New In Town | Spencer Elmer

“Music has been around me since I was a young kid,” Spencer Elmer tells Man About Town. Quite literally – his dad was a Neo-soul and Jazz DJ, so the Devon-hailing talent was “used to having vinyls all over the dinner table.” His brother also played in a rock band, “So my weekends were sat side of stage helping him with guitars and microphones.” 

Fast-forward to aged 17 and he began rapping, posting freestyles online. The upper echelons of TikTok musical fame beckoned, with the now 23-year-old’s bagging 300k followers on the app, a collaboration with Coventry rap savant Jay1, an LA record deal, and now an upcoming debut EP. Well and truly parlaying the magnetism via which he garnered fans online into enduring music industry success, latest single “Calm Like Kim” sees him stride ever-further on his path to UK rap’s top table – tounge-in-cheek lyricism inspired by America’s favourite reality star-come-influencer in tow. 

Head below to read our chat on the new single, recreating one of Kim Kardashian’s most famous magazine covers, and inking that record deal across the pond. 

Hey Spencer! How are you doing? What’s the first thing you did when you woke up today? 

I woke up and did my daily crawl to the coffee machine, whilst drinking I decided to listen to some of the new music and go through some beats for a session later this evening

Congratulations on “Calm Like Kim”! It’s been out in the world for almost a week, what’s been your favourite moment since it dropped? 

Thank you! “Calm like Kim” is a lighthearted, fun track so it was nice seeing the positive reactions online and from fellow friends in the industry. Everything moves so quickly so I’m already thinking about the next release, but this was definitely a fun release. 

You’ve recreated one of Kim Kardashian’s internet-breaking magazine covers for the single artwork. Tell us more about the thinking behind that!

My team thought it would be a good idea to recreate Kim’s iconic cover and at first I wasn’t overly keen, but the shoot was hella fun and the end result got some love and laughs so I appreciate them for that one, for real

You recently also teamed up with Jay 1 for “Far From Rude”! Can you tell us about your time working together? 

“Far from Rude” was a mad one for me, it all happened organically and was accidental as me and Jay both booked a studio room the same day. In the end we decided to make a few tracks and a week later Jay sent me a voicenote gassing up the track we made, and that he wants to put it out so that’s exactly what happened. The next week we were filming the video and the rest is history. Working with Jay was a blessing and I appreciate him showing love as bigger artists don’t really give a hand to us newbies, it meant a lot. 

If you could assemble three artists right now for a collab, who are you calling? 

This is such a hard question. Logic is someone in 2015 that introduced me to conscious rap alongside Loyle Carner and obviously Drake - so I think it’ll only be right to pick these three for my younger self!

Your debut EP is approaching in July! What’s something that might surprise fans about the release? 

Yes! It’s my first body of work so it’s been a lot of learning and a lot of experimenting, however I’m so happy with the project and it gives another side of life that I’ve never shared before. Lots of storytelling & good vibes. I hope this project overdelivers the expectations that those might have.

Honesty is a really prominent quality in your work. Do you think that’s something that’s always come naturally to you? 

Honesty and transparency for myself have always been guidelines I like to share and live life by. It gets lost sometimes in more upbeat records but it is all the way throughout the project. It’s never once came easy to me but the more I stick by it the easier it becomes to be yourself. 

You’ve also signed to LA record label 10K projects earlier this year. How do you think this move will level up the Spencer Elmer journey? 

I was never really looking to partner up with a label, however when we got into convo with 10k they’re the only ones who I feel understood the places and direction I’d like to take the music so it only made sense to. With more access to knowledge and support it can only be a positive move in the right direction with good people. It gets me even more excited for the future ahead.

If this period of your life was a chapter in your autobiography, what would it be titled? 

This is another difficult one, everyday feels like something crazy is happening and a new chapter starts but this current chapter is definitely titled, “Growing Stages”. I have a lot to learn but this makes me super excited to turn the next page and keep it moving.