24-year-old singer-songwriter Will Swinton is set to take the music industry by storm.

With a soulful discography, the singer from New Zealand has a talent for transporting the listener to a dreamy, nostalgic soundscape that describes your emotions as though he felt them before you did. During his early days in Auckland, Swinton could be found working at a trampoline park and skating with his friends. But every evening, he dedicated his time to making music. Teaching himself from scratch, Swinton learned to play guitar, sing and produce music. He found himself ‘addicted’ to the simple joy of creation, and so he would write one song every day after work. With this commitment came an ever-evolving and improving ear for melody. It should therefore come as no surprise that his talent was soon discovered.

After one blog reposted a song, the musician received an influx of praise from music managers, all asking the same question: ‘Do you have any plans on coming to LA?’ On a whim, Swinton sold his car and flew to LA to chase his dreams, with no expectations and totally unaware of what journey would unfold. After time working with his manager and sleeping on his sofa, Swinton signed a record deal with 10K Projects and Capitol Records, which has housed a series of iconic artists such as Mazzy Star, the Beatles and Frank Sinatra. He then eventually released his debut seven-track EP Better Days in 2023.

Swinton boasts a gripping discography. From his deeply vulnerable debut single “All For You” which rose through the New Zealand Hot Singles charts in 2022, to “Daydream”, an intimately nostalgic story of loss with guitars that thrum like a pulse. One thing has remained consistent throughout – Swinton’s ear for melody. His attention to detail in crafting catchy melodies has garnered the attention of many, with Kelly Clarkson covering his song ‘Flames’ and Machine Gun Kelly showing interest, following a chance meeting in Idaho. 

His new single “Find A Way” perfectly encapsulates a vision of ethereal rock, centred on an exhilarating live performance and melody that you couldn’t forget if you tried. 

In conversation with 1883 Magazine, Will Swinton discusses his new single “Find A Way”, finding his sound through a writing retreat in Mexico, training his brain to be more like AI, and a funny little story about pranking his entire school.

To start, I would love to hear about your new single, “Find A Way”. How did it come together, and what inspired it? Was it a melody, a lyric, just an idea?

With that one, it was part of a bunch of songs that I’ve got that are all unreleased. They’re all a bit of a different sound for me, like it’s a new sonic and a new sound for me. Obviously, it’s the first song I released this year. At the start of this year, I was listening to all of my music and I was listening to all of other people’s music, and I was having almost an issue with my taste, like I realised nothing really sounds good or was inspiring to me and I just wasn’t in love with the music I had out. So I wanted to take a little bit of a break; I don’t want to release anything.

So me and my producers actually went and did a writing trip. We went out to Mexico, and my goal was I just wanted to make music that was exactly like, I just wanted to take my taste that was in my brain and put it out into a song and then that’s literally how “Find A Way” came out. I don’t really know how to describe the song, but it feels different to me, and that’s exactly the type of song I want to make. So for example,, if people ask what kind of music I make, I want to show them ‘Find A Way’, because that’s what I want my sound to be. 

It sounds like you’ve been experimenting with a lot of new sounds then. What was it about this particular style that really resonated with you and made you think, ‘this is me’? 

With “Find A Way”, I really liked that it’s fun to play live. With a lot of these new songs I’ve been making, I’ve really had the element of a live show in mind. I want to be able to put on a really good live show, so that has been the main thing. But also, something I like about “Find A Way” is that a lot of my songs are a little bit on the sadder side. You don’t really want to listen to them in a whole group of people. I’m not saying ‘Find A Way’ is the happiest song ever, but it does sound like you can listen to it, you know. You could put it on in a car without getting a weird look. 

[Laughs] You can have a jam to it. When I listen to it, I’d describe the song as a ‘dreamy, nostalgic soundscape’.

Yeah. I like that.

So is that the feeling you wanted to invoke in your audience?

