Meet Benjamin Steer, the singer using music to explore the messiness of your twenties

It’s no grand statement to say that your twenties can be one of the hardest decades of your life to navigate. Break-ups? Your next movements after uni? Forging a career? We’ve all been there.

But few of us can articulate that sense of malaise and uncertainty quite like Benjamin Steer. The singer-songwriter picked up the guitar when he was at St Andrews University in Scotland and openly admits it was part of a bigger ploy to impress some girls.

Steer will admit that the plan didn’t quite pan out in the way he’d hoped, but it allowed him to hone a set of love songs that he was unwilling to show to anyone until he eventually caved under a bit of persuasion from his mum and revealed what he’d been cooking up.

“She said if you don’t record these songs you might as well give up the whole hobby because there is no point otherwise,” he explains.

Buoyed on by those words and a bit of TikTok success, Steer ended up finding himself at one hell of a crossroads. A full-time financial consultancy job in New York beckoned after he completed an Economics degree at St Andrews, but that job offer arrived in the same week that a record deal was laid on the table.

Now, it’s clear that music is where Steer was always meant to be. His debut EP is called Figuring It Out and does a fine job of crafting songs that will instantly stop you in your tracks. That’s only too clear on the woozy funk of ‘Oh Darling’ and the powerful urgency of ‘No One Wants To Die Alone’, which evoke the spirit of artists such as Tom Odell.

You can read our whole Q&A with Benjamin below and listen to his music – including new single ‘Oh Darling’ – via our Play Next playlist on Spotify below.

Firstly, who is Benjamin Steer?

Well I wish I had a nice PR answer, but I feel like I get asked this question everyday by my team and to be completely honest it is never the same answer and I feel like that’s kind of the point. I’m still figuring it out. But I think to really condense it I am just a guy who thinks a lot about life and love and what makes me happy. Some days I wake up and I am like the Ed Sheeran lyric “a competitive dick with an adrenaline kick” and some days I wake up with a pit in my stomach, heartbroken, and not really knowing what the hell is going on or what I am doing. It’s a healthy/unhealthy balance!

What was your path into music and how what was the moment you decided to pursue it full time?

My path to music was to be completely honest very unexpected. I always loved music but I never believed that I would ever end up in music. I was sort of expected from a young age to set on a path and study hard and make something of myself. I worked hard and went to university to study economics, but I always felt like something was kind of missing. It wasn’t like I was unhappy, but I just felt that maybe there was a bit more of me to give. I bought a guitar in 2022 and started to teach myself for no other than reason than the hope that I might impress some girls in university.

As it turned out, I actually spent more time alone in my room trying to write love songs, then being a bit too afraid to put them anywhere or show them to anyone. I went home at the end of the year and my mum noticed that I had bought a guitar and asked me to play me some stuff that I had been writing. I reluctantly agreed and she had probably the most motherly reaction in history and started crying and in her very Belgian (0 to 100) mindset she said if you don’t record these songs you might as well give up the whole hobby because there is no point otherwise.

So that’s what I did. That is also where I really fell in love with the idea that you can build not only a song, but a feeling from just a nugget of an idea to a full blown record that feels emotive and complete. A few months later I posted one of the songs that I had written and recorded on TikTok and just a few months after that I was offered a record deal.

You were at a crossroads when you decided to go with music full time. How did you decide that music was the right path?

I think as soon as I started to see that people were connecting to the music that I was making it was always an easy decision. I finally felt a sense of inherent value that (and not to sound like a prick) could only come from me. Everything else that I was pursuing in my life felt like I was working towards a singular correct answer or approach that 1000’s of others were also looking for. With music it felt different, it felt like there was no rights or wrongs just a inherent sense of satisfaction or completion. I think I become obsessed with the feeling of searching for this sense of completion and also the excitement that I could wake up on any given morning and I could write something or post something that could completely change my life. To be given a shot to try to make it work in such a competitive space was something that I was never going to pass up on… and to be honest I loved every aspect of it.

What’s the story behind ‘Figuring It Out’ and what did you want to achieve with that record?

I have always found it difficult to balance art with intentionality. Obviously I want to be authentic but I also want people to listen and feel something when I release a song. The artist response would be to say I wanted to put out something that felt truly authentic and meaningful to me that I am very proud of- which is true in this case. But also, ultimately I wanted to make an ep that encapsulated the confusion, angst, and thrill of being in your 20’s and figuring life out – which just so happened to be exactly what I was doing.

You’ve performed with some incredible artists, such as Myles Smith and US band AJR. What were those experiences like and what did you learn?

Honestly these experiences have been beyond eye opening. Not only seeing the brilliance of other artists like Myles, AJR and many more from the artistic and expressive angle. Watching them and seeing how focused and obsessed they are on their whole craft is incredibly motivating. They are the best beacuse they work to be the best. I have nothing but respect admiration and honored to call them friends!

You sold out your first headline show at The Grace the other month, how did that feel and what was your fondest memory of the night?

I have always felt a bit of imposter syndrome in the music industry, and sometimes when you watch your streaming numbers rise or hear your song on the radio it is very hard to tangibly quantify a fan base. I remember I was at 200k monthly listeners and only then was it the first time I actually saw someone singing along to a song that I had written. It was a mental experince – just seeing one person in a crowd singing one of your songs is 10x more impactful then watching 1000s stream it. I think my first headline was such a gratifying and honestly emotional experience for me becasue it was the first time that I really felt that I was doing it, that I was progressing and starting to achieve what I wanted to in this space. I sang the first song I ever released acoustically in the crowd that I had written in my uni dorm when I was at such a low place and really had no idea what I was doing… and to hear everyone sing along – is a feeling that is very difficult to explain. I felt unworthy.

What is the 5 year goal for Benjamin Steer?

Global domination? No, but honestly I would be lying to myself and to you if I didn’t say that I wanted to become as successful as possible. But I think right now it is about taking things day by day month by month… becoming a better writer, performer, and honing in my craft to the best of my ability so I can serve the listeners in the best way so that when I play the next headline it can be bigger and the one after can be bigger than that and I can really see the positive effect that my music can be on peoples lives. I don’t make music for myself I make it for people to feel and relate to… I want to serve the listener and the fans and the joy that this gives me is unmatched. To continue to do this…that is the dream.