“I think it’s a shame that you can’t talk to your younger self,” Sam Tompkins declares midway through “time will fly,” the 11th track on his debut album, hi, my name is insecure.. “’Cause a lot of the time when I was younger I needed someone exactly like me, to show up/And be there when I needed them, but I’m there for them now.” That might be something of a mission statement for the Sussex-born singer-songwriter, whose TikTok-propelled ascent has been driven as much by his moving melodies and yearning, emotive voice as it has been by his heart-on-sleeve lyricism—his songs intentionally personal outpourings designed to make anyone else going through the same things feel a little less alone. Here, the singer-songwriter dials up the intensity with tracks—and frequently skyscraping vocals—more raw and visceral than those on 2022 EP Who Do You Pray To?. There are songs about wanting deep love (“Wanna fall deep with a person I barely know/I wanna die for someone,” he declares on “die for someone”), male mental health (“numb”), heartbreak (“dead to me”), and the fear of it happening (the arresting “lose it all,” a showcase for some of this album’s most moving lyricism). Plus, there are unvarnished explorations of grief, such as on “phones in heaven,” a searing look at missing someone. All of which is set against acoustic guitars and piano balladry, but also dreamy electropop (“die for someone”), songs that feel destined to be sung at stadiums one day (“numb”), plus driving synths and Auto-Tuned vocals (“alone at the party”). For an artist who’s always resisted defining his sound, hi, my name is insecure. feels like a singer-songwriter simply continuing to explore—and mining his own experiences for the sake of anyone listening.
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