Yeah, I like that it’s got that almost beachy sort of vibe. It just feels like you’re cruising along a highway and it’s got that guitar riff. That is what makes it so… like you say, kind of dreamy. That’s the first thing we came up with for the song. My guitarist and my producer, Ethan, made it and we were just like, ‘oh my gosh’.  We had the instrumental for it – we had the beats made before we had any lyrics on it, or anything. We basically had the whole production done before we had any lyrics or any melody and I would just play that in the car for like two weeks just listening to it on repeat. Then eventually we came up with the chorus and moved from there. 

So the lyrics came last… So when you were creating it, what was the feeling you were going for and what made you think ‘yeah, this is it’? I mean, those guitars sound almost ethereal.  

When I take time on a song, I just pride melody over everything else. Obviously I love writing lyrics, but for me, the top of my pyramid – above production, above lyrics, songwriting – is just melody. I will try 100 different melodies on a song until I find one that I’m like ‘oh yeah, this is the one’. The perfect one for it. I have an absolute obsession with melodies. Actually, there was a period last year, where for about six months I would only listen to a song if I thought it was a 10/10 melody. I listened to lots and lots of Max Martin. Heaps of Max Martin actually. So I would listen to so much Max Martin, because I had this weird thing where I was trying to like, train my brain to only think in perfect Max Martin melodies.

Do you mean training your brain like AI?

Literally! I didn’t want to say that, but that’s literally what I would say to my manager. I would say I’m trying to treat my brain like a little AI, and I wanted to only be able to pull from what I thought was a perfect melody. So I have playlists in my head; I don’t really listen to anything else unless I think the melody is perfect. I’m really weird about my taste. That’s why I’m so weird about my melodies and it takes so long to do it on every song. 

So would you say you’re quite detail oriented and you’d never put something out that ‘will do’ – you really value the artistry more than, for example, how much something will sell? 

I think, well like I said, for me it’s just all about the melody. If I don’t really like the melody then I won’t put the song out. But to be honest, a good melody does sell, so it kind of goes hand in hand. 

Very true! So then, when you’ve got the melody that you’re happy with, how do the lyrics come into that? I’ve noticed that you’ve built quite a community of fans who strongly  resonate with your lyrics and your vocals – that seems to be one of your main selling points. Is it difficult to write such raw lyrics for your songs? 

Sometimes it comes so easy – you can kind of just feel what the song feels like and it almost just gives you the lyrics. You just know what it needs to be about. But sometimes, if you’re writing about something a bit more abstract, it just takes a bit of time. 

So would you say that the lyrics often find you more than you find them?

Yeah, sometimes I’ll start singing a melody and it will literally just – like, for “Find A Way“, when that melody came, the lyrics just came with it. I don’t know where it comes from, but that one, I just sang it how it was, and it was like [sings] ‘Ooh, if you love me then you’ll find a way’. It just came out of me and I don’t even know where it comes from. 

I think those are the best lyrics when you don’t have to try too hard and they just happen naturally. 

Yeah for sure.

So then, tell me about this writing trip to Mexico! That sounds crazy. 

Yeah, it was so epic. Basically, I’ve been working with the same two producers for over a year, and those are my guys. Paul and Ethan. We just have the perfect synergy, so whenever we lock in we just end up making something that we all really love. We just said look, let’s just go, get out somewhere, go somewhere by the beach and just lock in, get a fresh stance on what we want to make. And honestly? All those songs we made there, they’re my favourite songs by far. I just think a writing trip is really…

…Cathartic?

It’s just, it’s really good… for me it’s really good because there’s a pressure that you get. For me personally, when I have to go into the studio and we’ve got ‘this time ‘till this time’ to make a song, there’s a little bit of pressure to get a song done. I think any pressure just kills creativity and kills a song. So when we went on this writing trip to Mexico, as soon as we’d feel inspired we could go ‘Oh, let’s make something’. Then, as soon as it goes, we’d go walk down to the beach, get a banana smoothie or something like that. Anytime of the day. Since we were together 24 hours a day, any time of the day that we were inspired we could hone in on it. There was no pressure to say we’ve got to make something between this and that time and that, honestly, was really good for me. 

Love that.  

