Will Linley

Emerging with a striking signature style, Will Linley delicately balances stark honesty and sunny songcraft. The South Africa-born singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist coats raw emotion with saccharine melodies, lamenting how bad heartbreak sucks on hummable hooks delivered with unfiltered candor. As such, he captures the whirlwind experience of Gen-Z life in his songs. After amassing tens of millions of streams and earning acclaim from the likes of The Line of Best Fit, OnesToWatch, Variance Magazine, and more, this balance drives a series of 2023 singles for Island Records and his forthcoming full-length debut. “I combine sad lyrics with up-tempo melodies, rhythms, and sonics,” he observes. “You could call it ‘Happy Sad Pop Music’. I’m never confined to one specific vibe. I can be very serious and emotional, but I like to put a positive spin on everything and, ultimately, have good time.” As the youngest of four brothers in Cape Town, he lived in a house where mom and dad encouraged their sons to play instruments almost as soon as they could walk. Will went from rocking the recorder at four-years-old to singing in choir and learning violin. When dad came home from work, Will and his brothers often greeted him with an impromptu concert. “We’d get backing tracks to sings and serenade him,” he laughs. In between violin and viola, he taught himself piano and guitar. Inspired by Dean Lewis’s A Place We Knew, Lewis Capaldi’s Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent, and “the biggest one” Ed Sheeran’s ÷, he began to write songs of his own in high school. Through a family friend, he linked up with producers David Balshaw and Bubele Booi and cut his teeth in the studio. As the world slipped into lockdown, he gained traction on TikTok and attracted an audience organically. His 2021 single “miss me (when you’re gone)” exploded with over 20 million Spotify streams and went #1 on radio in South Africa where it also picked up a gold certification. It paved the way for his 2022 kill all my feelings EP, while the single “Last Call” generated another 20 million Spotify streams. Of the latter, OnesToWatch praised the “very punchy piano-buttressed chorus that screams car ride sing-along,” and The Line Of Best Fit professed, “Will Linley is making waves with heartbreak bangers and upbeat ballads.” Meanwhile, he shared stages with everyone from OneRepublic to Matthew Mole. Eventually, he caught the attention of Island Records and inked a deal with the label. Now, he turns the page on his next chapter with the single “Girls.” Guitar twists around a steady beat before eighties-style synths underline a shimmering refrain. Raw truth shines through his delivery as he admits, “And it kinda sucks that my whole heart wasn’t enough.” “I had recently met someone before I left for the States,” he recalls. “We were like, ‘Let’s give this long distance thing a go and see what happens’. Halfway through, it was too much. I got a text message saying, ‘This isn’t gonna work’. That’s not the greatest thing to happen when you’re on the other side of the world. Sometimes, it’s just not meant to be, but that was the main inspiration behind the song.” In the end, Will’s ability to take such moments and turn them into relatable anthems will continue to distinguish him. “Thanks to my parents, I’m incredibly in touch with my emotions,” he leaves off. “I’m a regular bloke. I don’t know how many times I look at myself and go, ‘How the hell are you in this position, my boy?’ I’m an average joe who gets to stand on stage, sing songs, and live a dream. I can be thoughtful and philosophical. Now, it’s about having fun and allowing everyone to escape the difficulties they might be going through. I’m hopefully providing a little bit of light into those spaces.”