This week, Pat Hamilton is sitting his third-year exams in a sports hall at the University of Edinburgh. It’s a far cry from the weekend before, when he was playing to a crowd of up to 70,000 opening for Maroon 5 at BST Hyde Park.
It’s a duality the 20-year-old History student knows well, since he released his debut single, Tears of Heaven, two years ago. When we meet backstage at the festival, he towers over me, youthful optimism on long legs. He leans forward on a hot pink deck chair, arms resting on cargo pants, to explain just how closely he toes the line of his double life; dashing from lectures on Italian politics to perform sell-out gigs at King Tut’s – the legendary Glasgow music venue where Oasis was discovered – and writing essays on modern Europe while on tour with indie-pop artist, Finn Forester.
For a lad not born when Adam Levine penned mega hit, She Will Be Loved, he’s wise beyond his years, naturally self-aware. “My second album was funded with student loans,” he says. “I’ve had to make sacrifices when it comes to nights out and seeing friends”. He’s quick to put that into perspective, though. “They’re not huge,” he adds with a laugh. “But when you’re 20, you’d much rather be in the pub watching the football with your mates.”
That restraint, however, only goes so far. “You can’t really write music that’s authentic and means something without lived experiences,” he says. It’s a philosophy that runs through his debut album, To Whom It May Concern. Self-released in 2025, the record blends rap, R&B and pop with country-inspired lyricism, and it’s difficult to imagine it resonating in quite the same way without that emotional honesty at its core. Since then, the album has surpassed one million streams, helped him build an audience of more than 27,000 followers on TikTok, and prompted comparisons with artists including Sam Fender, Paolo Nutini, Lewis Capaldi and Hamilton’s own musical hero, Ed Sheeran.
“His Divide show at Hampden Park back in 2018 was the first gig I ever went to willingly,” he says. “He’s had a huge influence on my music, which I think is pretty identifiable, sometimes.” But it’s not just the Castle on the Hill hitmaker’s sound and style Hamilton has taken inspiration from. He’s also learned to harness the power of the white lie. “He wrote Galway Girl about someone from Cork,” he explains. “My songs aren’t entirely autobiographicals either, more based on a true story.” Take, Colorado, one of Hamilton’s more heartfelt heartbreak songs, being inspired by a woman from Michigan. “Colorado rhymes with Glasgow, Michigan does not,” he smirks. “I’m afraid, that’s songwriting for you.”
Although he didn’t sing solo until the age of 16, Hamilton’s self-assured charm could be attributed to his longstanding experience of performing as part of a collective. He studied under Christopher Bell as a member of the National Youth Choir of Scotland, later training classically at the Royal Conservatoire in Scotland, where he achieved an A-grade distinction in both voice and saxophone.
His practical understanding of music theory probably helps too. “It’s never a bad thing when you can use technical terms when you’re working with a producer,” he says. “It’s a lot better than saying, ‘Can you make me sound less underwater?’”
Having experienced both the state and private education systems, Hamilton has a confidence that’s warm rather than cocky, balancing ambition with a healthy dose of pragmatism. When I ask if he plans to incorporate his classical training into any upcoming music, his answer is refreshingly candid. “I’d love to follow artists like RAYE and lean further into the classical side of things – performing with an orchestra for example,” he says. “But I’m fully independent. I don’t have a label or publisher behind the scenes pulling the levers, so I have to be realistic about the budget I’m working with.”
For now, the Glaswegian songwriter has two priorities. The first is repaying the faith that AEG Presents, the promoter behind BST Hyde Park, has placed in him.
“I don’t care if there are 10 people or 10,000 people watching,” he says. “I’ve got a job to do.”
The second is making sure he isn’t the last young Scottish artist to get an opportunity like this.
“Music is such a London-centric industry,” he says. “Scottish artists are often criminally overlooked. Chances like this don’t come around very often, so I’m not just representing myself today. I’m representing artists like Abbie Gordon, Shay O’Dowd, Kerr Mercer, Archie, Blair Gilmour and Ben Walker, who are all coming through in Scotland.”
Back in the less glamorous student world of snakebite hangovers and 2am taxi confessionals, there’s the small matter of a dissertation topic to think about. Curiously, it seems to daunt Hamilton more than broadcasting his – lightly edited – diary to a field full of strangers.
The reason soon becomes clear.
“Both my grandad and my dad are medieval historians,” he says. “I think I’m going to focus on modern Italian history instead, so I’ll probably be letting the side down.”
Given everything else he’s achieved so far, somehow, I doubt it.
WHEREVEER WITH ME is out now, follow via@pat.h.official
Interview Jessica Phillips
Photography Sienna Lorraine Gray
