From serving the community as a full-time postman to becoming a breakthrough musician, Nathan Evans has taken the world by storm with his recent ‘Wellerman’ Sea Shanty success. Having already provoked many smiles to date, the spread of his art through TikTok has the uprising star look to the future with the excitement of making 2021 his year to shine.
Jokingly missing “the exercise” of delivering parcels and packages in Airdrie, his hometown in Scotland, the 26-year-old spoke about the “overwhelming” but awe-inspiring element of being able to “call this his job”, having been glued to his chair for weeks with back to back international primetime TV interviews. The story started back in March 2020, Evans began sharing his work on TikTok, a platform that has been immensely influential in helping many undiscovered artists gain support, and quickly followed in these footsteps himself. In December of the same year, his take of the ‘Wellerman’ went viral, raising the morale of many across the globe, including figures such as Andrew Lloyd Webber and Queen’s very own Brian May, continuing to describe his shock at this newfound stardom and “not quite feeling it was really happening”.
In addition, the power of TikTok shone through once again with how the 220 KID x Billen Ted ‘Wellerman’ Remix was created. “I think TikTok is a fantastic app, especially when you can duet people and meet lots of like-minded people”. Around 4 days after the Scottish native uploaded the Sea Shanty that really kick-started it all for him, and having already received an immense amount of comments, duets and support for it, 220 KID contacted Evans with the hopes of sharing his very own remix of Evan’s work across his social media. Receiving an extremely ecstatic response from the likes of BBC Radio 1’s Scott Mills for this remix to become a real thing, the artists all quickly got to work in producing it.
Since soaring to number one in the Official Top 40 Charts, a big question now being asked is what’s next for the very talented Sea Shanty star? Nathan Evans is already answering this and is currently working on new music, with his influences such as Ed Sheeran, Dermot Kennedy and Lewis Capaldi being prominent in his discovery of his sound. “I love conveying emotion in a song and telling a story and I think that’s exactly what sea shanties are as well” explaining the deeper, story-telling based tones future projects may undertake.
“There’s always something good around the corner that is always going to come.” Reflecting on his journey so far, Evans fondly recalls the advice his Granda used to offer him, “What’s for you won’t go by you. If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. Just keep doing what you love and want to pursue and try not to let the views or other people’s opinions get to you.”
Furthermore, this advice has been key in the star’s hopes and dreams, both in his personal life and also career. Expressing his ambition to be able to say he owns his own home, to create an album that reaches a Top 5 position in the charts and to tour the world, this advice has been with him every step of the way. Moreover, the magical, momentous atmosphere of Wembley, a venue where many aspiring artists dream of playing one day throughout their lifetime, would be a “dream come true” for the Scottish singer over the next 5 years. With the arts industry having been hugely impacted by the Covid-19 crisis, Evans looks ahead with hope for his December 2021 to January 2022 European tour, a special feeling for the TikTok star as Glasgow has already sold out once. Teasing that there will be a mixture of Sea Shanties as “this wouldn’t have been possible without the Wellerman”, alongside new original music in his setlist, he is very much focused on ensuring everyone has an amazing time and truly cannot wait to play some incredible cities when touring can eventually resume. This artist definitely has a lot of incredible projects in the pipelines and we cannot wait to see what comes next.
Follow Nathan Evans on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
Written by: Issy Todd // Photo credit: Jo Hanley
GEM Magazine 