Among the myriad things that colour Samm Henshaw’s discography, his unique sonic fusions set him apart from a crowd. Within the Nigerian music scene, the 29-year-old singer, born Iniabasi Samuel Henshaw, is beginning to expand his fanbase rapidly, especially with his recent hits such as the love-spinner dubbed, ‘Jumoke’.

Known for his close affinity to the gospel music scene, Samm Henshaw has a stealthy discography woven around a cocktail of approaches including Jazz, Vintage soul, RnB, and Hip Hop. His 2022 album, Untidy Soul, exemplifies his tenacity at creating vibrantly unique records, with the core of his music being cathartic, human-focused, and didactic.

As he leaps towards more mainstream popularity in Afrobeats, the London-based singer catches up with Guardian Music, unfurling his creative process, his exciting come-up journey, as well as his vision of impacting lives through his music.

When was the genesis of all these for you?
I started when I was a kid, I have been playing music all my life, I grew up in a traditional music-loving family. And I have been playing drums since I was about four, since then in my head I can’t see myself doing anything else. Then I continued playing music and signed a deal when I was twenty, twenty-one with Columbia records, and recently left that deal and started my own label. And yeah, it has been fine.

Did you ever feel like leaving music for something else?
Yeah for sure, I think I still have that to some degree now. These moments when you feel it’s exhausting, what are you doing it for, sometimes you feel you are not making any headway with stuff. The music world is constantly changing and shifting, you have your moments where you doubt everything. I think the most important thing in life is just consistency, as long as you keep going you should get real in what you are in for.

How did you form your background in music?
It was mainly,when I think of influences with people, or things that have been influential in my life is family, friends, just life in general. And people who I have maybe had interactions with and musically such a wide range is random like the beat host.

What are the things that inspire your music?
With the album Untidy Soul, specifically, I want it to be like an introduction to me. I wanted people to get to know a little more about me. Whatever I want to talk about, I will just speak about it.

Why did you decide to go with this sound direction?
I have always loved the idea of trying different things, and trying different sounds and all. Not necessarily limiting myself to anything, I listen to a wide range of music so I have always loved to try different things. The reason “Jumoke” actually came around was because I lost a loved one. He was always pushing to create something in that world and then he passed, and I don’t think he ever got to hear the song. I have made the song just before he passed, for me I just saw it as an opportunity to honor his memory. And if there was anything I felt I could do, it was that the release and we were giving the money that the song makes will go towards our cousin, his kids.

Do you have a typical creative process?
I don’t think I do, I think it changes depending on the moment, how I feel. With my album a lot of it was about trying to create everything at once, and I almost want to hear the song immediately. I’m a bit impatient, so I always like to let myself create the sound and then figure out what I’m trying to say but let’s do it. Or in a moment right now I think I want to approach things more, from just songwriting because I want to rebuild my pen and my ability to write. And so it varies. I don’t think there is one way of doing it, I think it’s always based on how I feel at the moment.

There is another popular Nigeria entertainer named Henshaw. Are you guys affiliated or related?
Kate Henshaw, I have never met her and we have never interacted or tried to figure out what relation we are. My family is huge, the Henshaw family is gigantic, we have funny things about our family. We have a great, great grandfather I think who had about a hundred kids so, there are a lot of Henshaws. I actually don’t know we will have to sit down one day. If I am able to meet her, we will have to sit down and treat it back. She is either a cousin, or an aunt I don’t know, but we are related.

What are your thoughts towards connecting deeper with the motherland?
I’m hoping to definitely work on some stuff and work with more people from Nigeria. Learning from people from that side as well obviously, want to come and do shows out there. The answer is yes to everything, I just want to be out there more and do more out there. I actually go to Nigeria quite a lot but I never go to music, I just go to families over there, on holidays I go there to be there. So, it would be great to do something over there and actually be there for music. Yeah, at some point I’m going to change that and I think this is kind of the start.

What is the vision for your music?
The older I get, I really want to be able to bring some degree of hope to people. Whatever form it is, whoever it is you have looked to yourself that you can’t do something, if I can give someone a young person the opportunity to feel that they can do it. If the music just becomes a blessing to someone and somewhere, if it’s giving them hope then that’s a job well done. I think at the end of the day, it is just kind of leaving a legacy and I want to be able to express my creativity in a lot of different ways. And be able to showcase that and be able to find a positive message to people through the century.