Meet Sam Tsui | Musician, Content Creator, Author/Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sam Tsui and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sam, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
[Sam]: My husband Casey and I have both always been artists, whether performing, composing, singing or (for me) painting, so the choice to pursue an artistic career never felt like a difficult one to make. However, we both attended (and in fact met at) Yale University, where as a student you’re inevitably surrounded by lots of very accomplished and driven people, so we also have always had a sense of the hard work and savvy it can take to find success in a creative realm. Our biggest guiding principal has always been to do our best to make the smartest decisions when it comes to work (whether that means understanding social media algorithms or choosing which projects to tackle) while never losing sight of our creative spark and the genuine joy at the heart of what we do. That’s why our new children’s book, “Why Do We Sing?” along with the accompanying soundtrack album were such a natural extension of the work we’ve been doing for a decade – and an opportunity to really re-connect with the joy in our work!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As a musician, I was among the generation of early adopters of social media as a platform to share our art, and have been incredibly lucky to have garnered not only hundreds of millions of views over the last decade of work, but to build a really wonderful global fanbase. I think in some ways the secret to “longevity” in content creation is never to become too complacent, and to always keep chasing your own creative spark – and that was a huge reason Casey and I decided to jump into children’s music and literature. After years of creating and touring with pop music, after becoming parents in 2021 to our wonderful daughter Elaia, we found our hearts more and more drawn to kid’s entertainment, and sharing the message of the power and beauty of singing to a whole new generation. I think that willingness to try new things that may be outside of one’s creative comfort zone is really essential. With “Why Do We Sing?” we’ve taken everything we’ve learned about the universality and impact of vocal music and turned it into something that can be appreciated by kids and families.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Los Angeles is such a phenomenal city, and we love showing it off for visiting friends and family! Our daughter Elaia usually sets the itinerary these days- a trip to the LA Zoo, a hike up to Griffith Observatory, Skylight Books in Los Feliz, dinner at Wat Dong Moon Lek in Silver Lake, and a Bob Baker Marionette Theater show would all be on the itinerary!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Our most recent project, “Why Do We Sing?” (a children’s book and accompanying soundtrack album) represents my and my husband Casey’s first foray into the world of kid’s media, so we’ve really relied on the guidance of the amazing teams at Republic Records : Kids and Family who released the album, and HarperCollins who published the book. Children’s music and literature are both unique fields, and these incredibly talented teams (including the fabulous Bree Bowles from Republic and our wonderful editor Sara Schonfeld at Harper) helped us navigate this new world and create something we’re truly proud of!

Website: www.samtsui.com/kids

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesamtsui/?hl=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamuelTsui?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamTsuiMusic/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWrtsravWX0ANhHiJXNlyXw

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@thesamtsui?lang=en

Image Credits
Sam Tsui