Songer
about the artist
As he prepares to release his next album What If I Say No, Songer is aiming higher than ever before. "I want it to be powerful. I want it to move people. I want What If I Say No to actually impact people's thought processes."
If you don't know Songer, it's time you got to know him. When he started making music as a teenager in 2017, he dreamed about one day working with his idols, playing Glastonbury and breaking the charts. At 25, he's now done all three. In 2024 he played two sets at Glasto, supported Dizzee Rascal…
MoreAs he prepares to release his next album What If I Say No, Songer is aiming higher than ever before. "I want it to be powerful. I want it to move people. I want What If I Say No to actually impact people's thought processes."
If you don't know Songer, it's time you got to know him. When he started making music as a teenager in 2017, he dreamed about one day working with his idols, playing Glastonbury and breaking the charts. At 25, he's now done all three. In 2024 he played two sets at Glasto, supported Dizzee Rascal on tour and released a second collaboration with grime legend D Double E. And he is nowhere near done. With three charting singles to his name, he's now preparing for an even bigger 2025.
Songer broke the UK albums chart with his 2023 album Skala, adding to his 2022 hit 'Ballin' with Vibe Chemistry, 2023's 'Vino Bandit' with K Motionz and 2024's 'Toxic (Freestyle),' the second-highest selling rap single of the year. His 2024 mixtape The Price of Therapy was his deepest, darkest record yet, probing inside the mind of a gifted, complicated artist as he continues to scale the heights of the music industry. On his next album What If I Say No, he continues to break new ground, crossing boundaries and examining his life as a successful rapper in ways that only he can.
Amid his success, Songer has always been outspoken about the challenges he's faced as a result of his own mental health. The dizzy heights he's reached in his career have not changed that. "The bigger it gets, the more pressure there is to be better," he says. "I kind of thrive under that pressure, but I kind of get weighed down by it as well." No matter how big he gets, he knows the importance of remembering who he was at the start of his career, and says his biggest challenge is "figuring out how to evolve without changing."
Having grown up just outside Reading, Songer's rise makes him something of an outlier. UK rap has historically been dominated by Londoners, but cosigns from Dizzee and D Double indicate that the legends who helped build the scene are beginning to recognise Songer's power as a lyricist. Meanwhile, with a recent guest verse on the official remix of Aitch's charting single 'Raving in the Studio,' Songer is leading the next generation of stars who are likely to dominate the UK in years to come.
On last year's single 'Beamin,'' another collaboration with K Motionz, Songer raps over a garage beat, once again showing his versatility as an artist who can rap over drum & bass, grime, UKG or whatever else you put in front of him. Having started out rapping at drum & bass raves, he's now worked with titans of the scene in Bou, Chase & Status, Becky Hill and Hybrid Minds.
From MCing at raves to bringing the house down at festivals, Songer's live show is the hottest ticket around. In 2024 he played a homecoming slot at Reading festival for the second year in a row, and is set to play the main stage for the first time this summer. He also played a massive set at Boardmasters festival last year, as well as completing sellout shows in both Europe and Australia. Later this year he'll also headline one of south London's most esteemed venues at the O2 Brixton Academy. To date he's sold out every UK show he's ever announced.
Even with all this attention, Songer remains completely independent, releasing every record through his own imprint Hard Reality, even while many an established label has come knocking. "We've had meeting after meeting," he says. "I've turned down over 20. I'm in the mindset where if you want to buy my art, it's not going to be cheap." As a man of the people who got his start by self-recording and self-releasing his first three albums without even the help of a manager, Songer remains intimately relatable to listeners all around the UK and intends to stay that way no matter how high his star rises.
After The Price of Therapy, Songer hopes his next album will enable him to move on from a challenging period in his life. "I had nightmares of fulfilling my dreams, instability screams," he rapped on track 1 of his last project. "I think positively about it because it was a very accurate representation of where I was at that time," he says of The Price of Therapy. "It was needed for me and it was important to me for different reasons." By contrast, What If I Say No is "about having the power to do whatever you want." This message is as much for the listener as it is for Songer himself. "For me and for everyone, it's basically just to remember that you're behind the wheel. You can drive as fast as you want, as slow as you want, whatever direction you want."
Right now he's showing no sign of slowing down.