Sampa the Great has been an artist we have loved seeing go from strength to strength through 2016. As her music has spread to more audiences around the country and her live shows have continued to build, Sampa emerged as a frontrunner in this current crop of young artists stepping up to the plate with some brilliant lyricism and musical talent to show off.
She sat down with Larry at BIGSOUND this year, her first time at the event, to chat new music and how 2016 has treated her as a flourishing performer and creative.
“It’s been amazing to see music I’ve never heard before and just stumble across new music.” she says of BIGSOUND. “It’s been quite the experience to be in meetings and getting all this advice and knowledge from people; it’s been a good experience for me so far.”
Breaks have been few in number for Sampa this year; between writing and touring, the Sydney-based musician hasn’t had much time to be outside the musician’s headspace, but she isn’t complaining all.
“There is a notebook full of music waiting to be heard,” she says of where new music is at currently. “When the time is right we will do something with that. We’ve actually been recording some stuff and hopefully in October, we can start creating a little chat over here, chat over there. If you’re looking for new music by me, October should be the month.”
“I think everyone around me, my family has been surprised,” she laughs, thinking about how busy this year has been. “It’s been such an awesome experience. The support has been amazing. Every show has been levelled up by something new and exciting; I’ve had to learn on the go, but it’s been awesome. We haven’t taken any breaks yet, but that’s okay! The experiences are amazing, so it’s worthwhile.”
As a performer, Sampa is the first to admit that she’s still learning about the business and the craft with each show and industry experience, but as we’ve seen throughout shows this year, she’s definitely switched on to a performance quality that is both fiercely entertaining and charming.
“The confidence level has spiked,” she admits. “It’s one thing to be like, ‘I want to be confident and I want to speak in front [of people],’ and then to actually be in front of people and be like, ‘Oh…yeah,’ – the self-belief has definitely risen. There’s obstacles I never saw myself hurdling across and I have; that builds me up more. The sense of belief in myself has really grown and I hope it’s shown in my performance because there’s definitely a sense of, ‘I love what I do and I want to share this with you’.”
Check out the full interview below!
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Keep up to date with everything Sampa the Great HERE.
Header image: Zakarij Kaczmarek.
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