(No One Knows Me) Like The Piano- Sampha

When on the topic of sad songs there is an unspoken yet agreed upon specification of what makes them so successful. for example the song must make you want to ball your eyes out for no reason you could be in a perfect mood but as soon as that you hear the first note of that specific song you just want to break down and forget everything in the world and lie on your bed and stare at the ceiling for hours on end now in my opinion there are many examples of sad songs that make me feel this way as a matter of fact even have a playlist dedicated for such songs that is over three hours long however in the case of no one knows me like the piano by Sampha this is a pathetic and quite frankly half-arsed attempt at a song resembling something that of Frank Ocean during his blond era. 

The song in particular features on Sampha’s debut album process which won the mercury prizes out of the year in 2017 the song itself serves as a Tribute to the singer songwriters late mother who died tragically of cancer while I understand the deeper meaning of this song I think it could’ve been executed with more thought behind it however one of the outstanding features of the song is a slightly out of the piano which is in fact the piano from his mother’s home this sat this as a sentimental value to the song however and although this is sweet The song itself becomes a chore to listen to due to the repetitive nature of the tune. 

 I really do guarantee that I am not as heartless as I am making myself sound here but there are songs that can move you so much more than this and listening to this song, I felt nothing, I felt numb and not that numbness of being moved but an ‘oh okay then’ sort of numb. It just didn’t do it for me.  

In a world where there are so many musicians who have mastered the sound and feeling of a heart-wrenching sad song, Sampha just can’t compete.