Rising pop sensation Sam DeRosa is back – pouring her heart into new single “321.” With slick vocals backed by a playful instrumental, Sam gives listeners a taste of her debut EP The Medicine due out November 13th via Monument Records.
The Los Angeles-based artist delivers a hypnotic track, unearthing the plethora of feelings that surface post-breakup. From the very first verse, “321” describes a night that some may know all too well. The drinks are flowing, the music is blasting, the night is young… but your suppressed emotions decide to pop back in for a little surprise.
Suddenly you find yourself crying on a random bathroom floor. Did you make a mistake? Do you want them back? Or is this just the alcohol talking?
“Vodka soda, I sip it slowly, I get a little dangerous when I get lonely… I’m nervous, got me shaking, got me feeling like the old me…” Sam professes.
Penning the track from her own experience bumping into an ex, Sam perfectly captures the universal emotional turmoil that takes over you from the unexpected encounter. “It’s a moment that we all experience in a break up: the late night, sometimes tipsy, moment of regret…when you tend to go crazy in your thoughts and think that you’ve made a mistake and after all this time, you want this person back. But do you really?” She continues, “It’s a vulnerable and honest story that 90% of us have experienced. Hopefully my fans will hear this and feel like I’m right there with them – whether we are stumbling home, dancing around the house, or crying it out on the bedroom floor. I’ve been there, so I’ll sing them through it.” Sam additionally shares with PARADE, “The day I met my co-writer was the day that we wrote this song. We quickly became friends and bonded over our wild love stories. ‘321’ was a concept and title I’d been wanting to write for a while and the end result was a musical story that had happened to both of us.”
Following a remarkable performance of her original song “Pill For This” on NBC’s Songland (with special guest Charlie Puth), Sam DeRosa instantly stole judges Shane McAnally, Ester Dean, and Ryan Tedder’s hearts. While Sam is far from just any overnight TV series success, it was this moment of utter vulnerability that sparked her partnership with multi Grammy Award-winning songwriter and producer Shane McAnally (Kacey Musgraves, Kelly Clarkson, Sam Hunt) and her first major record deal with Monument Records (a joint venture with Sony Music). Sam tells PEOPLE, “I never in a million, trillion years thought that it would happen this way… I’ve been waiting tables and bartending, singing cover gigs and missing holidays with my family for gigs that only paid $50. I always thought, there’s no way when you put this much energy into something that can’t work.”
Upon its release in 2019, “Pill For This” landed on the Top 5 US iTunes Sales Chart and has racked up over 4 million streams to date. The single was also featured across several notable playlists including Spotify’s New Music Friday and Chilled Pop Hits, Apple Music’s New Music Daily and A-List Pop, as well as Amazon’s Introducing Pop and Brand New Music. American Songwriter commended Sam for her “heartfelt delivery and ability to pinpoint an infectious melody” while HollywoodLife praised the visual component for “accurately capturing the strife and struggle that comes when trying to pick up the pieces after a broken heart.” Billboard later premiered the stripped down version of “Pill For This,” closing the chapter of her life as just a writer behind the scenes and primed her for stardom.
Looking back, it’s surprising that the New York-raised and Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter didn’t often share her music with those around her. Although she began writing her own songs at a very young age, Sam would opt to perform cover songs whilst competing in talent show after talent show – only to lose out to other contestants. At 15, she decided to bring her keyboard onstage to sing one of her own written songs. Staying true to herself, she was finally awarded a perfect score. It was then that she discovered the formula to honest success and began to embrace her newfound confidence.
After graduating from Berklee College of Music, Sam was invited to one of her first co-writing sessions in New York. Making the drive from Boston to New York City, she co-wrote a song called “Broken.” Two years later plus a move to Los Angeles, “Broken” became a multi-platinum smash hit for lovelytheband and the longest charting rock song in radio history.
Sam’s credits have grown exponentially since, including cuts with Adam Jensen, blackbear, Jared Lee, Peking Dukand Alisa Xayalith (of the The Naked And Famous), Lil Mosey, Welshly Arms, as well as Tik Tok-star-turned-performer Dixie D’Amelio on her groundbreaking #1 debut “Be Happy.” However, with the release of “321” and her upcoming EP (which will also include “Pill For This”), Sam DeRosa is ready to bask in the spotlight.
