Scott
Helman
By Andrew King.
Photos by Neal Burstyn,
ImagesWithImpact.ca.
Scott Helman Is Ready to Rule with Hôtel de Ville
“An audience wants to see someone cooler than them doing some-
thing cooler than they’re capable of doing.”
That’s a quote from Luther Mallory, a music performance coach
and self-titled stage psychologist. (He’s also a lot of other things, in-
cluding a longtime Canadian Musician contributor.) It’s an interesting
way to think about performance and how we’re drawn to certain
people, and the more you do, the more you come to realize it carries
a lot of truth – especially if you’re willing to broaden your definition of
“cool.”
In this context, it can mean suave; it can mean skillful, smart,
serious, even scary. If you subscribe to the school of Nardwuar or Na-
poleon Dynamite, it can even be paradoxical. But sometimes, it’s just
classic, dictionary-definition cool – the Scott Helman kind.
The way this young artist propelled up the ranks of the music
industry on the back of his debut EP, 2014’s Augusta, and its mega-
sticky mega-single “Bungalow” proved he has that intangible some-
thing that turns “talented” into “impossible to ignore.”
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He’s got the look – a hybrid kind of handsome that’s part boy
band innocence, part rock star rebellion; a sweet, disarming smile
with James Dean’s weighty gaze. His inked sleeves and tattered den-
im belie his small, slender frame, though what he lacks in stature he
more than makes up for in character and charisma.
Reading through some of his social media posts or catching him
in conversation, it’s quickly made clear that he’s contemplative and
well read. That’s also evident in his lyrics, which are surprisingly sub-
stantial considering how memorable they can be, coupled with the
fact that they’re typically anchored by sugary pop melodies.
All together, it’s the classic the makings of a music industry suc-
cess story but with a character that seems effortlessly able to navigate
its new paradigm, and with his breakout coming on the back of just a
single EP, that story already has a compelling opening chapter. Now,
with the upcoming release of his debut full-length, Hôtel de Ville, the
next one is getting underway.