I think about that a lot. Say when an artist blows up and they don’t have a song ready to go. I can imagine it being so difficult to make a new song because they’ve got that pressure of ‘Oh my God I need to come out with a new single’.

I completely get that. So how would you say your writing has evolved since you started as an artist back in New Zealand? Do you have any different processes or fresh inspirations? 

I’ve always had the same writing strategy. Melody always comes first and then I fill in with the lyrics. Although I think my writing has definitely evolved and is definitely still evolving, so that’s just something that can always get better. But with new inspirations, there always is just stuff going on, but… Sometimes I’ll write about things that are going on in my life at times. Sometimes I will, but it’s rare that I do.

Someone once told me that ‘you’re supposed to write about your scars and not your wounds’. That always just stuck with me. You don’t want to write about something that’s too fresh – you just want to be able to pull from the past; that way you’ve got a more solid view of it. It’s a weird thing, but it always just stuck with me. 

That’s fascinating. I suppose then, you can look at past wounds with a level head, see things more accurately and then you can write from a more informed perspective. So it’s still real to you, but I imagine it’s a lot easier to put such deep songs out into the public eye. 

Yeah, exactly. 

So melody comes first for you. I suppose that makes sense because you originally wanted to be a Drum and Bass DJ, didn’t you? 

[Laughs] Yeah. I’m glad that didn’t work out. That was never going to work out – you should have heard what I was making. It was horrible. 

That must have been when you were just getting started though.

It was, and my friends made it known that it was horrible. It’s funny, at the time I was doing that and after I gave that up, I was like ‘Ok, maybe DJ’ing is not the thing for me’, and I had already got all the software on my computer so I thought I might as well use it for something. I had  bought a little USB microphone, just a little one that you plug into your laptop, and I started just singing over these Youtube instrumentals and I started making little guitar riffs that I was singing over. I realised ‘wait, this is actually so fun’. I basically just got hooked and addicted to just making songs. I made it a goal of mine to make a song every single day and at the time, I was working at a trampoline park in New Zealand. I would get home from the trampoline park, make a song every day and I was just obsessed with it.

Then, fast forward a little bit; I put a song out on Spotify and it kind of just – some blog found it and reposted it. It wasn’t a big blog, but it was a music blog that had a bunch of managers looking at it. So once they reposted it, I had about three different managers from LA reach out to me, like ‘Yo, have you got any plans to come to LA?’. I told them, ‘yeah I’m gonna be there in two weeks’! I had zero plan of being out in LA, but in my head, I was like, if I can lock in these three meetings, then I’m just gonna sell my car, I’m gonna quit at the trampoline park and I’m gonna fly out to LA and see what I can do. Fast forward, that’s what I ended up doing. I sold my car, told my Mum that I was gonna go traveling. My dad was completely against it.

I was a little bit delusional at the time, like ‘yeah, lets just see what happens’. I didn’t realise how big LA was going to be at the time. I went out with my skateboard, thinking I could just skate around the whole city. In New Zealand it’s so small, you literally can just skate from one side of the city to the other. So, I thought I was gonna be able to do that. But, I met up with my manager, who’s my current manager now, and we just clicked. Straight away. We had the exact same music taste and that was the most important thing for me when I was meeting these managers, their music taste.

I loved that Ryan, who’s my manager now, just had a really similar music taste. We liked all the same things. About one month into being in LA, I completely ran out of money because obviously the New Zealand dollar in Auckland is a whole lot different to the US dollar. But we just said let’s do this. He let me sleep on his couch. He started managing me. We basically recorded my first whole EP in his living room – he had a one-bedroom apartment and we were just working out of there. 

Yeah, so I literally just lived on his couch for about a year and we didn’t sign a record deal for like, a year and a half. So when we did sign a record deal, I had zero dollars to my name. Ryan was in full credit card debt, but we were both just completely invested in each other. 

Having someone who believes in you that much must have been really encouraging to keep going. 

Yeah, I guess we were like that with each other. We did so many meetings with so many labels and we were just completely delusional with every single one of them. We did not have the music to back it up at the time, but we both just thought we were the top dogs and we were absolutely not. We’d walk in like that, but it’s just funny how delusional we were, and I guess that’s how you’ve got to be. 

