NME | Music, Film, TV, Gaming & Pop Culture News
Sea shanty Tiktok star Nathan Evans has hooked himself a contract with Polydor Records after his videos turned him into a viral hit.
The Scottish postman, 26, became an online star earlier this month after posting a video of traditional sea shanty ‘The Wellerman’ on the app.
Announcing the deal with Polydor, he said on Thursday (January 21): “See how I was a postman on Friday? I have just signed to the biggest record label in the world.
“I have just signed a deal with Polydor Records. I’ve done it. It’s done and I’m releasing a single.”
Evans’ debut single is an EDM remix of the sea shanty – with house beats added by producers 220 KID & Billen Ted.
His first upload came in July 2020 with a traditional ditty that went on to score 1.1 million views from TikTok users across the globe.
The Sea Shanty craze has also become a source of collaboration between other TikTokers.
“It is crazy and has gone much further than I ever thought it would go,” he previously told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I did a sea shanty back in July 2020, just because someone had asked in a comment under one of my videos.
“So I uploaded that and it reached 1.1m views. I thought there must have been a demand.
“People were looking forward to more and they were commenting underneath every video after that saying can you sing this one, can you sing that one – it was just requests from people for me to sing them.”
@nathanevanss The Wellerman. #seashanty #sea #shanty #viral #singing #acoustic #pirate #new #original #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #singer #scottishsinger #scottish
The songs were originally sung by merchant seamen as they carried out day-to-day tasks on ships.
“When they were originally sung they were designed to keep everyone in time with the work they were doing,” Nathan added.
“So I think its the fact you can get everyone involved, everyone can join in, you don’t need to necessarily be able to sing, the words are simple and it is just the beat and the voices. I think it’s a bit of everything that appeals to everyone.”
According to Google Trends, Nathan’s performances have led to “sea shanties” enjoying their biggest-ever popularity in the search engine’s history.
The post Sea Shanty TikTok star Nathan Evans lands Polydor Records deal after viral fame appeared first on NME | Music, Film, TV, Gaming & Pop Culture News.
