The King of the Sea Shanty on weathering the internet storm.
The internet is a strange place, viral trends are unexpected and in this week’s treasure chest comes the world of #seashantytok. Nathan Evans has unleashed upon us the wet and wild world of TikTok Sea Shanties.
With over 3 billion views on TikTok, #seashanty has flooded our timelines, with one man, in particular, casting off. Evans has sailed to the top of the global charts with his release of The Wellerman, his version of a whaling folk song and has now been signed to Polydor Records. He tells us that he’s “been singing for as long as I can remember and have been playing guitar since I was 8. I started uploading to YouTube back in like 2012!” With music always being a background hobby, this sudden change to a recording artist came as quite a shock, “Never in a million years” would Evans have predicted this meteoric rise.
He tells us that his inspiration comes from some of the greats, both old and new; “Well my biggest influences are the likes of Bob Dylan, Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi, Dermot Kennedy. So that is the kind of music I find myself writing and singing. Pop, folk, acoustic storytelling types of music!”
But with memes and viral videos aside, it is easy to hear why Polydor has scooped Evans up so quickly, his smooth voice lends itself to covering Dermot Kennedy and Lewis Capaldi, but he also has the writing skill down too. His original songs on TikTok have gravitas. They sound polished and ready, so I’m sure it is just a matter of time before we get to hear the first original Nathan Evans release, so batten down the hatches and in the meantime listen to ‘The Wellerman’ on repeat along with the rest of the internet.
Nathan Evan’s ‘Wellerman’ and ‘Wellerman (220Kid & Billen Ted Remix)’ are out now so take a listen below.
