Over the last six years, Sampha has become something of a musicians’ musician, working with everyone from Drake to SBTRKT to Solange, whether as a producer, songwriter, or guest vocalist. With his forthcoming debut, Process, he stands to make a proper introduction in the wider music world—and “(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano” could be the song to help him do it. As far as artist statements go, it's hard to imagine him topping this prayer to the very power of song.

Guided by austere keys, Sampha shares how a piano that appeared in his mother’s south London home shaped his life profoundly, providing him with his future. “You would show me I have something some people call a soul,” he croons, “And you drop-topped the sky, oh you arrived when I was three years old.” His maturity, both artistically and emotionally, came from finding his true self at the piano bench. But even when Sampha offers up a sentimental pop ballad, he hasn’t lost hints of his edge. He knows to cut the music with a simmering tension that grows from below his instrument of choice, first in a slow, echoing beat, and then in slight electronics that give way to the sound of birds chirping. In this moment, Sampha is stepping into the spotlight, but he hasn’t lost the part of himself that needed music as armor for life.