FOR an independent musician, the price of making an album is not always measured in studio bills or production costs. Sometimes, it is measured in hours that could have been spent somewhere else-at home, with family, or simply getting some sleep.
Filipino-British singer-songwriter and producer Sam Benwick relates to that, mentioning those as the hardest part of making HIGHS and lows, her first full-length album, which was released on October 16.
‘Time away from my family was, I think, the most burdensome for me,’ Sam told SoundStrip.
There were nights when the 22-year-old stayed awake to write, record, and finish the album. There were also days when she chose music over the ordinary things she enjoyed with her family, even when they were only in the next room.
‘There were times when I would cry because I just wanted to be with my family,’ she explained. ‘Not that they were far away from me; they were just in the other room.’
That trade-off says something about the album itself: AS HIGHS and lows is not simply the latest entry in Benwick’s growing catalog.
Sam Benwick
Eight months, or perhaps years
SAM has been making music since she was young, eventually releasing her self-produced debut EP, Songs About Heartbreak, in 2020.
Covers helped introduce her to listeners, but writing and producing her own material has remained central to her work.
For HIGHS and lows, the immediate production process took roughly seven to eight months. But fitting that work around school and other responsibilities stretched the process closer to a year. And even that does not tell the whole story.
Some of the songs on the 15-track record were written years before Sam began putting the album together. They were pieces of different periods of her life that eventually found a place within the same record.
‘So in actuality, this album did take years to make,’ the rising artist told this newspaper.
That longer timeline also gives context to the album’s subject. HIGHS and lows follows Sam’s changing understanding of love-from the excitement of finding it to the pain of encountering the wrong kind, and the lessons that remain after both.
It is less a declaration that she has figured love out than a record of what she learned while trying to understand it. Her faith became part of that process, too.
Choosing faith over fear
MAKING the album independently brought its own uncertainty. Sam knew the decision would be difficult, but she wanted to take the step rather than wait until everything felt safe or perfectly timed.
That mindset shaped her decision to make a full album now.
She has already released singles and two EPs, but a full-length record had been something she wanted to make for years. Eventually, the question became less about whether she was ready and more about whether she was willing to begin.
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‘I would always base my decisions on fear instead of on faith and hope,’ Sam said. ‘But now, I’m turning over a new leaf.’
The album, she said, is an attempt to make music for herself, her family and people who might need to hear what she has to say and, above all, for God.
That does not make the record a simple statement of certainty. If anything, its title suggests the opposite: that the experiences worth writing about often exist somewhere between the extremes.
The highs matter because there were lows. The lows matter because they changed what came after.
For the ones who stayed
For Sam, that circle extends beyond her family.
Her supporters, known collectively as the Samshines, have followed her through the years as she moved from covers and earlier releases toward increasingly personal original music.
For her, their encouragement became particularly meaningful as she took on the uncertainty of working independently. Now, they are part of the album’s next chapter.
Some members of the community have had the chance to hear HIGHS and lows in full before its official release during her listening party earlier this month, turning what began as a largely private process-late nights, old songs, new recordings and time away from family-into something shared.
Sam admits she could have made the album faster. But speed was never really the point.
For an artist who spent years writing songs before deciding they belonged together, the record is as much about finally taking the risk as it is about the music itself.
‘I just wanted to release an album and not let my fears get in the way,’ she said.
And perhaps that is where HIGHS and lows ultimately begin-not with having all the answers, but with deciding that waiting for certainty is no longer a reason not to make the next song.