UK singer-songwriter Sam Tompkins just released his debut album ‘hi, my name is insecure’ on July 26th. The album features previously released songs including fan-favorite “lose it all,” “time will fly,” and “die for someone.” The album title references Tompkins’ more introverted side as he explained, “I really like being in the company of my friends, but if you take me out of my comfort zone, and have me hang out at a party or an event or whatever, I just go inside myself and I find any excuse to get out of it.”
Tompkins started releasing singles for the project slowly, starting in 2022, “I didn’t realize until I’d got to a certain point in that I was releasing for an album,” Tompkins explained, “and then at that point when the album was finished and I’d written all the songs for it, I think I wrote like 250 songs for this album and whittled it down to 16.” The album covers the experiences he’s gone through during these last number of years covering love, loss and his personal life as a musical artist. “phones in heaven”, portrays the pain and confusion that comes with missing someone; having your time with them cut short and longing to hear from them again. Tompkins stated, “when I originally wrote ‘phones in heaven’, my real intention was to write a song for young people, especially men who have lost a friend early. As I’ve gotten older and meet more people, most people I know have at some point lost someone they loved prematurely through illness, suicide or other things; myself included. It’s coming from a place where you want to enjoy your life and move forward, but in a lot of cases because you didn’t get closure, you feel as though you can’t. You honestly think maybe just one call from that person would give you peace, but sadly life doesn’t always work like that. When I lost my dad to suicide in November of last year, this song felt even more powerful to me, so it felt like the most fitting way to come into 2024. To show others that they are not alone in their struggles and that we can all get through these things if we just open up conversation.”
Tompkins has built a large following online ever since going viral with his cover of “Talking To The Moon” with JNR CHOI on TikTok and sold-out numerous shows across the globe. Starting his musical journey at 16 years old, Tompkins honed his musical skills busking on the streets of Brighton. His videos of performances online founds its way to Justin Bieber in 2021, who messaged him kind words about his music and invited Tompkins to meet up in Los Angeles. “I feel like I skipped a lot of steps when I found out that he liked my music,” Tompkins shared with the BBC.
Sam Tompkins spoke with B-Sides host Pete Mar about his debut album ‘hi, my name is insecure.’, building his online community, especially from TikTok where he went viral, and more.
