Who TF is Aaron Smith?

We caught up with streaming sensation Aaron Smith to find out exactly what all the fuss is about

Who TF is Aaron Smith is a question that a lot of people will have asked themselves of the Scottish singer-songwriter lately. Emerging seemingly out of nowhere with his emphatic debut single ‘Unspoken’, the candid honesty and emotion of the track saw the artist reach high billing on taste-making playlists almost overnight. Once aquainted however, you can only imagine that people are thrilled to have discovered the fast-rising artist, and this mixture factors have led to the debut single amassing over 2,500,000 streams on Spotify alone.

Aaron has since followed up with his latest single ‘Better Than You Loved Me’ to similar acclaim, and looks primed for a meteoric rise, not unlike crooning compatriot Lewis Capaldi. We had a chat with Aaron to find out a little more about him, as he cements his place as one of the most exciting rising stars in British music.

Who TF is Aaron Smith?

I’m a songwriter from a small town in Scotland called Polmont – it’s in between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

How long have you been making music?

I properly started making music when I was 15. Whenever I could, whether it was lunch time or a free period I’d sit in the makeshift recording studio that we had at my school and try write my own music. It obviously wasn’t the best music but it was a start. From then I started learning covers and busking around different places in Scotland just to get a feel for playing in front of people which I really enjoyed and that kinda ended up being my job.

Why do you make music?

I write songs to tell stories – whether that’s stories about things that have happened in my life, things I’ve seen or stories people have told me. I like to interpret them into music and then let people take their own meaning from it. Since putting Unspoken out I’ve had a lot of messages from people telling me what they’ve been through and what the song means to them. It’s nice to hear that people all have their own stories that they can link to something I wrote about me. I’ve also had people messaging me saying how much Unspoken has helped them through a hard time, if the music I make can help even just one person that means so much to me.

What are your biggest influences?

As I’ve said I like to write about things that have happened in my life or things I’ve seen, so I take a lot of influence from stories and real life. Musically my biggest influences are Chris Martin, Keane, Novo Amor, Yebba & John Mayer.

What would you say has been your best moment so far?

Definitely putting out my first single. I suppose you can never know how something like that is going to go, so when we did put it out I was completely overwhelmed by the reaction it got. To have the first ever piece of music I’ve put out be at the number 1 spot on New Music Friday in the UK and included in NMF and Best of the Week playlists across the world is mental. The support from Apple and Spotify has been incredible.’

What do you want people to take away from your music?

I just want people to have their own stories for the songs I write and associate them with things they’ve had happen to them and take their own meaning from it. My music can be pretty depressing and I know that but I’d hope that if its helping people express something they have gone through then it brings a positive out of something that might have been sad.

What’s your dream “I’ve made it” moment?

It is obviously an unpredictable career to have so I’m just going to embrace every moment. I love playing live so getting to do my own headline tours is a dream of mine. I’d love to be able to support one of my idols and the people that have influenced me to get into music, that would be amazing.

Your debut single ‘Unspoken’ blew up beyond what anybody would have expected, how are you dealing with this overnight success?

It’s just completely overwhelming but in a good way. I’d never have expected it to get the reaction that it did get. The thought of that many people listening to something I wrote is insane – I’m so thankful for how nice everyone has been. I’m quite an anxious person to be honest so it’s something I have struggled a bit with from time to time but I’ve got a great team of people around me.