An Evening with Samm Henshaw

Samm Henshaw found himself at a crossroads following the release of his debut album, Untidy Soul. He was not as excited about music as he once was and succumbed mentally and emotionally to pressures associated with his career, leading to a much-needed, intentional hiatus.

“I just don’t feel confident about music in general at the moment. Music’s just not exciting me the way it used to at the moment, but I’ve been finding some joy in some areas, and I think it’s enough to have kept me going,” Samm explains. The journey of revitalizing his passion led to the creation of his new mini album, For Someone Somewhere Who Isn’t Us.

As Samm took a step away from the spotlight over the past year, he realized that a purpose-driven life is a worthy one and the crooner is on a mission to encourage people to strive for that. He urges fellow creatives to take the necessary time and explore the unknown as he found it to be a terrifying albeit comforting solace. When creating For Someone Somewhere Who Isn’t Us, Samm’s goal was to have digested in three parts: the music, the movie, and the merchandise.

The premise behind the new EP is about a man that’s struggling to create his next project, and he writes all of these guidelines (of sorts) for himself in this notebook. He misplaces the book, and then someone else finds it. They then start to follow some of the stuff that they’ve seen inside this book. The book continues in this cyclic pattern of being lost and found; Before long, the book is completed and winds up in the hands of its original owner.

“I think the idea is that as people, we sometimes feel this level of lack inadequacy and I want to push and encourage this idea of not giving up—even when that seems like an easy out— because you never know what might happen when it comes and who it might inspire,” says Samm of this new chapter.

Unlike past projects, he is entering this new, transitional era free of expectations.

“Anything that comes, I’m grateful for it, I’m excited for it. But ultimately I think it needed to happen just for me to be able to prove to myself that I could still do it. It was just almost like this project to me feels more like a lesson. Look, as creatives, as people just in the world, all these little things apply to all of us in the same way and it’s just about really figuring out, pushing forward and pushing yourself beyond maybe your comfort zone, pushing yourself beyond whatever your limits may be, but not being afraid to take that step.”

Being the son of a reverend, Samm grew up on gospel music and began songwriting at the age of 15. He made his acclaimed debut in 2015 with The Sound Experiment. Its highly-anticipated sequel came the following year. His budding fame continued with hit singles “Broke” (2018), “Church” (2019), “All Good” (2020), and “The World Is Mine” (2019) as heard in the 2022 Netflix film, Hustle. He released his debut album, Untidy Soul, that same year. Samm has garnered global success with his sold-out shows in the U.S., U.K. and Asia. He also worked with the likes of Quincy Jones and Steven McQueen on Soundtrack Of America, amassed over 120M views on YouTube, appeared in the critically-acclaimed drama, Godfather Of Harlem, and has accumulated over 360M streams across DSPs.