UPCOMING RELEASE
Spectacle
RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 9, 2024
The Story Behind “Spectacle”
In the midst of the dysfunction of the last few years, I was really wrestling with my own dissonance. I had been struggling with how to show up more authentically in the world–as a musician, a mom, and a member of many diverse communities–while navigating a culture that’s increasingly polarized.
I realized that I was spending too much time trying to curate this concise expression of self–to “romanticize” my life, as we’re often encouraged to do. But in doing so, I was disappearing. I had been attempting to engineer my way to self-actualization when all I really needed to do was simply show up.
This song is meant to indict: to shine a light on the disconnect between the spectacle–what we see and what we choose to show–and the substance of living a fully-embodied existence.
But it is also meant to inspire: to encourage myself and others to accept that our strengths and shortcomings will forever coexist. To be sure, we should embrace the opportunity to re-think and refine how we express ourselves but buffing out every imperfection is a pursuit best left to furniture and fine jewelry.
The tension between the weight of our gifts and the weakness inherent in our humanity is necessary to knit us together… within ourselves and amongst one other.
RECENT RELEASES
Release Date: November 17, 2023
Praise for “Colored”
“...“Colored” is not just a song but a poignant narrative that showcases Samantha Clemons’ exceptional songwriting and vocal talent. It is a deeply personal yet universally relatable piece that challenges listeners to contemplate their own identities and the colors with which they have been painted by the world around them. With “Colored,” Clemons cements her place as a formidable voice in contemporary music, capable of weaving complex emotional themes into compelling and beautiful melodies.”
PRESS
“...[A]rtist Samantha Clemons sings with pure emotion. Across a sturdily strummed acoustic guitar, Clemons’ voice soars with sincerity and depth as she sings about joys and hardships both personal and universal. Her style rightfully draws comparisons to Lauryn Hill, but her intimate confessionals put her in a category all her own. Her latest EP, Burn, is a fine addition to her growing canon...”
“Clemons’ voice is striking: secured in deep depths in one moment, then bursting like wildfire in the next. And just as complex as her range are her lyrics — the story she tells of a mother desperate to protect her son from the world around him is so beautifully imagined. For too many reasons, we can’t all be in the room where it happened, but if you just close your eyes, this... will take you there.”
“On ‘No Room’... her voice is allowed to shine in all its glory. The soulful pleas at the end of the track are equal parts exhilarating and chill-inducing.”
“Every once in awhile an acoustic singer-songwriter comes along who is able to sing with raw passion and an ability to put into words every feeling of heartbreak, regret, and hope that you may have felt... Often compared to the great Lauryn Hill, her voice is smooth, inviting and seductive in its honesty.”
“Her rich, soulful vocals carry her 2018 EP “Burn;” the introspective 2023 single “Colored;” and her latest sunlit number, “Spectacle,” released in February. There’s something special about bearing witness to her natural talent, sharpened over years of repetitive, monotonous discipline. It’s expected from someone like her, who picked up a guitar at age 9 and grew up singing in church choir.”
“With powerful vocals and unapologetic lyrics, Samantha Clemons’ song, “Burn,” is a song that’s made for anyone who has been oppressed and made to feel like that oppression is okay. She punches home the idea that when there is oppression in any form, there’s no reason for the oppressed to have to ‘walk a mile in the other’s shoes’ when the opposition’s goal is to keep you underfoot. The song is applicable on so many levels in our country right now: politically, racially, across genders, and really on an almost infinite number of other levels.”
BIOGRAPHY
A genre-fluid singer-songwriter and musician based in St. Louis, Samantha Clemons is hard to pin down. But better that than being boxed in. Born in the sweltering summer heat of Houston, Texas in 1988, Samantha’s music finds its roots in the echoes of gospel choirs, jazz and afro-caribbean rhythms that surrounded her during her childhood.
Sheltered–in more ways than one–on military installations around the world, music was one of few constants. No matter where her family ended up - or for how long - Mahalia Jackson, Buju Banton, and Aretha Franklin would fill the walls, regardless of the continent upon which they stood. Her mother–a St. Lucian musician, singer and artist herself–was the first to see her potential and bought Samantha her first guitar at age nine, shaping the songstress she would become.
For Samantha, life has been as tumultuous as it’s been triumphant, especially the last few years. Fresh off a 3-year run of award-winning growth for the contracting firm she founded in 2016, she quickly found herself struggling to find balance in the midst of a life whose parts often feel discordant. But as she’s learned to do throughout her life, Samantha turned to music for solace and respite, seeking sanctuary in a realm where reality is distilled to rhythm and color becomes sound.
Samantha’s latest single, “Colored,” comes five years after her critically acclaimed EP “Burn,” and with it, brings her far-flung journeys into sharp relief. Like a hammock hovering over the void, Samantha has found a sense of harmony that has been elusive. At once both deep and delicate, it confronts feelings of being boxed in head-on and the precise arrangement gives Clemons’s voice ample room to roam the intimate landscape of self-discovery and self-love.
Rich and resonant, Samantha’s voice carries the weight of this dissonance with ease. “Colored” is a powerful introspection on the tension between external perceptions and self-image. The title itself is a play on words, and deftly references both her racial identity and the reality of living with the portraits that others have painted of us. It exalts our enduring need for self-determination to a place of honor and emerges as a declaration in bold support of its lyrical thesis: emboldening ourselves–and one another–to pick our own palettes is an act of love.