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Meeting Sam Fischer would definitely light up your day. At least it did for me. One of the coolest and most energetic people I’ve ever met. He is in town to celebrate the release “Alright”, a banger he wrote with singer, songwriter and friend Meghan Trainor. The man behind the hit tracks ‘This City’ and ‘What Other People Say’ ft Demi Lovato originally wrote the track with Meghan more than four years ago, but now it is finally seeing the light of day.
The single sees Sam step away from the guitar and onto the dancefloor with catchy drum beats and beautiful vocal harmonies with Meghan. Lyrically, the song is all about manifesting positivity, and it’s delivered with an optimistic assurance that you can’t help but smile at.
Sam has more than a billion streams to his name. He is currently performing live across the UK and Europe as part of his Something To Hold Onto Tour. The series of intimate shows see Sam going back to his roots with acoustic performances showcasing new music from his highly anticipated upcoming album which will be out soon.
We talked about the new track and mental health, a big topic in Sam’s world.
Back in the UK. You've been very busy recently. What have you been up to?
I’ve been on tour. I've been going around Europe. I've never done a headline tour in Europe, so this was my first time to go out and actually meet my fans. And it's been really cool to see the makeup of my fans. And it's cool. It's a whole range. My fans go from young girls to a grown up crowd and everyone's just having a good time, and they’re screaming and dancing. It's been sick. I’ve also been eating and drinking.
What are your fans like?
There's different personalities. I think culturally, there's different personalities. Like, in Germany, they're a little more reserved, and they're very polite. They're super sweet, but they're very polite. In Paris, they're, like, up for the party, screaming the whole time, which is amazing. I feed off of that, but yeah. So I guess that might be the only difference. But otherwise, my fans are really nice and they can sing.
“Alright” is your new track with Meghan Trainor. How did you end up in the studio together?
Megan and I have known each other since 2018. We met through a mutual friend and it was probably a year later when I wrote the song. So I wrote the song. I was in the shower. I don't know what about it, but maybe it was the heat or something, but I started having, like, a panic attack. And I kept saying to myself, “you're going to be all right. I'm going to be all right. It's going to be fine”. And once I'd calmed down, I was like, “that's a f****** song”. And say the whole chorus, like, “I’m going to be all right. I'll say a thousand times until it takes over my mind”. That's all about me saying to myself “I’m going to be alright” whilst having a panic attack.
Did it work?
It did work at the time. And then fast forward to a year later in 2019, I'm opening for Lewis Capaldi in LA. And Meghan came to watch the show, she texted me afterwards being like, “what was that song?” Because I performed it. “I want to get on it”. I couldn’t believe she said that.
The song was written so when we got in the studio, Meghan wrote the second verse and vocal produced the s*** out of it. Megan is so deeply underrated as a songwriter and a producer. She is one of the best in the game. So it's exciting to put a song out, especially because we are friends first.
Did it feel like work?
When you're in the studio, we're working, but our jobs are pretty loose. Our jobs are pretty fun. But Megan and I just we have such a good time together. We laugh a lot while we're together. It's a really good time. We created a lot for our social media.
What is the message that you want to deliver with the song?
That anxiety doesn't have to define you and that you'll be all right. I think it's just manifesting positivity and perseverance and the golden rule in life is to not quit.
It’s not easy though.
Definitely, it's very difficult. And I think it's not to minimize it in your head as well because I'm constantly questioning myself, like, “why are you anxious about this? Like, why are you doing this? This is so silly”. And I think, when it comes to mental health things, the most important thing you can do is acknowledge it and have some compassion for yourself. So I think that is part of the message of the song. But, yeah, it's all about anxiety. And in the bridge, we're saying, “who would I be without it?” And it’s true. We need it somehow but in the end, it will always be all right.
You're very open about mental health Is that what inspires you as well, when you write a song?
I'm inspired by, I think , just my own life experience. I don't think I necessarily go into the studio thinking, “I’m going to write a song about mental health”. Yeah.
Are you always writing?
I'm always writing, yeah. I write a lot, actually. I never write while I'm on tour. I don't know why. I wish I could. I wish I was someone who could do that. But I think when I'm in the studio, I don't necessarily have a full song planned out in my head before we get to writing. It's more like, understanding the idea I want to write about, and then we'll see where it goes and what the lyrics are in the verses and what stories I want to tell. But generally, conceptually, I kind of know, but I'm never kind of setting out.
When I started writing and when I started putting out music, I never thought I would represent a voice for people to take comfort in and find shelter in with their own experience and mental health. But it just happened a lot. It's crazy. During the pandemic, with “This City” becoming such a safe place for people to, I don't know, not feel so alone while they were in where everyone was in isolation. It was a time when I realised that the song was bigger than me now, and my DMs are full of people opening up their whole souls to me in it.
Is it too overwhelming, you think?
It kind of got to a point where I felt very responsible for people's mental health and people's feelings, and I don't take it lightly. I thought it was a really amazing, beautiful thing that people felt so comfortable opening up. But the certain things are being said in these messages that would break me. It would be like people telling me about their health issues or their family dramas or abuse. And I was trying to give advice, totally unsolicited advice, but I just got to the point my management advised to take a step back as it was taking a toll on my own mental health.
As much as you want to help, you're not a therapist.
I hope that people can just find comfort in the music and know that I'm not out here mentally killing.
Let’s talk about “You don’t call me anymore”. A song I personally love and listen to, every single day. What does it mean to you?
I can ask you the same question. What is the song for you?
"Although it’s a very deep and sad song, to me it means comfort"
I love that. So I wrote the song about a friend of mine that passed away and she was someone who I relied to when I first moved to LA. She was so warm and just a real safe place for me, and she meant a lot to me.. And we kind of just stopped talking, I moved to the other side of the city, we just stopped hanging out and nothing happened. It was just like, life happens, you’re busy - you know when you meet people, you hang out every day, and then all of a sudden you're not talking. And I found out on social media that she passed away and that broke me. It's about that experience for me and just that human feeling of moving on.
Do you think it’s weird that I find the song comforting?
No, I mean, I guess what I love about people who listen to my music is that they're able to put themselves in the songs and put their own stories in it. And I think you have some songwriters, like JP Saxe and Julia Michaels, who are brilliant artists and writers, but they have these minute de
tails in their songs, and it's about a very specific situation, which is incredible. I'm just not good enough to do that. So I think everyone kind of has a way of tailoring the songs to their own experiences. And even with “This City”, it was a devastating song for me to write, some people would tell me “this is such a beautiful love song” A love song? But everyone has their own stories to figure out.
Do you listen to your own music?
My songs are like, the only songs I listen to until they're out. Once they come out, I rarely listen to them. Once they're out, they're everyone else's. So it's like they're my children. And then I let them go into the world to become superstars.
Are you working on anything at the moment? Is there an album coming up?
There is an album coming. It's called “I love you, please don't hate me”. It's deep. I'm so proud of it. It's such a cool body of work. I think I've been writing for so long and there are so many songs, and I feel like I have two albums done, and maybe I do you know. Other than that, I’m enjoying the response from “Alright” and playing shows.
What can we expect from those shows?
F****** you'll be able to laugh, you'll be able to cry. Be able to just have a good time. What I love about these shows is that they're super acoustic. They're very intimate, really. You get to hear the songs the way they were written, just voice and instrument, which is so cool. And then after that, holiday insane. We have a song. Just keep promoting. And then, maybe a collaborative coming this year. And hopefully more live shows. Definitely more.
Yeah, we want to see you more often.
Follow Sam Fischer's journey here.
Words by Sal Fasone
Photos by Gianmarco Rizzo
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