Growing up, Samantha Haas was never the most popular person. She spent many weekends teaching herself guitar, writing songs that weren’t the best but ignited something in her that she had never felt before.

Weekend after weekend, she could be found in her basement with guitar in hand. With all that practice came a song that she genuinely liked. Then another one. And another one. She released an EP, Love & Loss, in 2019 and a single, “So Long”, in early 2020.

Her latest single, “Headfirst” was supposed to be released in April 2020, but as the pandemic raged on, it didn’t feel like the right time.

“I started changing, the world started changing and it took a long time to come to the conclusion as to when ‘Headfirst’ would release,” she said. “Even though it didn’t go according to plan, it allowed me to slow down and listen to it for eight months and when it still didn’t get old, I knew it was time.”

“Headfirst” took a full year to complete from front to back. Haas originally went into the studio with a bare bones idea and after a few sessions with co-writer/producer Jeff Covert, they finally found a way to make it work.

“Writing and producing ‘Headfirst’ was unlike any other session I’ve had,” she said. “It came quickly; it was something different. I experimented with a lot of different sounds, ideas and it was immensely rewarding. I will never say the creation process is difficult, but it was a challenge with myself to see the potential and [Covert] really helped push me. He is the best cheerleader/coach and will push you to get the best out of you.”

The song was written as an anthem for Haas to never give up, but also used the lyrics as an explanation to anyone who ever told her to pursue something other than music.

“Headfirst was inspired by a dreamer for a dreamer,” she said. “ Dreams are integral to developing who you are, so always remember to keep dreaming. I want this to be an anthem to anywho who has felt lost and that their dreams aren’t valid or obtainable. I hope listeners understand why it is so important to support people with big dreams.”

Samantha Haas found a passion that gave her the creative freedom to share her dream with others. She is still the girl writing music alone in her basement, and that is exactly where she wants to be.