[Exclusive] Interview with The Sam Willows


The Sam Willows are back with an all new look and music! The recently released music video “Keep Me Jealous” features zesty aesthetics and an electronic pop sound. When asked what the video is about, member Narelle answered "It kind of aligns with the song “Keep Me Jealous” which talks about the balance you've to keep in your relationship. In a sense, it's to keep your partner interested, not to let go and to take everything for granted. But also, too much jealousy kills the relationship. The tension between jealousy and love. The little character in the music video is kind of like “jealousy”. Four of us just play like characters in the house, quite a loosely based thing so it flips and causes the destruction of everything. So at first it was all like fun and games and suddenly you start to get a bit of jealous and jealousy turns to anger and in the end we all explode. And it's just there because he won."


The Sam Willows expressed their gratitude towards Sony Music as they were able to travel around the world. Benjamin shared that they were given a chance to go to Sweden to write an album and it was a mind-boggling experience as they never thought they'll be able to do music professionally outside of Singapore. Narelle shares that the experience in Sweden making music was a dream come true.

When asked what advice would they have for those who wanted to start making music, Narelle states that to just do it and to have commitment. The one thing that separated The Sam Willows from the others were that they've made a conscious effort to pursue music. “If we are going to invest the time, friendship or whatever, we're not going to leave half-way. We're here to the long run.” - Narelle

“I think what's important is that we never have a plan B. We weren't going to say if our original music doesn't work out, let's just a play in a bar or a club. We only have plan A and we're stuck with plan A and still sticking to it.” - Jon

The Sam Willows debuted on the music scene five years ago, and have stick together throughout. Sandra shares that they have graduated from friends to family. “Family is a lot of different from friends, it's like you cannot quit family”.

The group showcased a different style of music compared to their previous album, when asked if they had anxiety, Benjamin shares “Yes and no because if a band doesn't change in the span of it's life, then it's kind of boring. For us, we know that whatever creative decision we made no matter if it's music or fashion, some people will be on board and some people will not but that's just life”. The four members recognized that everyone has an opinion and that they were cool with whatever the feedback they received from the fans. The Sam Willows are known for their acoustic take on music, with their upcoming album, Narelle articulated that they do in fact love the acoustics but they want to move pass that. However, fans will certainly still hear their acoustics cover of their songs when the group performs live.

Their new song is catchy and a great dance track. Benjamin and Narelle shared that their favorite line from the song is the chorus - “To Keep Me Jealous ~”, Benjamin shares it is quite a hard line to sing however they were really happy when they wrote it. Jon states the line “I used to love our mind games made me feel alive” is his favorite line from the song.

The album was written by the four of them and also two other writers from Sweden. With several people making the album, it was easier to find out if a tune or a line works well stated by Narelle.

"I think the most important thing is that even if it's a pop song, there must be an element of truth to it. For us, it was like we're all 20s and had relationships which were muddy and complicated. Jealousy was a thing we wanted to paint a relationship that was real. Even a song like this, there's truth to it". - Benjamin. 


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