SG·刘易斯

Samuel George Lewis (born 9 July 1994) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is known for collaborating with artists including Tove Lo, Robyn, Dua Lipa, Nelly Furtado, Mabel, Victoria Monét, Lucky Daye, Jessie Ware, JP Cooper, Raye, Bruno Major, Ray BLK, Frances, Clairo, and LANY.

Career

2014–2016: Career beginnings

A native of Reading, England, Lewis first became interested in music in his teens and played in several bands before experimenting with remixing tracks. Influenced by the introspective pop of Bon Iver and James Blake, as well as the club-ready hip-hop of artists including Common, Timbaland, and The Neptunes, Lewis began posting his own evocative, moody tracks online. He quickly built a loyal following and eventually secured a residency DJing at Liverpool's Chibuku Club. He said, "Being a resident DJ at Chibuku in Liverpool was fundamental. It allowed me to spend a lot of time behind the decks and see a different top DJ every week. Genre-wise, Chibuku has had everything: house, dubstep, techno, drum 'n' bass. The first night I went to, Ben Klock was playing downstairs and Andy C upstairs. There aren't many places in the world where you'd get those two on the same line-up. You have this new wave of electronic producers who are largely SoundCloud-based, making electronic music without any thought to the club. That's great. But there's so much to be learned from the old-school approach of resident DJing."

In 2014, Lewis signed his debut record deal with PMR Records, who is home to Jessie Ware, Disclosure, and other artists. He was exhilarated and said, "I spent every day of the summer in my bedroom writing a load of music. My friend Grant had started managing me, and he was meeting a load of people in London. My music got sent round by some A&R's, who passed it on to the PMR guys. PMR Records was one of my favourite labels at the time, so when they called us in for a meeting I was so excited. I had no idea they were interested in signing me, but after one meeting and playing everything I had, they decided to sign me straight away!" After being signed, he grabbed the attention of Disclosure and they invited him to play at a 2,000-year-old castle in Ibiza (Ibiza, Spain) with them.

In 2015, he released his debut extended play, entitled Shivers featuring guest appearances from Louis Mattrs and JP Cooper. In 2016, he released a second extended play entitled Yours with "Yours", a lead single and title track. "Yours" has un-credited vocals from the rising singer-songwriter Raye. Lewis collaborated on songs with Howard Lawrence and Gallant.

2017–2019: Dusk, Dark and Dawn

Throughout 2017, Lewis released singles and was shown to Virgin EMI Records to which he later signed. In 2018, he announced that he was working on his debut album, which was set to be released in three parts or extended plays–later announced as Dusk, Dark and Dawn. The project's lead single and first song to be released from Dusk was revealed, entitled "Aura", featuring vocals from J Warner. "Aura" came out on 18 January 2018. Soon "Coming Up" was released as its second single. Dusk was released on 6 April 2018.

Later in 2018 he recorded two breakthrough collaborations in Los Angeles,"Better", with Clairo at the time a DIY producer and now a recording artist from Massachusetts, and "Hurting" featuring British dance music duo AlunaGeorge. "Better" was described by Clairo as "one of the first big steps [she's] made into pop music" and also one of her first proper collaborations with another artist. The song was also praised when it was named Clara Amfo's "Track of the Week". As well as being played across Radio 1, 1xtra and Beats1, the track reached the number one spot on the iTunes Electronic Chart. Prior to the release of Dark, SG Lewis released two more songs called "A.A.T.", featuring Drew Love, and "Again", featuring Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (TEED). Dark was eventually released on 9 November 2018 with additional collaborations (affiliate Bruno Major and Dot Major now London Grammar).

In 2019, Lewis released the first single, entitled "Blue", from the third and supposedly last phase of his debut album Dawn. The second single from Dawn, entitled "Throwaway", was released as the second collaborative track between Lewis and Clairo, after "Better". Lewis said about the song, "Clairo is one of my favourite artists to work with, and a good friend of mine...Throwaway was written in LA one evening–we were both super tired and had some s_ going on in our respective personal lives. We sat and talked for ages, and after that Throwaway flowed out in no time at all. Clairo is such a special artist and an incredible songwriter, and I'm super proud of this song."