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Tall, brooding and equipped with a gravely vocal tone that screams frustrated romance, it’s not hard to see why Will Swinton has emerged as the celebrated nascent rockstar he is. What did take us for a surprise was his genuine in-person warmth, introspection and off kilter humor, a dichotomy to the pained persona he dons on record. On his latest single "You’ll Always Be Mine," his dark edges are maintained, but vocally there is more hint of hope than hurt, a pivot to heart racing rather than numbing. For a songwriter already confident, this single can only anticipate even more crossover success, and to find out where and what that might be, we invited Will into our basement studio to explore more:

OnesToWatch: Who are you? 

Will Swinton: My name's Will Swinton from New Zealand. 

That's a good place to be from. How many Will Swintons are there in New Zealand? 

I feel like I can't be the only one, and New Zealand's a very small place. There's like 4,000,000 of us. Not 4 million Will Swintons… Imagine. 

I can't think of a place that's as uniquely it's own as New Zealand. There's something very specific about it. What was it like to grow up there, also just through the lens of an artist? 

It didn't feel different until I left. It all felt normal, but now I realize how small the place was. Everyone knows everyone there. It's this little bubble. I feel like I was just such an internet kid. I was so online that I may as well not have even been from New Zealand. 

Did you feel supported by your family, by your community when you were coming up? 

My dad was very against me coming up as a musician. He wanted me to go to university or get a real job. My mom was supportive. She would have been supportive no matter what I did, I think. My friends were excited. It's a cool thing to be getting out of New Zealand, at least to people there. Although I feel a lot of people are leaving now. 

Is that just a young person thing? 

I don't know, something feels different in New Zealand recently. It doesn't feel as lively as it used to. It never quite recovered from COVID. We closed down majorly during that. 

Were you there when that was all going on? 

I was there for a little bit, but that's when I first went over to America. So I left and went to America for a long time and when I came back, it was still the exact same. It was still closed down, like I didn't miss anything. Stuck in time. It’s never felt as lively as it did before. 

Interesting. I think at some point there'll be a retrospective of the pandemic and how it affected different generations, people, and places. Let's get into your music. I think you've definitely taken a few sort of pivots in terms of your direction. Where would you describe yourself now? 

I really like what I've been making at the moment. There was a period about 2 years ago where I was just feeling a little bit uninspired and I didn't even really know what I liked to listen to. So I took a bit of a break from it and made a plan to go with my producers to Mexico for a couple weeks and just write. The goal for that was just to create and explore what I actually wanted to make and listen to. We made a ton of songs that I am still in love with. I wanted to make some stuff that translated live as well. I feel great about it. 

That's obviously a tough experience to go through as an artist, being uninspired. What in your process, if anything, changed as a result of that experience? 

It was definitely a refresh. It's also just a mental thing. There was a long period of time where I was just not getting enough sleep for whatever reason. It felt like my dopamine was depleted and you need that for your brain to know when you enjoy something. Even if I was making something that I thought was really good, I couldn't even clock it because everything was just whatever to me. Then there’s this built up pressure of not having made something that you love in a while… you start to doubt if you can ever do it again. I took a break, got myself right, and you know what? It worked. I’m sleeping like a baby and I love what I’m making. 

That’s amazing. Sleep is a gift. 

Yeah, I’m really cautious about the way I spend my dopamine now. If I have movie tickets for tomorrow night, let’s say, I won’t do any doom-scrolling that day because I want to save up my dopamine for the movie.
Or if the next day, I've got a studio session, no scrolling, no junk food. I'm trying to save up as much dopamine as I can to spend it all on creativity. 

I love that. That's so self-aware. When you approach writing, what’s your process? Do you start with lyrics, a riff, melody? 

I'm always melody-first. I've always had this obsession with melodies. My buddy Ethan, who’s my producer, is just a beast on the guitar and we'll just set it up. He'll have an amp and just start jamming stuff and we'll just sit there mumbling for as long as it takes until we get a melody that we think is beautiful and cool. I had this playlist of all old Max Martin songs and these early 2000s hits and stuff that I consider to have perfect melodies. I was trying to train my brain to only think in perfect quality. 

I’d love to see that playlist. Tell me about your latest kind of batch of songs. How old are these songs that you just put out over the last couple months? 


We did this Mexico trip early last year and made a ton of ideas, essentially half songs, and then spent a year getting them all finished. So, I've been sitting on them for a while, but I'm really excited to put them out. 

Let's walk through the origin stories. The 3 singles you put out recently, what inspired them? 

The themes are all based on old relationship stuff. One of my friends who’s a songwriter said to me that you should always write about your scars and not your wounds. 

I like that. So these were fully healed then. 

I guess so. The thing about scars is that you can still see them. Maybe feel them if it's a little too cold out. I've never really been the type of person to dive into a song and flesh out what it's about. I just capture a feeling or something that's happened to me and I let people make their own meaning of the song. There've been so many times where I've listened to a song and created my own little music video of what I think the song is about in my head and then I found out what it's actually about. 

Beautiful. What's on the horizon for you? 

I’m going on my first official US tour, which I'm excited about. And then I've got this vault of songs that I've been planning to drop. 

I love it. Let's pivot to some more fun questions. What is your greatest ambition if you have one? 

I have one, but I can't spoil it, it’s a thing. The runner up would be playing an epic concert in Japan. 

If your mates ambush you at home and they're hungry, can you whip up a meal? If so what is it? 


I'm a freak with a steak. Get a nice New York strip, I'm already excited. Hold it down on the on the fat cap for 30 seconds, render that. Lay it down. Three minutes each side, and then you put in a little bit of butter, some minced garlic, and some rosemary, take it off the heat, oil that thing up. 

I’m impressed. If you could dream up a festival lineup, your own Lollapalooza, who would play? 

ABBA? 


Oh, I was not expecting that.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kings of Leon. Rainbow Kitten Surprise. Roddy Rich. 

That'd be a great lineup. If I can find you at your most relaxed state. Where are you? 
What are you doing? 

In Cabo. I’ve loved our writing trips there. 

You recently walked at Paris Fashion week. What's something about walking a runway that you wouldn't expect?

Bro, I did not have that walk down. I saw videos of myself after and like, I did not have that walk down. When I was doing it, I was thinking, “Oh yeah…” Then afterwards, I look, and everyone else has just got this supermodel walk and I'm there walking like fucking Bigfoot. 

Last couple of questions. I'd love a non-music recommendation. 

I really like hand rolls. There’s a spot called You Know Me Handroll, which is real good. I like Barry, the TV show. I like when someone writes something, directs it, and stars in it. They had a vision.

I’d also love a music recommendation. 

Rainbow Kitten Surprise. They’re probably a household name at this point, but I love them, they’re incredible live. 

That's a great recommendation. Lastly, let’s end on anything you want to end on. 


Thanks for having me on here, man. Thanks to anyone that's listening. 

Cheers, man.