That’s such a crazy story. It must have been so scary getting on that plane, not knowing what was going to happen. 

Yeah. Oh my God. I got held up at customs for like, six hours. I didn’t have a Visa at the time, and they were like ‘what are you doing over here? What are you gonna do here for three months?’ And I was like ‘oh, you know, just going for some meetings’.

[Laughs] Wow, so safe to say this whole journey was pretty unexpected. 

Yeah. If me three years ago could see me now – my life – I would freak out. 

Would you say that it’s changed you much or are you still the same Will that hopped on that plane? 

It’s hard to say. I still think I’m the exact same and I just, you know… I have, just my real solid group of pals that I’ve always had. The same pals that I’ve always had. 

The OG’s. 

Yeah. I’d like to think I’m still the same Will. [Laughs]

What’s one thing that you’ve taken from New Zealand that has kept you going through this journey? 

Every year around December and January, I get to go back to New Zealand and it feels just good. I get to see my family and friends again and just catch up. But something I feel like I’ve taken with me? You know when you go on holiday, or go on vacation to a new country and you just feel super abundant, because you’re in a new place? So, you’re less shy to talk to people when you’re out in the street, and you’re less shy to talk to people in a store or something. I feel like it’s just, because I’m not from America, I feel like I just permanently carry that abundant feeling, where I will go and just talk to anyone. You know what I mean? I just permanently have that feeling. It’s a good  feeling. 

I understand, but it’s hard to put that kind of feeling into words isn’t it. Is it also that you feel you’re bringing something new to your environment? 

It is hard to put into words. It just feels like this is all really dreamy, that it almost just doesn’t feel real. So it gives me this confidence. It is hard to put into words, it’s a dense thought. 

Sorry, I’ve just realised I’ve only got you for three more minutes! So to wrap up, what does this all mean to you? Is there anything you’d like to tell your fans about your journey or your plans? 

Hmm. Sorry, I didn’t realise I’d been rambling on for the past 15 minutes. It’s hard to say, could you be a bit more specific? 

So, that abundant feeling you describe. I’m guessing it invokes a lot of gratitude for you. Obviously a lot of people are coming together over your message and your voice. A lot of people resonate with your music and style because it invokes strong feelings. So how does it feel knowing that so many people are coming together over your music? 

I guess it is just gratitude. I adore the feeling of listening to a song, and just, when you just feel it. It’s the best feeling ever. 

You feel understood by it.

To be able to give that feeling to someone else, is really… 

It’s a special feeling.

I’m obsessed with when you find a song and you feel something about it. It does feel really… It is a special feeling. And if even just one person feels like they can relate to one of my songs like that, it is really gratifying. 

I imagine it gets quite overwhelming sometimes, especially when you’ve got so many people in your comments saying ‘wow, I’ve got this on repeat, keep doing what you’re doing’. 

[Laughs] yeah, it does get a little overwhelming sometimes.

I can imagine. I think time’s pretty much up sadly! 

Look, you can go on as long as you want, I’ve got the time. If you have more questions, that’s fine. Whatever you need. 

Oh amazing! If you’re happy to go on then I’d love to ask you some more questions. 

Yeah, I’m happy to do more. 

Great, so what’s next for you and your artistic journey? Can we expect any album releases?

Well. That Mexico writing trip did produce a lot of songs that I really love. So…

So we can expect quite a lot?

We can expect quite a lot. I’m excited. And I have some live shows coming up. Live tours. 

Well I hope we do see you in the UK sometime, I think you’ve got a growing fanbase here. Speaking of your fans, you’ve got quite a big celebrity following now, haven’t you? 

Uhh, maybe. There’s been some cool, I don’t know, what’s the word for that? Cosigns? 

Cosigns, yeah. Like Kelly Clarkson covering your song “Flames”?

Oh my god, that was crazy. The Kelly Clarkson thing, that was when my family and all my buddies back in New Zealand were like, ‘oh wait, so this is a real thing’. That was the thing that made them realise this is real.

