With a soulful singing voice and a sincere guitar sound inspired by some of the greatest musicians in the world, Spencer Barnett is the kind of musician you hear once and find yourself still humming days later. For his new EP Jigsaw, out on October 25, Barnett shared with Playboy how he created a very different project this time around, and one he’s very proud to present to the world.
Playboy: You learned piano and guitar at eight years old. Tell us about discovering those instruments and how they differed as musical mediums for you.
Spencer Barnett: I started on piano. My great-grandma was a piano teacher and my grandma was a classical pianist and she taught music. So she really was an inspiration in starting to play the piano.
Playboy: Did she teach you?
Spencer Barnett: She taught me many things, but frankly I was a punk little eight-year-old and I didn’t think classical piano was cool. So I was like, okay I’m still gonna play this, but I’m also gonna start playing electric guitar and so I really started both at the same time. I learned a lot from both musically. I think both have defined the way that I play. Although you’re playing a lot of the same notes, it’s a very different way to think about the instrument.
Playboy: Who are the first musical artists that made you feel like a spark?
Spencer Barnett: Probably came from my mom driving me to school. She’d play the SiriusXM hits from the past. I got to listen to a lot of different genres and eras of music, which is really cool. I think the first thing that I really connected to and sparked with me because it really sparked with her was the Beatles. She was a huge Paul McCartney guy.
But then I had a second spark when I was maybe 12 and I got my first Spotify account. That was the first time that I was able to control the music that I was listening to. I really started to get more into the indie wave. There’s so many things about these songs that remind me of a lot of the things that I love about the McCartney records from 60 years ago, but they’re done in a totally new way. So that really inspired me to start making my own music.
Playboy: It’s been four years since your last EP I’m Fine. Tell us about the process of creating your new EP and the themes you wanted to express.
Spencer Barnett: I know that the process was radically different, and I think as a result of that the themes are different. The first three EPs, including I’m Fine, I basically [went from] start to finish in a single week. It was something that I actively tried to do. I came in with some very loose thoughts, but no songs fully formed. It was a little bit crazy, but it kind of worked. I think some of the most fruitful music comes from that push.
And then I was about to go and tour, and Covid happened. It was the time of deep thought and consideration and I really wanted to sort of be very intentional in finding new sounds and creating a project that was very thematic, and all of these little puzzle pieces that would fit together into something greater than the single songs themselves. That’s why the project’s called Jigsaw. It traces a longer arc so much. I mean, I fell in love for the first time while in the span of this project. I broke someone’s heart. I had my own heart broken. I went to school and learned new things.
Playboy: Do you write music based on your real life experiences, and if so, have you ever have that experience of someone saying, “Are you singing about me?”
Spencer Barnett: All of my music is based off real-life experiences in one way or another. Some songs are very specific and others are more like abstract. I think that for the most part, some people might know that a song is about them. But, I don’t know if anyone else besides them [would know].
Playboy: It’s been five years since you debuted with 17. Your vibe has changed a lot since then, it’s very different. I’m curious what you’ve learned as an artist on this journey so far.
Spencer Barnett: Two things. First, I started at one point to run from that song a little bit because I had changed so much. And I realized that that was sort of a stupid endeavor because it was a bookmark of who I was at that point. And I’m super grateful for the opportunities that song has brought me. And also I’ve come around to feeling like it’s a good song again.
Playboy: You mentioned in an interview with Paper that you’re very inspired by ’90s aesthetics. Do you have favorite videos from that time period?
Spencer Barnett: Yeah, absolutely. Specifically for Lost Boy, that was something we wanted, because things in the ’90s just felt a little bit more raw. It has always been really appealing to me.
Playboy: What topics have you not touched on yet in your music that you’re interested to explore in the future?
Spencer Barnett: That’s a great question. I think that almost all of my music that I’ve put out so far has been sort of about myself or my relationships, whether it’s a friendship or romantic relationship. I definitely hope to touch on some topics that are more broad and bigger than me. Some of the best Marvin Gaye songs are about climate change.
Playboy: What’s the last concert you made to went to that really stuck with you?
Barnett: Honestly, from a show perspective…I think this might be an unexpected answer, but one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time was the Usher Vegas residency. One of my friends has been working on the creative and invited me to come see it, and man, that is an incredible show that they put together. He’s really one of the greatest performers of all time.