BLUE HOT

WILL SWINTON lives two lives – one in New Zealand, where the energy rolls in like soft waves, and one in Los Angeles, a feverish boil. He believes in going in guns blazing, so when an LA manager contacted him, he hopped on a plane with a skateboard and pocket money, neither of which would travel far. Sleepless nights on couches felt like the night before Christmas, a flicker of excitement and unsettled expectation. From playing sold-out crowds to Kelly Clarkson covering his song Flames, his career is heating up fast. However, he is careful not to light too many quick-burning matches. Instead, he took almost all of 2025 to hone in on his sound methodically, fuelling his steady flame as his new music awaits, ready to be opened.

Hi Will! How are you?

I landed back in New Zealand yesterday. It’s so chill here.

How does LA compare?

LA is very lively. Something is happening every day, which is one thing I love. In New Zealand, it doesn't feel like people are on a similar path, but all of my friends in LA are either in the music industry or entertainment.

It’s great to have other artists around you, but that can come with a very work-oriented culture.

I don’t feel any pressure to be more productive, but the conversations in LA are always more in tune with my life. Out here, I'm chatting to my friends about god knows what. It feels like two different lives. I love both of them.

You grew up listening to your mom's CDs. Is there any early music memory that sticks in your mind

Everyone has a time when they are little, hear a song for the first time, and it’s like, “Whoa!” I was on my older brother's Xbox, and he loaded up a Red Hot Chili Peppers CD. I heard Otherside. I remember being obsessed with the melody. My first concert was an RHCP show about ten years later.

You used to listen mostly to Max Martin, someone you think creates perfect melodies. What do you feel makes a melody perfect?

I always think about this. Technically, who knows? I may think a melody sounds really good, but someone could think the opposite. When you hear a melody, something happens in your brain. It just tingles. I had made a playlist of songs that I considered melodically perfect. I had this weird theory that I was training my brain to only reference those melodies. I'm still weirdly precious about my taste.

At the start of the year, you felt like you had to hone in on your taste. Now that we are a year from then, how are you feeling?

We created a lot of music this year that I'm so proud of, and it's a complete representation of my taste. When I say “taste,” I don’t mean I have better taste than anyone else; I just mean my particular likes. I’m just trying to be protective of it. I have seen artists create albums that I absolutely love, but then they go in a weird direction. I always wonder what causes that. Is it because they lose touch with their taste? I tried to flesh out exactly what I love this year.

You have said that your latest release, Find A Way, feels like it captures your taste perfectly. What part of the process took the longest to feel finished?

The sonics. The two producers I work with, Paul Phamous and Ethan Schneiderman, create a dream team. They're beasts, and they understand exactly what I’m aiming for. Find A Way is a good reference point for how I want to be represented sonically.

You also mentioned that it feels really suited for a live audience. What moments of
audience connection stick out to you?

Even just thinking about it now, I'm grinning, because that is the best feeling in the world. I'm there singing, and everyone else is just singing back these words that are so meaningful to me.

You have had many “wing it” moments in your career so far. You worked in a trampoline park at home and made songs at night. LA managers eventually contacted you and asked if you’d be in LA. Even though you had no plans, you told them you did and flew there. Can you walk me through those first days in LA?

My first few days there, I was like, “What have I done?” I had just sold my car and had already nearly spent my savings, having been there one week. I had three months to go. The city was way bigger than I expected. I went to LA with my skateboard, thinking I would be able to skate from Santa Monica to Hollywood. It was daunting, but I went out and tried to meet as many people as I could. I was getting in studio sessions. I met a group of friends out there who literally saved me because I had completely run out of money and didn't have an Airbnb or a place to stay. They are my best buddies, still to this day. There were many ups and downs. My entire career and life have been full of high highs and low lows. I'm glad I did it, but it was a bit spooky.

Generally, do you have a mentality that most things are worth a try?

I truly believe people can do whatever they want and should pursue whatever they love to do. For example, a good friend of mine is an incredible chef. He creates the most beautiful, delicious dishes you've ever seen. But he's in university, heading towards a job that's not his passion. I’m a believer that everyone should go with guns blazing into their passion. But I am lucky to do what I love every day.

You have said that you and your manager were living in delusion in those early days. Sometimes in the entertainment industry, ignorance can be bliss. The more you learn about the business, the more it can limit creativity. Do you ever wish you could return to a naive mindset?

I don't think so, even though I 100% agree with what you are saying. My manager and I were both navigating the music industry together. I was his first artist. We didn’t know any of the rules. We were just winging it. Honestly, it's gotten easier. When I first got into this, I would get really stressed out. There were long periods when I could not sleep at all because I couldn't switch my brain off. There were infinite things to do, and I never clocked out. I came from a job [at the trampoline park] where I didn't have anything to think about until I was there. It was stress/excitement. There were times when it was worrying, but there were also times when I was just so excited for the next couple of days. I felt like a little kid before Christmas, and I could never sleep before Christmas

That’s a really nice way of describing it. How does writing with others differ from writing alone in terms of your own creativity?

I've been working with these two producers for the past two years, and I'm completely comfortable with them. They know everything about my life. I know everything about their lives. We have a process, and we can flesh something out easily. Sometimes when I write alone, I can come up with something a little bit more obscure. When I’m by myself, I'm not afraid to be weird, because no one has to hear it. Sometimes there's good stuff in that weirdness.

What are you most excited about as we move into 2026?

I spent the whole of 2025 finding a sound that I love, and I'm excited to release it into the world.