I was living with my manager at the time when she covered that song. I was asleep and he woke me up and was like ‘Dude, Kelly Clarkson just covered your song on her show!’ That was crazy.

Was that the moment for you that you realised, ‘hang on, maybe I’m actually going to make it with this’?

Yeah. That was definitely one of my super highlights of this year. That felt really good. I was like, ‘Dang…’

Because like I said, I’d been so obsessed with Max Martin and listening to all of Max Martin’s songs. Max Martin was all over Kelly Clarkson’s songwriting and it made me think a lot. Like maybe… actually no, I’m not gonna go there. 

No, go ahead!

Look, I don’t want to really quote this because it kind of just sounds a little bit weird, but I thought, ‘I wonder if, because I listened to so much Max Martin…’

Do you feel like you manifested it?

Kind of. It’s hard to describe, but just to complete the thought, it just made me think. Because P!nk did recently just follow me as well, who again, Max Martin wrote a ton of P!nk songs. So I thought, I wonder if because I listened to so much Max Martin and got a lot of melodic inspiration from him, that P!nk and Kelly Clarkson subconsciously recognised that in my melodies and that’s what attracted them to my songs. I thought maybe that makes a little bit of sense, I don’t know… Anyway [laughs].

I get that. They clearly feel a resonance with that style and I guess they recognised that in you. 

Exactly yeah. 

So, Max Martin, was he one of your formative inspirations? 

I mean, when I was little I used to listen to whatever my Mum listened to. I remember the first song I ever heard being ‘Other Side’ by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. 

Great choice.

Then I would listen to like, Madonna in the back of my Mum’s car, she had James Blunt, we would listen to Kings of Leon. It was all good, pop kind of music. 

That’s such a wide span of music.

I love James Blunt. I’m wearing James Blunt merch right now! [shows T shirt logo].

[Laughs] Love that. Is he one of your music heroes that you’d love to meet one day?

Oh my God yeah. I saw his show in LA like, two months ago. I just love so many of his songs. He has really good melodies too. I appreciate lots of his melodies. 

He’s another one of those artists where, I think the reason he’s so popular is that he makes music that evokes a feeling in people. People resonate with him really strongly and I’d say that’s also what your music does for people. 

Thank you. I do love listening to his music. Kings Of Leon for me are a big inspiration. They rock.

Are you into much rock music then? Is that shaping your sound at the moment?

Yeah, I don’t know what the word is. Is that rock? Are they rock?

They’re rock-ish, aren’t they? Rock-lite. 

Yeah. “Find A Way” does feel a little bit like that. 

It’s got that rock vibe. I’ll call it dreamy-rock. 

Yeah, dreamy-rock. I like that. 

So, how did music shape you growing up? Was music an escape for you? An inspiration?

Well, when I first started listening to music, it was what my Mum would listen to. Whatever my parents would listen to. Then in High School I loved discovering new music. I always wanted to be the first person to discover a new artist. I wanted to listen to everything underground, I didn’t want to listen to anything mainstream, you know. I was a skater, so I was listening to like, this underground rap music that sounded like it was made in a Garage. Now I just listen to songs that I think are 10/10 immaculate songs. But melody was always important for me. 

So, with listening to Soundcloud rappers that you could skate to, is that what life looked like for you back then? Is that how your love of the craft started? 

Well, I don’t know if that’s how it started. It wasn’t really about the music, I just loved skateboarding. Before I started making music, I didn’t really have any plans. All I wanted to do was just work – I mean, I worked at this trampoline park for like, five years and everyday afterwards, I would go and skate with my friends. I just thought that was what I was gonna do forever. Just hang out with my buddies and skateboard until I got old. 

What was the moment that you decided you were going to chase your dreams? That you weren’t going to stay working at that trampoline park and you were going to just follow this through and see what happened?

I think it did just all come from that one blog reposting me. I guess I should shout them out actually. It was called ‘Fashionably Early’, which was a music blog. When they did that, it led a bunch of other people in the music industry to reach out to me and when they all reached out to me, it was like, ‘whoah’. This is a legit thing. This is just something I did for a fun hobby everyday, but these are all people who do it for work. I thought, ‘maybe I could do it for work’, you know. 

