“You’ve sort of come from nowhere,” said Simon Cowell on the televised competition program America’s Got Talent in the Summer of 2024, after Canadian contestant Alex Sampson sang his original song, “If You Were My Girl,” for the quarter-finals.
The famed British judge also reiterated what he’d said to him during the audition phase, when the then-20-year-old singer sang another original, “Pretty Baby,” which Cowell felt “could have been written in the ‘50s or the ‘60s.” He also used the exact same words: “a lane” and “smart.” “You’ve created a sound and a lane for yourself that is so smart,” said Cowell, believing it separated the young singer-songwriter “from what everybody else is doing.”
Select the image to access the YouTube video of Alex Sampson’s audition performance of “Pretty Baby” for America’s Got Talent
But it turns out Sampson, who released his debut EP Blurry Vision in January of 2024, and the follow-up Hopeless Romantic in September of the same year, didn’t want to pursue that lane. That’s why his new single, “Used To You,” isn’t in that vein.
“My first EP came out shortly before I went on AGT, and then once I did ‘Pretty Baby,’ and I heard all the comments from the judges, I immediately went and wrote more songs like that – which is why the songs on the show are very much in that in that world of the ‘50s and the ‘60s,” says Sampson. “Then I released Hopeless Romantic, which is also in that world. But, as much as I love doing it, that’s not what I want to do for my career. I’m more of an upbeat, pop, modern kind of music guy. So, I’m leaning more into that with my newer music.”
He also didn’t come out of nowhere. Living in a small northwestern Ontario town of Atikokan, with population today of 2,600, Sampson started posting covers in 2019, of songs by artists like Ruth B, Ed Sheeran, and Billie Eilish. That year, he posted his first original, “Stay Here,” which today has 3.2 million YouTube views. More followed, including “All That We Could Have Been,” which today has 16 million views; “Cold Shoulder;” close to a million; “Let There Be Light,” 1.7 million; and “Play Pretend,” 2.7 million, all co-written with numerous songwriters.
When he was asked to be on AGT, Sampson already had a U.S. deal with Warner Records, and a publishing deal with Sony ATV. He’d already released his major label singles “Want You!,” “Til The World Gets Sick of Us,”” and “Blind,” and the Blurry Vision EP.
“Early on, I started singing on TikTok and Instagram, and I got found by these people in L.A., that brought me out there. I did my first actual music, and then I ended up leaving them in 2022, and I signed with Warner in 2023 out of L.A.,” says Sampson, sitting in Toronto’s Axis Club before his opening slot for Welshman Jamie Miller, with whom he’s been touring the U.S., and will continue in the U.K. and Europe through mid-March of 2025.
Sampson had no idea you could go on AGT if you have a record deal, because on similar TV competition shows like American Idol and The Voice, a recording contract is part of the grand prize. On ATG, the prize is $1 million. Sampson admits he participated for the exposure.
“I wrote it with all new people, which was kind of scary”
Which did help. His audition clip has 3.6 million views on YouTube, and the official “Pretty Baby” video has 2 million views. His You Tube channel has 410,000 subscribers, and his TikTok, 3.7 million. By the time Warner Records dropped his Hopeless Romantic EP, Sampson’s music had been streamed 85 million times globally, according to the label.
He co-writes all his songs, and has worked with lots of writers. But for Hopeless Romantic, it was one co-writer for the entire EP: John Nathaniel, with whom Sampson has worked for years. He met Nathaniel via non-performing songwriter Nathan Ferraro, who he also wrote with early on – and whose work has appeared on Beyoncé’s Grammy-winning Cowboy Carter album.
“He’s from Montréal,” says Sampson. “That’s where we worked on the EP. And every song on there, except ‘Wallflower,’ was written and produced in Canada, so it’s almost a fully Canadian EP. John and I had written ‘Pretty Baby,’ so I just went back to him to capture that. We spent, like, two weeks together, pretty much writing. He’s so talented, and I’d love to work with him again.”
The new single, “Used To You,” however, was co-written in L.A. with Castle, Madi Yanofsky, and producer David Pramik. “‘Used to You’ was the first song I wrote when I got back from AGT,” Sampson says. “I wanted to go more of an upbeat pop star route. I wrote it with all new people, which was kind of scary, because I have people that I’m comfortable with writing. So, when my label threw me in with these writers, because they’re really great writers, we just clicked instantly… We just sat down, and we were, like, ‘What do we want to make?’ It was very simple. It came very quick to us.
Select the image to access the YouTube video of the Alex Sampson song “Used to You”
“I’m at a stage in my life where I’m trying to always look toward the brighter side, and be positive. And so, I want to make music that reflects that. When I write my album, which there’s no plans for yet, unfortunately, I’m definitely going to sit down, think of a story that I want to tell.
“Right now, with the singles, I’m writing about personal experiences, but there’s not really any connection [between songs]… I would love to do that, and explore. Because when you do an album, you have much more creativity, and more leeway to do more.”
Sampson, who plans to move to L.A., is looking forward to his first headlining tour, tentatively slated for later this year. “I have enough material for a long set, and we’re going to [perform] some unreleased music, some music that’s coming out shortly… I have six years worth of material,” he says.
Right now, he’s enjoying being on tour with Miller. “I’m having the best time,” says Sampson. “It’s my first tour in the U.S. I’ve played Toronto before [at Danforth Music Hall], and I’ve played some of the places we’re going, but it’s a great feeling… I’m getting more comfortable being onstage.”