Watch Sampha Discuss His Mother, Musical Influences, More on “Tavis Smiley”

Earlier this week, Sampha was a guest on “The Tavis Smiley Show.” In a rare talk show interview, the British singer opened up to host Tavis Smiley about the influences and themes behind his recent Process album. Sampha cites Stevie Wonder’s classic 1976 Songs in the Key of Life album as a particularly formative work from his childhood. He mentioned that his father would also purchase an eclectic mix of CDs, like “the Spice Girls, Pavarotti, African music.” Sampha then discussed navigating the spotlight as a solo artist, after being a songwriter for artists like Drake, Kanye, and Solange. Watch the full interview below. 

Before performing “(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano,” Sampha explained how he first got the idea for the song following his mother’s cancer diagnosis:

I had moved out briefly to make music and, when [she was] diagnosed, I moved back home. Literally, I was just sitting on the sofa. We were watching TV and my mum was there. The line, “No one knows me like the piano in my mother’s home,” just kind of came to me from thin air. And it’s just something that stuck with me…

I think it obviously is an ode to my piano, but it’s really an ode to my mother. The most important thing is the piano in my mother’s house and all the kind of how formative that period of time was for me… It was something I could really — I never contemplated before that. [That] this isn’t gonna last forever, this is impermanent. [It was] something that I sort of took for granted, you know, coming back home, being at mum’s house and my mum being there. My piano, obviously, was something that has been there. and stayed the same since I was real young.

Sampha recently shared his new Process film, directed by Khalil Joseph. He also features in Drake’s More Life album on the song “4422.” Revisit our 2013 interview with Sampha. 

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