A CONVERSATION WITH... songer
Missed Reading and Leeds 2025? We got your back with our 13 artists to watch. Next up is Songer, a Reading-born rapper using his freestyles and platform to talk about connection and advocating for yourself at all costs.
My name is Songer and I'm a rapper from Reading, which is handy. Feels like a hometown show. It's a big bucket list tick for me.
It's like a full circle moment for me because I was coming to this festival when I was young. It's a big, big moment career-wise and life-wise as well. I remember seeing the different weekends each year and imagining being part of the thing that gives someone else that moment. That's why I think it's really about moments and giving other people moments.
Do you think you’re already doing that?
I hope so. I mean, I'd be lying if I said I'm not feeling proud of myself. But at the same time, it's like, 'OK, cool. What's next?'
That's always how it goes. So for people who are maybe just joining you now, do you want to share your journey from Reading punter to Reading performer?
Consistency. I started releasing music when I was 17 and now I'm 25. So as long as I'm going up the stairs and not down, I'm happy. That's all I need. And I did that by staying consistent and doing things at the right time rather than as soon as I could do them.
If people are hearing your music for the first time today, what message do you want your music to have?
I always want my music to reflect different moods and different days. I think it's about knowing that no matter what mood or no matter what day, there's beauty in all of it. There's a soundtrack to it.
A lot of my music sounds quite sporadic and it doesn't really stick to a genre. It reflects the peaks and troughs of actual day-to-day life. Some of my favourite songs I've ever made were written on the worst days I’ve had. Beautiful things can come from the moments where life just feels a bit too much.
That's beautiful. Just as you were talking about your favourite songs, what are 3 songs of yours you would 'Fuck, Marry, Kill?'
I would marry 'Sunrise' because it's the intro to the album that really started getting the ball rolling.
It's a very sentimental record. So I'd marry that. I'd fuck 'Vino Bandit' because it's just carnage. Everyone likes a bit of carnage sometimes.
I'd kill whichever song did the worst, I guess. I only really put stuff out that I think that means something.
Another question to turn it on you, shat's the question you wish you got asked in interviews but haven't yet?
Something about the feelings before and after the show. You build these moments up as they’re gonna be the best things you ever do. It's a pretty weird feeling before or after, where it will take me now three months to actually think about it. So before you have that feeling of uncertainty, like peaks and troughs with it. When you're on stage, it's euphoric. After, you don't find enlightenment or something. You just crash.
The feelings before and after aren't what you'd expect.
It's a lot to wade for a person to wade through. Would you say that who you are as a person and as an artist are similar? Where do they intersect?
There's differences between how I perceive myself and what other people perceive me. But Songer is my surname. Everyone calls me Songer. The only people to call me James are my girlfriend, my mum, and my dad. There's definitely a difference between James and Songer, but it's still like 90% the same. I'm still just me.
Do you like it being 90% the same or would you want to have more separation?
I'm comfortable with where it's at because I still have enough time to just sit and watch TV with my mouth open. I can be James, which is nice, but it's also fun to be Songer.
Speaking of doing what you do, what do you have planned for the rest of 2025?
I mean, we're just finishing an album. That's about a month away from being finished. Then it will be focusing on how do we get this album to do what I wanted it to do. How can we get as many people to hear it as possible? Whether that's doing a run of a big run of shows before the actual tour or something else. We're still kind of piecing the puzzle together, but it's definitely going to be a year of being active.
It'll be a busy year for you, no doubt. Would you like to leave a question for the next artist?
I'd say what's on your rider and why haven't you put a scratch card on it? I've won a tenner doing that. And you know what? When I won, it was one of the best shows I've ever done. I also have quite a lot of alcohol, herbal teas, fruit, and a scented candle is on there. Originally my idea was that after a show, I could light the candle and reflect on it. But I mean, I haven't done that for years. So now I've just got a drawer full of candles.
It's a sweet tradition to have and look back on all the shows you've done. So all your years of music making and candle collecting, what's been a moment of joy for you?
It's always the family moments like today, my mum, my dad, my brother, and my sister were here.
When you do music for a living, sometimes you don't wanna talk about it. So it's nice for them to visualise what it is and what's building. Making them smile and feel happy about it. It speaks things that I find it hard to say. They see in a language that translates and it's the best feeling ever to let them see it.
Do you have a favourite lyric or verse that you've written that translates some of what you’ve been feeling?
I've got favourites and I've got ones that I wrote because I thought it sounded good, not because they mean anything. But in 'EVINHA', which is the outro for THE PRICE OF THERAPY, there's a verse at the end which is one of the favourite things I've ever written. I love the way the song builds and the verse builds with it. The emotion doesn't get lost in the beat. Whereas sometimes people just wanna hear a good beat and you could say anything. I feel like it's a perfect balance of tempo but substance. It's important to pick your moments as well. Because sometimes, say I'm making a drum and bass tune, I know some people just wanna dance. But in terms of who I feel I am as an artist, it's that substance that builds a fan base. I feel like without the substance, I'm not an artist. I'm just a rapper.