? I don’t think so, not just yet, but I think I’m more at peace with the journey now.”
The previously unheard new offering ‘Shoulder To Cry On’ sees Sam in a more reflective light throughout. While the majority of his songs pay tribute to moments in his life, this new release sees him target a more heartfelt emotion as he is reminded how such a small event can affect the rest of your life.
Adding about ‘Shoulder To Cry On’, “I wrote this for someone I was dating a while ago. It didn’t last very long, but it was nice whilst it did. It was the usual situation of someone from the past affecting the present. She had a lot of walls and didn’t want to get hurt again. I suppose the chorus’s defining lyric ‘When all you’ve ever known, has left you on your own, I’ll be your shoulder to cry on’ was an attempt to give her some comfort that I wouldn’t do the same. I don’t think it worked very well.”
EP tracklist:
- Peter Pan
- Nineteen
- Changes
- Shoulder To Cry On
- The Kids Are All Alright
A driven and relentlessly ambitious artist, Sam Johnson’s story also owes a debt to chance. Fate dealt him an unusual card when Kevin Shields – My Bloody Valentine auteur – crossed his path, taking the fledgling talent into the studio for the very first time. “That was a real moment for me… that developed my backbone. It made me want to have that element of legacy. And he made me realise that it could be done.”
A country boy lost in the big city, Sam’s music has taken him from a rural setting to the London metropolis, but he’s driven by an extraordinary sense of purpose. ‘Are We There Yet?’ is a tightly bound EP, one where each passage speaks to the next. Overseen by My Riot at RAK Studios, the production is left deliberately raw, almost unfinished, so that the songs “could breathe, without over-cluttering it too much”.
