Cameron Whitcomb, the 21-year-old singer/songwriter from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada released his debut EP Quitter in late September. Already, the five-song collection has garnered tens of millions of streams. At the same time, Whitcomb has been playing sold-out shows across the United States. However, he's not content to rest on his laurels. Today, he released his latest single. Check out the deeply personal yet widely relatable new track "Medusa" below.
Ahead of releasing the new track, Whitcomb sat down with American Songwriter to talk about the new single, his tour, and more.
Cameron Whitcomb's fans on social media have already fallen in love with the new track. It's had an overwhelmingly positive response across platforms. Additionally, the song boasts more than 25,000 pre-saves across digital streaming platforms.
"For me, I wanted the song to be up to the listener. People are taking different things from it which is what I was hoping to do with the tune. But it's about a few different things from my life," Whitcomb said of the song. "Initially when I started talking about the song, it was about some of my struggles with addiction and just how f -- ked up it can get. There's this point where you've been in a hotel for a few days and you're so far gone from reality that nothing matters anymore. There's this weird appeal to that. There's this weird thing that I fell in love with that," he explained. "You always regret it and you always feel so sick for the next few weeks or days after that. But it's like you do it knowing the repercussions. But there's this appeal of nothing else matters. That was initially what the song meant to me," he added.
"But, at the time as well, I was dealing with a pretty heavy breakup. It was one of those things where I had never loved someone like that before and it was really hard. It sucked because I did all the right thing," he recalled. "It was just one of those things where it was the right person at the wrong time. It really hurt, especially being sober. It was a real test. That's what the song is about for me but I'm hoping that people take what they need from it."
"The Quitter Tour has been incredible," Cameron Whitcomb said of his first headlining trek. "I've never got that kind of love from an audience before. All across the United States, these people really listen when you speak and they're there to have a good time," he added. "I love playing shows in the United States. It seems like every show I do, there are people there who really believe in me and care what I have to say which means so much. People go dead silent when you're telling a story and they really listen and that means so much to me."
Cameron Whitcomb released his debut EP, Quitter in September. With more than a year of recovery under his belt, themes of sobriety, addiction, and personal growth populate the project's five songs.
"There's a lot of songs on there that mean a lot to me and I was really excited to get them out and share them with people," Whitcomb said of the EP. "Like, 'Flower Tattoos' I wrote that with a very good friend of mine, Shea Peoples. It's like seeing these people who numb their brain on drugs and alcohol and it's a hard thing to watch. We've all been trained to kind of walk around it and forget it's there. That song's for those people," he explained.
"'Quitter' is one of my favorite songs I've ever written. I wrote that with some very good friends of mine, Nolan Sipe, and Ben Cottrill, and David Schaeman produced it. It turned out to be my biggest song so far. I'm hoping this next one, 'Medusa' will blow it out of the water but I guess we'll see," he added with a laugh.
Cameron Whitcomb's sound fits squarely within the Americana genre. His songs would fit on playlists alongside artists like Zach Bryan or Drayton Farley's older output. However, he pulls inspiration from unexpected places.
"I really love Kurt Cobain, the guy's a f -- kin' monster. I really, really love old Eminem," he said when asked about his influences. "I grew up on rap music. At least, that's what I listened to -- West Coast Canadian rap music like Stompdown Killaz and Battle Axe Warriors and stuff like that," he added.
"I feel like a lot of writers get into the country side of things and that's all they've grew up on so they almost just mimic what they've been hearing. I feel like, as far as songwriting goes, unless it's directly coming from you, you're not going to have any luck," Whitcomb said. "I mean, you'll have the odd good tune that's just about drinking and whatever but I've had no luck writing songs that don't directly relate to me."