YouTube’s Rising Singer: Spencer Sutherland
Whether you like pop or R&B music or both, you need to know Spencer Sutherland. Spencer Sutherland, 25, is originally from Ohio, but moved to California about three years ago. He started posting covers on YouTube right out of high school. “I thought it was the only way people were going to hear my music,” says Sutherland.
After a few years of YouTube, Sutherland traveled to Europe to audition for the X-Factor. Although he was voted off the first week of live shows, he learned a lot from the experience. “[I] learned a lot about myself. It was such an amazing experience. Everyone’s the same when it comes to music. It’s really not that different, but it is different. It was eye opening to me because I didn’t know who I was till I went on that show. I took so much from it. It was such an awesome experience,” Sutherland commented.
In 2015, Sutherland released an acoustic album of original songs called “Unveiled.” He has been on tours and performed live all across the U.S. “Just knew it was in my blood and I just had to do it. I just always wanted to sing,” Sutherland replied after being asked what made him get into music. He plays the guitar, piano, the ukulele, and a little bit of bass guitar. He also works in music production.
Sutherland says Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, Ed Sheeran, Gavin DeGraw, Elvis, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye are some of his favorite musicians and artists. However, Bruno Mars is his biggest inspiration. Some of his favorite albums include Millennium by the Backstreet Boys, 8701 by Usher, Bruno Mars’ 24K, and some Marvin Gaye.
Along with uploading covers of songs on YouTube, Sutherland does some original songs as well. His favorite cover is his “Havana” cover. His favorite song to perform live is his original song, “Selfish”. Sutherland said, “It’s always fun to see how the crowd reacts”.
Although he has collaborated with many others on YouTube, Sutherland’s favorite collaborator is his friend, Rajiv Dhall. “[It’s] always such an amazing time.” He likes to co-write his original songs. “I just like having someone else there to bounce ideas off of,” Sutherland commented. Sutherland wants to reach everyone regardless of age and gender, “I’m not trying to reach a specific age group…All genders, all ages… I’m just trying to be true to myself.”
Sutherland classifies his old original songs as pop, but his newer songs are a mix of many different genres. “I think the new music is a completely new genre,” says Sutherland. He would love to someday collaborate with Rihanna and Bruno Mars.
Connecting with the crowd is Sutherland’s favorite part about performing. “When you connect with the crowd, it’s a feeling unlike anything else. I love feeding off the energy.” Along with the ability to connect with the crowd, he also enjoys “Getting out all the thoughts in my mind into the music… I can’t imagine not being able to do that every day.”
Sutherland’s passion grows each day as he mentioned, “I would love to always do music for the rest of my life. Be on tour forever…Traveling is one of the best things ever.”
For the future, Sutherland stated, “Get ready for new music because it’s going to be bangin’. It’s going to be huge.”
To find out more about Spencer Sutherland, visit his YouTube, SoundCloud, and Spotify. He can be followed on Twitter and Instagram at the handle @spencermusic1.