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  • - My sea shanties from TikTok got me a record deal.

  • And this is that story.

  • My name's Nathan Evans.

  • I'm from a small place just outside Glasgow in Scotland.

  • It's called Airdrie.

  • It's not that exciting,

  • there's not much to talk about.

  • One of the best things in here

  • is the train that takes you out.

  • It all started back in January 2020.

  • I was a postman

  • and I was just going about my day-to-day job.

  • I started my job about eight o'clock in the morning.

  • I was finished at about three o'clock in the afternoon

  • which meant I had all day after that

  • and all night to think of new ideas for songs,

  • think of new TikTok ideas.

  • I've been singing since I was six years old.

  • I don't think there's been a minute

  • where I don't think of music,

  • I'm not singing, I'm not playing guitar.

  • So, my views from TikTok,

  • when I first started,

  • I was getting maybe a couple of hundred

  • and it was slow for a while.

  • Then in July, someone decided to leave a comment

  • saying, "Could you sing a sea shanty

  • "called 'Leave Her Johnny'?

  • "I think you would be really good at it."

  • So I went away, I done some research.

  • The purpose of sea shanties

  • back when they were sang was,

  • they were sang on sailing ships and whaling ships

  • and they were used to keep the sailor's morale high,

  • to keep them all happy,

  • to get them all joining in.

  • If they were hoisting the sails

  • or whatever they were doing,

  • it was to keep them in time.

  • I don't do well on boats.

  • I get seasick, so.

  • I went and I listened to a whole load of sea shanties

  • and I came back and uploaded the video

  • and the reception was amazing.

  • Leave her Johnny leave her

  • Comments started coming in.

  • "Could you do the 'Drunken Sailor,'

  • "could you do 'The Scotsman,'

  • "could you do 'The Wellerman?'"

  • And so I got ready to do "The Wellerman"

  • on the 27th of December.

  • And it blew up.

  • There once was a ship that put to sea

  • The name of the ship was the Billy of Tea

  • The winds blew up her bow dipped down

  • ♪ O blow my bully boys blow

  • The duets are probably one of my favorite parts

  • of the whole process.

  • One person joins in and then two people joins in

  • and then before you know it,

  • there's 15 people on this one video.

  • There's somebody playing a violin,

  • there's somebody playing a harp and it's just,

  • all together, it's just amazing.

  • It was about three days later

  • when I surpassed a million views.

  • There was emails coming in

  • about radio show interviews

  • and TV shows.

  • Managers, there was booking agents.

  • So I spoke to a few people

  • and sorted a lawyer and a manager.

  • Once I'd got them sorted,

  • 220 KID and Billen Ted,

  • they had then went and made the remix

  • and radio stations loved it.

  • And that is then when record labels started to get in touch.

  • Now it's sitting at one and two in the UK charts,

  • the original and then the remix is sitting there.

  • There is a music video in the works

  • and you'll hopefully get to see that

  • in the next couple of weeks.

  • You'll hopefully hear a couple of singles

  • in the coming months

  • and an album within the year

  • so keep your ears peeled.

  • (upbeat jazzy music)

- My sea shanties from TikTok got me a record deal.

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