So, if you never expected it to go where it did, what was your dream? Where would you be now if this had never happened?

Oh my God, I have no idea. I literally have no idea. I actually had no plan B. I would have just, yeah. I don’t know. I was out here and thought that if this didn’t work out, I would just go back to New Zealand and figure it out. Go back to the trampoline park again, or something. I think honestly, that actually helped. Having no plan B just lit a little bit of a fire underneath me, to really try and make it work. 

I guess that helped you in a way because, in going all in, it’s worked out pretty well for you. 

Yeah, it is crazy. I feel so lucky. 

Speaking of how far you’ve come, I never asked you about your music video! 

Yeah, that’s my best performing video. I was surprised to see it doing that well, that quickly. 

What made you go with the black and white theme and the band taking centre stage? Were you going for that raw, stripped back theme of keeping the music and melody in focus?

Yeah I just liked that it was focussed on the song and I really like the song. With these new songs being based on the performance, I just wanted the music video to feel like that as well. 

I see, so the artistic thread was the live performance. What was the best part of shooting it? Were there any hiccups? 

I mean, we did three music videos that day. Three in one day, and it was hot. It was so hot. We were out in the Desert and then it was nearly midnight by the time we were shooting that last one, and it was freezing. We were not dressed for where we were. We were freezing our butts off! But that’s for another music video that’s coming out. This next song that’s coming out is my favourite song. 

Your favourite? I’d love to know some details, but I’m sure you’re not allowed to tell me what it’s called.

No I can! It’s called ‘Better Off’.

‘Better Off’. Lovely. Am I allowed to know anything about that?

… Nah. [Laughs]. Nah. 

[Laughs] Well, I won’t pry if you’re not allowed to tell me, but I can’t wait to hear it. Just to wrap up then, there is one thing, a little unrelated, that I just can’t resist asking you about. A little birdy tells me that you were quite the rebel back in school. Something about hacking the school website with a fake cyclone warning? 

[Laughs]. Oh gosh. So this was literally my first term – do you guys call it a term over there in the UK? – It was my first term of Highschool, so I was about 14. My writing teacher was the Dean, and so she had all access to the School portal and the websites and stuff. Me and my buddies were all in that class, and one time she was logging into the School portal on her account, but she did it on the projector. It was on the projector and you could see her login, so one of my buddies wrote it down. 

Oh my gosh.

Then, two weeks later, we had this cyclone come into New Zealand. It wasn’t a crazy cyclone, but it was news that a cyclone was coming. So I had photoshopped this whole fake article, about how the cyclone was coming and that the School was closed on this day. 

Wow. 

Yeah. So it said the School was closed on these certain dates. So we logged into her account and changed the School portal homepage to this article and then sent it round to as many people as possible. We thought it was so funny, and then, those dates come up and the cyclone is here. I go to school that day and it is just a ghost town. Apparently more than three quarters of the school didn’t show up that day. I thought if I showed up, I couldn’t get in trouble. 

[Laughs] Hiding in plain sight. 

Yeah, but the word got round that it was me. I sat in my home room and was basically one of the only ones in there. First thing in the morning, the Principal walks into my class and says ‘You need to come and speak with us’. I did get in trouble. I got suspended for a week. 

But honestly, the teachers were cool about it, the Principal even said ‘Look, I did think it was funny, but we have to suspend you just because we cannot be seen to let this be tolerated’. My parents thought it was funny, so I got suspended for a week, but that was basically just a week’s holiday for me. I just went to the skate park. Chilled out. 

Crazy. When I heard that it just sent me. Sounds like you were the teacher’s favourite, nonetheless. Anyway, I’ve actually run out of questions now. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. 

Yeah, thank you so much!

It’s been lovely chatting with you, enjoy the rest of your day!

Alright cool, I had a really nice chat with you. Have a good evening!

Interview Katie Eliza

Photography Nicole Masri