Sam Ezeh is the multi-hyphenate fusing the sounds of Childish Gambino, Beyonce and Prince
There’s no greater creative force to be reckoned with than a musician who is willing to kill off what they know and to replace it with risk, wanting not to avoid fear of failing by resting on the laurels of self-assured talent. They happily uproot what makes them comfortable and scour the edges of their imagination to dream up ideas they may have thought were illogical.
SAM EZEH is one of those creative forces.
The 21-year-old musician could have played it safe. Whilst writing, recording, and producing his new EP, Sapphire Alley, the multi-hyphenate had the chance to deliver a project that simply expanded on the initial success of his previous work. Knowing that the first song he ever wrote and properly put out to the world, Crisis, has been his biggest, most-streamed song to-date, Ezeh resisted the temptation to snuggle back into the recognisable sounds and songwriting that he was used to. Instead, he severed what he knew and sewed ambition into its place.
“The process has been kind of back and forth,” he says over Zoom from Stockholm. “And a lot of songs I’ve remade completely. The idea was there but the result was something completely different.”
Ezeh’s previous releases quickly declared him as an artist carrying bags full of inspiration and the ability to turn the music he has been digesting since he was young into unique bodies of work. Crisis fused funk and RnB, as well as the heavy CHILDISH GAMBINO sounds that introduced Ezeh to a world of music that he still draws from to this day. The song is at home in the musician’s previous EP, Night at Ezeh’s - seven tracks that lay bare Ezeh’s craftsmanship, and allowed him to make his mark on the scene and display the raw production talent that he has been honing since he was just 15-years-old.
Night at Ezeh’s may have been widely adored, but the musician promises that Sapphire Alley is a step up in almost every way.
“I’d say my sound is a bit more evolved. It’s just more detailed and I pay a lot more attention to detail,” Ezeh explains. “I don’t know if it’s just to me, but I feel like the tracks of my old EP are kind of basic and this is like one level up from that. I’ve been listening to a lot of house and I do that quite often in periods, and I’ve been more focussed on the grooves and the rhythm. Just the flow.”
Our first taster of what’s to come arrives in the form of Ezeh’s latest single Not My Child - a sort of Ry Cooder meets Childish Gambino in the best kind of way. It’s a display of Ezeh doing what Ezeh does best: pretty much everything to do with the songwriting process. From writing, to recording, to production, Ezeh’s journey so far has been a one man show.
“I find it a lot easier to make music on my own. My ideal situation would be having a long time collaborator, but you know each other that deep. Writing music comes naturally because you’re friends or companions or whatever. I’ve found that the sessions I've had - sitting down with someone for a day - has not worked at all.
It’s been kind of lonely. Making everything myself basically so far. As a producer, naturally you’re going to sit by yourself at home, but that’s where you’re starting out. So everything so far has been just me and I really look forward to collaborating with other producers and artists to further develop my sound as well.”
But the isolation that comes with being the songwriter, artist and producer - spending days by himself to see the creative process through from start to finish - seems to suit Ezeh quite nicely. “I’m not a very outgoing person, I’m kind of shy,” he explains. “And maybe that reflects in my music, but more to make music and sing about my feelings, rather than just speaking in interviews and stuff.”
For Ezeh, music is his language - a method of communicating what’s going on in his mind more confidently and without hesitation or reservation. And he found his language early. Ezeh was only fifteen when he started toying around with production and starting to make his own unique sounds. From the start, the musician was idolising the global superstars like Beyoncé and Prince, and trying to carve his own mark on music - something that didn’t take long to achieve.
And now, as his EP is only around the corner and he becomes more comfortable in the skin of the artist that he wants to be, Sam Ezeh’s language is becoming universal. He might find it hard to give himself credit where it’s due and always looking for the next way to improve himself, but for now, Not My Child is a glimpse into Ezeh’s world, full of inspiration, ambition and self-taught talent. A world that no doubt has a lot more to give.
“I wouldn’t say I’m close at all. But I’m definitely getting there. I think I constantly want to evolve, because I've been that way ever since I was a kid. I’ve never been satisfied with any of my achievements, I’ve just been constantly pushing to the next thing, for better or for worse. As long as you give yourself the credit that you need now and then, you’ll be fine.”
Sam Ezeh’s latest single Not My Child is out now on Spotify and Apple Music.
Welcome to CHEW THE FAT WITH…, our long-form series where we invite you to sit down with fashion’s next generation as they dig deep into their memories. To chew some fat - an informal conversation brimming with small talk - we encourage you to pull up a chair and take a big old bite as we spill the tea on the life and work of the industry’s need-to-knows. Just remember to mop up after yourself.