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With just two songs in her repertoire, it’s amazing how momentous Sammi Heaney’s songwriting already is. Maybe it’s the voice, a delicate but firm evocative tone that feels like emotion reckoning with every verse, maybe it’s the granular honesty of the lyrics that feels so potent & poignant. Whatever the song diagnostics are, on her latest single "Anything At All" Sammi continues her streak for amazing songwriting, with a raw, immeasurably open dialogue with a lost lover with rabidly evocative narration (‘Holding your pinky post sex’ is now included in our all time great first lines). Keen to find out more about this track and more, we zoomed across the pond for some details:

OnesToWatch: Two songs on the internet, and you're already famous. What's that like? 

Sammi Heaney: Weird, weird time, but I'm having so much fun. 

What did you do to make the algorithms love you so much? 

I have one year of a marketing degree in visual communication. So I'm chalking it up to that. 

Who are you? 

Good question. I am Sammi Heaney. I'm from Melbourne, Australia, and I'm a singer-songwriter that writes songs for people to listen to. 

Say you weren't doing music.
Is there something else you would be doing? Do you have an alternate profession? 

Definitely still something creative. I did acting for my whole life and then I kind of realized, I still love it and I would still do it, but I fell into love with music. There's a lot more creative freedom, I feel, in music because I can do my own thing. 

How long have you been writing? 

I actually found some of my old archived songs the other day. I’ve been writing songs since I was 10 or 11, but I started writing proper songs when I was 13. I used to post them on YouTube, unfortunately. 
I started kind of taking it more seriously in the past couple years and even if it's not a song, I try to write something every day – it’s a muscle memory I want to get stronger in it. 

I’d love to talk a little bit about your process. It sounds like repetition is part of it, being disciplined in writing. Do you have an approach to starting a song? 

It changes. It’s usually a lyrical idea first. I'll get inspired, write something in my notes and be like, I want to write a song about this. I've been kind of writing a lot on piano recently and just playing the keys until I have some sort of feeling or emotion that I want to build off of. I've been trying to be less perfectionistic these days and just play the piano and sing something even if it doesn't make sense, and just trust that it came out for a reason. Yesterday I was writing and then this random phrase came out. Something about Christmas time. Then I ended up writing a Christmas song about a breakup or something, but the whole song just came out of me because I just let it be. I've been also doing a lot of collaborative work as well and testing out writing with other people. I do overall prefer bringing finished songs into sessions, but it's been nice to start ideas with people, too. 

So you prefer writing alone? 

I prefer to have an instrumentalist collaborator, a producer who'll help with arrangement. I'm very, very particular with my lyricism. I'm very open to suggestions, but sometimes people will suggest a lyric that doesn’t resonate with me. 

Let's get into your entire catalog. First of all, Guilty? Are you? 

Very guilty. 

Beautiful song. Why do you think it works so well? 


Just because I was being very honest in it, and I wasn't trying to make something go viral, it’s just how I was feeling all the time. It's also a very universal feeling that resonates with people for different reasons. I wrote the song about someone that I was completely done with, but a lot of people are seeing it as being cheated on. It can be taken in very different ways, so I think that’s why it resonated so well, which is sad, but it's really good for me. 


Well, it's a beautiful song. I think your voice has a lot to do with it. And how about “Anything at all?”
Is that true? Just anything at all works for you? 

Anything at all. I love that song so much. I'm very proud of that song. That one is also a universal concept… I just try to be honest and not afraid to say anything. There are some songs where I've written terrible things about myself and I'm like, wow, it is true. I did do that. 

When you release a song, especially after you've already had some success, what do you hope happens? What do you hope happens for yourself, for your audience? 

My main goal is to help someone with my music. I love receiving messages being like, this song has helped me. I love that shit. Even if one person says they related to a song and it helped them feel like they weren’t only person going through it, that makes it worth it. I try not to focus on numbers. Obviously, it's hard because that's a lot of what this is and the measure of success. But I try to deem my success differently. 

If things go to plan, in terms of doors opening and opportunities that are interesting to you, where are you in a year or 5 years? What are you doing? 

I want to have a lot more work out, potentially be working on some sort of 2nd EP or album or just a body of work that I'm super proud of. I've been really thinking about visuals recently and because I used to do acting stuff, I'd love to do short films for my songs or something cool. I used to write screenplays for fun, I’m a little nerd like that. I’d love to put my songs to a visual world. I think that's a big thing for me. Also definitely want to start playing live a lot more and maybe going on tour or open someone else's tour. I've only ever opened once for Holly Hebe on her Australia tour, and that was the best time of my life. 


Gonna pivot to some more fun questions, I hope. With what you have in your fridge right now, if your friends ambush you, can you whip up a meal? And if so, what would it be?

Okay, hear me out on this. So every night for dinner for the past year, I've had the same thing. I will get a can of tuna and put that in a pan, and then get frozen peas and corn, put that in the pan, and then get an egg, crack it in there, and then some ketchup, tomato sauce and a bit of Parmesan cheese, and that's my dinner. 

And you just warm it up?

I fry it in a pan. 

Are you like a bodybuilder? 

No, but I love my protein. It's not that I can't cook, I just don't have an interest. I'm just here for fuel and then I can go and do something else. But I did make that meal for my old housemate and she pretty much threw up my face. She was like, this is the most disgusting thing. 

I'm gonna pass on that one. You mentioned performing. Is there a place in the world you haven't been that you would love to perform at?

I would love to do some sort of show in Japan. I love vending machines. I used to have an addiction with squishies – not the ones that kids have now, but the old ones, the real ones know. I spent like 1000s of dollars on these squishies, and I had them lined up in my bedroom. I kept all the packaging. I'm very like weird like that. 

If you’re at your most peaceful state, your most relaxed, where are you and what are you doing? 


At the beach, 100%. Just lying at the beach. I am the most anxious, I'm always going 100 miles per hour, but if I'm at the beach – I have to be with someone otherwise, I don't allow myself to relax – and we're just lying in the sun, I'm like, oh, I can breathe. But any other time of the day, I'm freaking out about something. 

We allow you to create your own one-day festival. Who are you booking? 

Billie Eilish, Lorde, Olivia Rodrigo, Dominic Fike, Ryan Beatty, Holly Hebe, myself. Max Rickun, he put out this song and I'm so addicted to it. It's called “I'm in the band.” 

If you could manipulate time and space, would you? And if so, what would you do? 


I would not because I am a very firm believer that everything happens for a reason. And if I manipulate that shit, I'm going to ruin something. I'm gonna mess something up. 

I would love a non-music recommendation, an activity, somewhere to visit, something to read, something to watch. 

This show is the best show I've ever seen in my life, it's a very niche comedy, it's called Miranda Heart. It's a UK comedy. There is nothing better. I will watch that show over and over again. 


How about a music rec? 

Lennon Stella's new album. I'm addicted, I'm obsessed with her so much, so that's my recommendation. 

Lastly, we want to end on your words. So anything you want to share.

Okay, this is actually something I was doing before I got into this interview. I think everyone needs to do this in their lives. So I've been really sad recently, right? Just for no reason. I have found, genuinely, if I put on happy music and I dance by myself in my room, I feel so much better. It actually works. 10 minutes and your sadness will reduce by at least 10%. 

Thank you, Sammy. Continued success.

Listen to Sammi Heaney below: