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He looks down and chuckles shyly, blushing from the attention of an auditorium packed with adoring teenage girls. When Sammy looks up, he flashes his genuine, ear-to-ear boyish grin and the crowd erupts in a tizzy of screams and flailing arms. I am front row center, immersed in fangirl madness with a perfect view of their idol, Sammy Wilkinson, who is about to perform his newest single “Could Be”. The lights dim, the music starts, and Sammy comes to life on stage. At that moment I get it: he is captivating.

This week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Sammy for an exclusive interview - on his music, his fans, his values, and his crazy rise to internet stardom.

Keep reading for the full interview ✨✨✨

So Sammy, you have over 1.5 MILLION fans on social media… how did this happen?? How did you go from being a normal high school kid in Omaha to being an international superstar?

Wow… it’s sort of surreal actually. This kinda all started back in Senior year with my buddies Jack and Jack. We were all just chillin, messing around on Vine and being typical teenage boys - and then one of the videos they made went viral and they got 30k new followers. From that point on, we started getting fans from all over. Then the tour Magcon hit us up and invited us to come perform with huge Viners at the time like Nash Grier and Cameron Dallas - that exposure really grew our fanbase. I started making music with my friend Skate Maloley and we went on another tour with the Jacks - DigiTour - and that’s when we really started blowing up. It was the scariest, coolest, craziest, most amazing experience. We were literally living in two different worlds: one where people were going crazy listening to our music at these shows, and one where we were just normal high school kids, going to class, playing sports and doing homework. I just kept rolling with it, and it’s mind-blowing that I’m here right now.

Tell us about your music: What is your sound and what inspires your music?

My music is a mesh of reggae, pop, and hip hop. I’m from Omaha, Nebraska so everyone’s always like “why are you doing reggae music… how do you even know about reggae music?” I grew up listening to it, and my sister’s boyfriend was a huge influence on me. He was in a reggae band and took me along to concerts - he really introduced me to the whole scene. The music I’m making now is a reflection of what I’ve always listened to. The sound just creates good vibes - you listen to the music and it will uplift you.

What can we expect from your new album Ready for War? Any exciting collaborations?

Ready for War has 14 tracks, ranging from soft reggae, to pop, to pretty hard-hitting hip hop/reggae - so you get a little bit of everything. The way this album came together… it just really feels like me and my vibe as a person. The whole project is literally me translated to music. At first I was making strictly hip hop music and it didn’t feel right, and then when I started making reggae music and playing it for people everyone was like “wow this is really you.”

There are also some amazing collabs on the album - Jack & Jack, Mac Marley, and Ky-Mani Marley, who is Bob Marley’s son. Can you believe that Bob Marley’s son is on my first project?? That is the craziest thing in the entire world to me.

You have been releasing music videos every two weeks! What goes into making them?

I love making the videos and it’s pretty relaxed actually. My Director, Justin Jones, is such a cool dude - I send him the song and we brainstorm ideas and come up with a loose treatment. Then we go to the spot - usually the beach - and just hang out and shoot. For my music video “Higher”, we went to Venice Beach and just chilled for the whole day talking to people on the boardwalk. I just love to see how the songs come to life in the videos - they always come out way cooler than I could have imagined. I hope my fans love the videos. I think it’s their favorite part.

What's it like having millions of fangirls obsessing over you?

Ha - it has completely changed my life! Imagine one day you go to the store and do everything normal, and then imagine the next day you do the same thing but someone comes up to you and asks for a selfie. They are so good at finding out where I am! Fangirling is actually a sport, did you know that? And there are some super talented fangirls out there. We’ll be at a hotel and they’ll show up and we’re like, “how did you know that we were here??” And they’ll be like, “well actually, in the snapchat you posted… the carpet. We know the carpet. We knew it was the Hilton.”

It’s so crazy some of the interactions - it’s the cutest, funniest thing to watch. I really cannot grasp the fact that they’re freaking out about me. It still doesn’t make sense to me, but it’s amazing. Every time I leave the studio there is always a little pack of girls outside waiting and they’re awesome. It’s so fun to interact. Honestly, I wouldn’t be able to do any of the stuff I am doing right now without them so it’s just a blessing to have my fans around.

How do you stay connected with your fans?

They spend so much time on Twitter just tweeting me - they’re literally on Twitter all day long just tweeting me! It’s crazy and I can’t respond to all of them. I try to scroll through DMs and go through my mentions, but it’s hard to keep up. I’m busy but I try to do whatever I can. I like to respond to cool questions, the ones that relate well to me. Pass off the hate, try to chat with them as much as I can. That’s why I really like this new app Shimmur because it makes it easier for me to respond to good questions.

My fans spend so much time following my life so I like to tap back into their lives and ask them questions to understand their world. But my favorite part is when I see them on the street. I just want to chat - like, “What’s up? How old are you? What school do you go to?” Sometimes I don’t want to take a picture, I just want to have a moment - have a conversation with them. My fans are everything.

How has your family responded to your internet fame?

They shunned me so I don’t have family anymore. Ha no, they actually love it - I think they love it more than I do. Mama Wilk is all about it - if you scroll through her Twitter she’s just having the time of her life. If I tweet and cuss she’ll be like “Sammy, did you have to say the F word??”

I live with my sister - she is my day-to-day, she does everything for me. All of my siblings are out in Los Angeles now so it’s awesome to have everyone together supporting my music. Not that much has changed - Jack & Jack are here, Skate is here… it’s like Omaha moved to LA for a little bit.

What's the most exciting thing that's happened to you in the past year?

So many things have happened in this past year that I could never have imagined.

I am a Global Ambassador for the United Nations and they flew me out to Malawi, Africa this year. That changed me as a human - I was interacting with all these kids and they were so underprivileged, yet so happy no matter what. They didn’t know who I was, but they were so happy to see me, jumping up on me. They appreciate every little thing they get. That was my number 1.

Another amazing thing is when I was on tour I teamed up with a charity organization Unite for Good and we would do stops throughout the tour to different homeless shelters. I love communicating with people from all walks of life and hearing their stories and where they’re from. Seeing the love they have and seeing everybody smile is what I live for.

The top thing in the past year is just being able to make people happy. Changing one person’s day changes a whole lot of other people’s days. That’s the most important thing: seeing smiling faces in this world filled with negativity.

So what’s next? What are you looking forward to this year?

A lot of new music and a lot of touring! I want to get overseas. My fans are always requesting tours to places like Brazil and Paris - I really just want to travel and meet new people around the world.

I couldn’t have ever predicted that I’d be where I am now, so who knows where I’ll be in a year… I just want to be happy. Music, touring, and in a positive, happy place 😊