The Eye features some of music’s most exciting up-and-comers taking to an intimate studio setting to perform their finest work, all in a single take. The latest participant is singer-songwriter Alec Benjamin, who turned in performances of three recent highlights of his burgeoning discography.
Benjamin has had ups and downs in his career so far, although there have certainly been more positives than negatives. While still in college, he landed a record deal with Columbia Records, although that ended up falling through. After that setback, Benjamin pushed on with a more DIY philosophy and eventually signed another record deal, this time with Atlantic Records, which remains his label today. His first mixtape released through Atlantic, 2018’s Narrated For You, yielded Benjamin’s breakout hit “Let Me Down Slowly,” which landed him on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was certified 2-times platinum last year. Also in 2020, he shared his debut album, These Two Windows.
He has also secured some significant co-signs so far: Alessia Cara joined Benjamin on a remix of “Let Me Down Slowly,” and in 2018, Billie Eilish was so taken with Benjamin’s song “Water Fountain” that she shared a video of herself partially covering it on Instagram.
Now, Benjamin is on The Eye with performances of “The Way You Felt,” “Older,” and “Match In The Rain.” Armed with just a guitar and a microphone, he transforms “The Way You Felt” (which he performed on The Late Late Show earlier this year, by the way) from a keyboard- and drum-driven tune to a tender acoustic track, which works well thanks to Benjamin’s airy vocals helping preserve the song’s catchy rhythm.
He brings the same energy to his renditions of “Older” and “Match In The Rain,” showing that while the production of the original recordings are a big part of their appeal, ultimately, the songwriting is there and can shine through when the track is reduced to just vocals and acoustic guitar.
While Benjamin is fresh off his most major professional successes so far, he remains humble and sees similarities between what he’s doing now and how things were after getting dropped by his first label: In a recent episode of Uproxx’s How I Blew Up, Benjamin said, “Ultimately, I kind of found my way. I’m still kind of throwing things at the wall to see what sticks, and it doesn’t always go the way I want it to, but I’m just trying to figure it out.”
Watch Benjamin perform “The Way You Felt,” “Older,” and “Match In The Rain” for The Eye above.
Alec Benjamin is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.