[FEATURE] VIPER PRESENTS: TOMMY SAINT

Signed to 10K Projects, North London artist and producer Tommy Saint’s music is rooted in melodic alt-Hip Hop and alt-R&B. Get familiar with this VIPER interview…

What five words define your sound?

dark, atmospheric, resonant, demanding, evocative.

Tell me something unique about your creative process? 

I produce and engineer all of my own music.

Which song of yours would you like people to hear first?

‘billie jean’

What inspired you to make that song? 

A situation I was dealing with at the time… the song describes it better than I can.

What’s the most vulnerable you’ve allowed yourself to be when writing/making music?

I think ‘Elixir’ is one of my most vulnerable songs. There’s also a track I wrote last year that I would say is my most vulnerable, but I’m not sure if it’ll ever get released. The writing is a bit too literal and exposing. I’m still finding the balance of writing in a vulnerable state, without oversharing.

What’s the best/worst experience you’ve had on stage?

I haven’t performed that much yet so I don’t have a huge amount of stories to delve into. I guess the best experience so far was my first show, just because it was the first time seeing people outside of my friendship group recognise and enjoy my music. The worst experience… I’m sure it’ll arrive sooner or later.

What is your favourite song to perform?

Probably ‘Never’, I always close my sets with it and it seems to be a crowd favourite.

Which artist/song/album made you want to make music?

Michael Jackson, Kendrick Lamar, Mac Miller.

What’s the meaning behind your name?

It’s a play on my real name. And I, obviously, live the life of a Saint.

If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing instead?

I think about this a lot, but I still have no solid answer. Most of my hobbies faded over the years as all of my time became dedicated to music. And there’s still a lot of things I’m interested in, but none that I love enough to dedicate my life to. So I guess the answer is, I have no idea.

What’s success to you?

Being happy with my day to day life. Having a schedule where any average day is an exciting and fulfilling one. 

What moment in your life/career forced you to change direction?

Within my career, I haven’t really had to change direction yet. The direction has pretty much stayed the same, I’m just discovering different ways of getting there.

Where can people keep in touch with you? 

Instagram or TikTok. @tommysaint