I Used To Be Sam’s self-discovery in “Gentle”

‘Before becoming Annie Goodchild, I used to be Sam’ is the evokative sentence that opens I Used To Be Sam‘s (formerly known as Annie Goodchild) new single, “Gentle”, which is part of her upcoming EP of the same name. The track is an exploration of transracial adoption and self-discovery, inspired by the finding made by the acclaimed singer, songwriter and recording artist after taking an Ancestry DNA test. Before being the Boston-raised person she is today, she used to be Samantha.

After a successful solo career as Annie Goodchild, a band called Melou and being featured singer for Scott Bradlee’s musical collective Postmodern Jukebox, the artist took a strenuous five-day songwriting trip to Berlin. There she met a producer who was a queer woman of colour, who gave her the confidence to speak candidly about meeting her birth father for the first time, and the agony of trying to reconnect with her biological mother. It was in that moment that she realized that Annie wasn’t needed anymore, and that I Used To Be Sam had to have her time.

Accompanied by a haunting music video which features other transracial adoptees’ (TRAs) experiences, the single marks the first chapter for I Used To Be Sam. Her raw and powerful vocals, mixed with crisp beats and original percussions, strongly represent her most ambitious and honest release yet.

Listen to Gentle below.