Alec Benjamin first started out in music by teaching himself how to play guitar in his bedroom. Fast-forward several years and the “Let Me Down Slowly” singer boasts more than 5 billion global streams and several platinum-certified singles. But his path to success wasn’t always linear. In Uproxx’s latest How I Blew Up segment, Benjamin walks his fans through his triumphs and setbacks during his rise to fame.
Benjamin began making music in high school after a brief identity crisis led him to pick up a guitar. When Benjamin signed his first record deal in the early 2010s, he thought it was his big break. But it ended up being a turbulent time for new artists, as music streaming services weren’t yet popular.
After being dropped from the label, Benjamin found his passion for his career ignited and he decided to start from the ground up. “It was a good gut check for how much I actually wanted to do music,” he told Uproxx. Benjamin’s plan was to play as many shows as he could. “I did a lot of open mics and then I also released a lot of music online,” he said. “I started putting out a song every week.”
Eventually, Benjamin was able to build up a massive following. He signed a new record deal and his 2018 track “Let Me Down Slowly” acted as his breakout hit. But the singer says the moment he really knew he “made it” was when his friends started to text him and say they heard his music on TV or the radio. “That was tight,” he recalled.
Watch Benjamin detail his rise to fame in his episode of Uproxx’s How I Blew Up above and check out more artist interviews in the series here.
Alec Benjamin is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Source: https://uproxx.com/pop/alec-benjamin-how-i-blew-up/