Ep. 68: Sam Nelson Harris (X Ambassadors)

This week our guest is a songwriter and the lead singer of the band, X Ambassadors. X Ambassadors’ debut platinum-selling album ‘VHS’ saw the band transition from Ithaca alt-rockers and Brooklyn indie scene outsiders, to Billboard stalwarts. The album was an intimate insight into our guest and his brothers’ youth, studded with audio snippets from home movies, and early recording sessions and sound checks. With it, came the genre-defining, multi-platinum hits “Unsteady” and “Renegades,” a three-year global touring odyssey and a string of high-profile festival performances. His songwriting became increasingly personal resulting in the shattering, shimmering 2018 singles “JOYFUL” and “Don’t Stay” followed by a North American headline tour. With X Ambassadors our guest has co-written and featured on songs such as “Home” from the Bright Soundtrack with Machine Gun Kelly and Bebe Rexha, “Transmission” with Zedd and Logic, and the 3x multi-platinum song, “Sucker for Pain” from the Suicide Squad Soundtrack with Imagine Dragons, Lil Wayne, Logic, Ty Dolla $ign & Wiz Khalifa. He has also co-written songs for other artists and projects including, “American Oxygen” by Rihanna, “Bad Husband” by Eminem, “Jerome,” “Cuz I Love You,” and “Heaven Help Me” by Lizzo. Additionally, he co-wrote 8 songs on the 2019 album, ‘For The Throne (Music Inspired by the HBO Series Game of Thrones)’ which featured artists such as Maren Morris, X Ambassadors, SZA, The Weeknd and Travis Scott. Always looking to give back to the community that raised them, X Ambassadors returned to Ithaca for the second annual Cayuga Sound Festival this past September creating and curating two days of musical performances and raising money for local charities. In 2019 X Ambassadors released “BOOM,” a quick-fire anthem for emphatic recovery and personal revolutions from their new album, ‘ORION’. This episode features two parts; an intimate discussion with Ross and the other a live audience interview held at the Deutsch agency in Los Angeles. And The Writer Is… Sam Nelson Harris!

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