The eerily intriguing sound on his recent single “Follow Me” has made fast-rising new artist Sam Nitsch one of the most interesting recording artists in today’s music. Seizing the moment, Nitsch follows his newfound fame with the release of the buzzworthy new project, properly titled Under The Influence. The 8-song project’s concept is an exploration of how heavily we rely on other people to tell us what is cool and trendy. Nitsch channels a sound reminiscent of The Beatles during their transition from pop stardom to cheerful psychedelia.
Residing between Upstate New York and New London, Connecticut, Under The Influencer was created during the peak of the 2020 pandemic. For Nitsch, recording every week combined with sudden isolation led to a desire for introspective storytelling and a critical lens of social media culture. Studies have shown that influencer content can have a negative impact on a person’s psychological well-being. Comparing ourselves to others is a natural human instinct, but adding online influencers to the mix exposes people to more content than some believe we are capable of handling.
However, Sam Nitsch used the idea that art is meant to make people feel and critically think about the world around them. And through his charming sound, attractive charisma, and red-hot popularity, Nitsch hopes to inspire others with his content; whether it motivates listeners to put their phone down and embrace the world around them or other artists to not be afraid to use their platform to send a message, the young musician sets the bar for thought-provoking, melodic music meant for the mainstream.
UTI is the perfect origin point for newfound fans of the uprising artist. Nitsch arrives at a moment in music at its most experimentally accepting. A changing of the guard is upon us and today’s audience has established the freedom to discover and experience without judgment, prejudice, or restriction.
As a whole, UTI is organic. Well paired with his haunting cover art, the overarching theme of the album remains the same: our society’s heavy reliance on social media platforms has created a zombie-like reliance on other people to tell us what we should do or how we should feel about ourselves. After the listen, feel free to hope on the Nitsch bandwagon today on social media.
Under The Influencer is available now on all platforms via The Blue Hour. Check out the full project below.
