Benjamin Steer

To get the true measure of rising singer-songwriter sensation Benjamin Steer, look no further than new single ‘Be My Love’. “It’s the first song that pretty much defines me as an artist,” says the 23-year-old British-American-Belgian star-in-waiting. A self-confessed “hopeless romantic”, Steer’s towering anthemics magnify an obsession and dedication he applies to everything, along with “the angst and desperation of finding someone and something that actually means something to you”. 

It’s that search for meaning, consistency and validation in these fractured times that runs throughout his music, driven by the ambition to get life right and reach as many people as possible. 

Now with 1.5million monthly Spotify listeners and a deep connection with his fans through his hook-filled tales of millennial life, love and anxiety, Steer only found himself on this path a few years ago at university. He was studying economics at the prestigious St Andrews in Scotland when, in need of a hobby and keen to impress a girl, he bought himself an acoustic guitar. He learned two songs (‘Feeling Whitney’ by Post Malone and Ed Sheeran’s ‘Galway Girl’) before he wrote one of his own. His mum encouraged him to record it, he caught the bug, and set about writing more tracks before sharing them online. 

The response was sudden, unexpected and explosive. His numbers on social and streaming blew up. Steer found himself with a record deal offer within a year of first picking up a guitar. He’d found his calling, and realised he dreaded the idea of becoming a “finance bro”. Rather than be another suit and earn someone else a few million, he found the world a lot brighter by pursuing a newfound creativity he’d fallen in love with. 

Feeling “a loser my whole life” as a “chubby kid who didn’t grow” who “coasted through middle school and high school”, Steer’s calling in music gave him a new purpose. With a built-in work ethic from his parents and international upbringing, along with the lingering pressure of his uni life, it’s still the shared dread of all 20-somethings that speaks to why Steer throws his all at what he does: “My biggest fear in life is failure and not being enough.” 

Cutting his teeth on support slots with the likes of Myles Smith, Cameron Whitcomb, Arthur Hill, and Kingfishr, Steer further found his public through the ode-to-being-dumped ‘Miracle’, the soulful and streetwise ‘Sinner’, and modern frustration of ‘No One Wants To Die Alone’. “Is it heartbreak with the mistakes that dictate who we are?” he asks on the latter, craving something more, something real at an age of feeling “so sick of all this young love, fake tough, because we're all alone”. 

That incessant quest for perfection and to be heard may be a symptom of being 20 in 2026, but for Steer it’s also fuelled by his OCD diagnosis. The inescapable ‘Be My Love’ presents a view of modern romance told through that prism. “My OCD helps me and hurts me in pretty much every aspect of my life,” Steer admits. “It hurts me in my ability to live normally, but helps me in the pursuit of things I want. 

“I fall in love very quickly, and that gives you a drive. The most common trait with OCD is anxiety around the things you can’t control. The way that someone feels about you is the greatest relinquishing of control that anyone can have in life.” 

Still, he’s found a love and connection with his fans. If he wants to be the best, it’s in order to give something to the world, to perfect his craft, to study, to polish, to create a full package so that these songs that mean so much to him can cut through all the noise and be truly heard. As he puts it: “The songs that mean the most to you tend to do the best. There’s a conscious effort within those to make them reach people.” 

Steer says: “Timothée Chalamet went on stage after making Marty Supreme and said, ‘I’m here and working my arse off to be one of the greats, I’m putting my whole life into my pursuit of being one of the greats, I’m not going to settle for inadequacy’. A lot of people gave him s**it for that. I feel the same, but it’s because I’m trying to positively affect the lives of people around me. I’m not trying to serve myself, it’s for my fans. I wouldn’t be here without them. I’m writing for them because I was them.” 

He defines that character as anyone who understands “the experience of a 20-something-year-old or generation Z person in 2026”. 

“There’s a common thread of social media and the pressure to show to everyone in the world that you are OK and you’re thriving,” he goes on. “There are expectations to find a job in a world where it’s harder than ever. Generation Z is the first that will be worse off than the previous generation. Dealing with that unconsciously while trying to prove to everyone on social media that your life is amazing is a common thing.” 

These are songs “beyond the generic tropes of heartbreak and love”, and written more as an act of therapy. As a result, he’s been getting messages in droves, particularly from young men also buckling under the pressure of expectation. “I do it all the time: I measure everything by success, and I rarely ask myself if I’m really happy with who I am beyond the success,” Steer admits. “That’s predominantly a male thing to do: to anchor how well you are as a human and your happiness on what your salary is, what you’ve done at work, your partner. Deep down, people want more than that. 

“I never realised how much music meant to people until I started getting DMs from people saying that they didn’t take their own life last night because of a song I wrote,” he continues, pointing to the “real difference” he’s already making in music over becoming another finance bro. “Would you people rather I didn’t write the song? The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about.” 

With a packed year of touring ahead – including a sold out show at London’s legendary Village Underground – Steer is eager to put the hours in on stage and in the studio to pen a debut album that truly matters; to the fans as much as himself. He recognises the speed and luck of his ascent, but it’s his talent and the love he receives that’s keeping him here. 

“I need to earn it,” he says. “I need to repay the people who have put faith in me. I need to do this for them and for me. 

Have a listen…