Walking onto the stage of the iconic Troubadour on December 11, 2021, Anson Seabra was greeted with hundreds of screams from a completely sold-out venue. All throughout the night, his lyrics were screamed back at him, the crowd erupted in applause every time he drank water, and many tears were shed by members of the audience. With the adoring audience Seabra drew in Los Angeles, he definitely wasn’t in Kansas (City) anymore.
In October, I was lucky enough to attend a virtual press conference where Seabra opened up about his songwriting process, life itself, and everything in between. He spoke about looking forward to the “human aspect” of playing shows – hearing his fans sing his songs back to him, meeting people who have been moved by his music, and just connecting with people outside of a screen. It was magical seeing that first-hand. I met a group of girls who wrote long letters chronicling how his music has changed their lives. I met a girl who flew in from New York to see her favorite artist play his first headline show. It was absolutely incredible hearing Seabra talk about the power of live music in his living room a couple of months ago and then experiencing it myself.
Seabra’s music hits a chord within all of us that not many artists can achieve. It’s crazy to think that not too long ago, music wasn’t even on his radar. In his college years, Seabra was not found slaving away in the music building, he was hunched over a notebook writing code in the dining hall for fun. His software engineering experience has translated slightly into the technical aspects of his songwriting, allowing him to develop an analytical mindset while creating music, but most of that life is in the past.
Instead of spending his days spitting out endless lines of JavaScript, Seabra has blessed all of our ears with his ingenious songwriting. With a variety of inspirations ranging from Alan Menken, who is best known for creating the soundtracks of countless Disney movies, to Ed Sheeran, Seabra has created an immaculate collection of songs that touch all of his listeners.
Notably, Seabra had two songs go extremely viral on TikTok: “Welcome to Wonderland” and “Walked Through Hell.” Despite being quite the online sensation, Seabra’s immense popularity runs far deeper than a number on a screen. People love him for his ability to encapsulate the utter brokenness of heartbreak into 3 minutes of beautiful despair. People love him for being so in touch with his reality that he can bring a little bit of magic back into their own through his whimsical songwriting. The love for Seabra has been shown with over 450 thousand videos on TikTok using his songs to tell their own stories.
For Seabra, it’s comforting to know that the dark place he found himself in while writing some of his songs was not all in vain. While he was feeling completely alone in the shell of his former self writing “Broken” in the past, Seabra now finds solace in the fact that he might be able to help someone else out there with his words.
There’s no better way to celebrate this holiday season than with some sad Christmas songs from Seabra’s new Christmas EP a heartfelt holiday. Check it out down below!
