MM Exclusive: Owen Saward Interviewed

Having first cut his teeth under the bright lights of London’s West End, Owen Saward’s journey into music is rooted in performance long before his debut release back in 2024. Since stepping away from theatre to pursue music full-time, Owen has rapidly carved out a distinct lane within the UK’s evolving R&B landscape.

Blending classic emotional songwriting with contemporary production, his breakout run has been fuelled by instinct, innovation and authenticity. Tracks like ‘I Know’, which has now surpassed seven million streams, confirmed a growing appetite for his honest, feeling-first approach, while recent single ‘Without You’ at the end of 2025, introduced a nostalgic 2010s energy reframed through a modern lens, gaining traction across TikTok and beyond.

Released earlier last year, Owen’s debut EP, ‘Chapter 1 – Belief,‘ offered a snapshot of an artist still finding his footing, created before viral moments or streaming milestones entered the picture. The project captured a formative period built on trust, community and belief from those around him, themes that continue to underpin his creative process as his audience expands. While R&B remains a foundational element of his sound Owen resists being boxed in, moving fluidly between pop, dance and garage influences while prioritising feeling, voice and identity above genre.

As he looks ahead to 2026 with new music and live plans on the horizon, Owen Saward stands at a pivotal point in his career, an artist fully committed to building legacy and something forever lasting. In this Mixtape Madness interview, he reflects on his transition from theatre to music, the evolution of his sound, and the mindset guiding him through the next chapter of his journey.

How has being raised in Hertfordshire influenced your route into music and your sound? Were there any standout influences throughout your youth that encouraged you to make your own music? 

It wasn’t the area that influenced my sound; it was the people. Growing up with just my mum, she was always playing old school rnb especially Mary J Blige, so listening to that throughout my childhood heavily shaped how I wanted my songs to sound and feel when you heard them.

I noticed that before you took the route of making your own music, you thrived in the West End in multiple roles theatrically. How was this experience, and how does this form of artistic expression differ from your music creation? 

Performing in theatre & the West End shaped me as an artist massively! It taught me how to perform on big stages & how to handle the pressure of that & also shaped how I hear music. As in theatre, there are a lot of harmony parts in the music, which ultimately led me to fall in love with harmony & adding a lot of stacks and colours into my own music to replicate that feeling.

Firstly, ‘Without You’ dropped a few of weeks ago now… It’s a real hit that not only channels a nostalgic 2010’s energy but hybridises a current, creative flair. How did the track come about, and how has it been received so far? 

The track has been received incredibly well. It’s my biggest release to date & I’m very happy with how the world is resonating with it. As for how it came about, as you may know, in the last 3 months, Angel and Prgrshn have been super locked into the studio, sometimes 5 days a week, just cooking up. We have built a great working relationship, but more importantly, a friendship. Without you was a song that Angel had in the locker for years & had been going to waste. So we’ve visited the song and chopped and changed it around over 10 times until we found the perfect version. Then Kas came & did what he always does and took the track to that next level with his add prod.

It completely did the rounds on TikTok too… it must be pretty special seeing people vibe with your creation? 

It’s honestly one of the best things in the world to see people enjoying the music that I create. But as an artist, it’s so easy to look at numbers on TikTok or streams and just see them as numbers.  You forget that behind every number is a real-life person sometimes.

There are heavy R&B influences and vibes in your music – many people have been saying that R&B is experiencing a massive resurgence right now. What would you say to that, and also, would you describe yourself as someone within an out-and-out R&B genre? 

R&B is definitely resurging right now & rightfully so! I’d say it’s one of the best genres of music & is home to the music that really makes you feel something! We talk about real-life stuff most of the time, relationships, etc., so I think it’s incredibly important to the world to have songs that you can connect to on a deeper level, & that’s what I try to do with my music, always telling real-life stories. However, I wouldn’t say I’m someone that’s out & out RnB. I love it & it will always be my core, but I have some songs more in the pop lane and songs in the dance/ garage lane. I never focus too hard on trying to make something just RNB only. 

But what I do focus on is the feeling and the voice. I want you to always know from the first note that you’re listening to a Owen Saward record.

Your hit track ‘I Know’ has now surpassed seven million streams. Can you tell me about the creative process for this, and how the success of this track has further influenced (or not influenced) your recent music? 

The process of making this song was actually quite funny because I wrote this about something that I was literally experiencing at the time. So the writing process felt very easy. But no, the track itself didn’t really influence any of my latest music. Instead, it confirmed to me that this is something the world was missing right now when I saw how it resonated. But as you can hear from ‘without you’, my sound is always developing & I never want to get caught trying to chase a hit & recreate something in the same lane. I’m forever growing as an artist, and so is the sound.

And your EP ‘Chapter 1 – Belief’ was released earlier in 2025… how was that received and how did you feel offloading that to the world? 

I love this project for many reasons. Obviously, being that it was my first project. But the name itself is very special to me. I called it belief because at this time I was a fresh artist and people had been working with me, not for the thought of money or streams, but purely off the fact that they believed that I could do what I said I was gonna do in the music world. So it felt amazing to put out a body of work that was made way before ‘I know’ dropped and way before the world even knew who I was as an artist. And then to watch it resonate with people like we knew it would when we made it was just perfect.

It feels like there is no other single artist right now creating music with the same wave and feel as yourself right now – how important is originality to you? 

It’s everything to me! Giving people a flavour of what they know and love whilst also giving them something new and fresh is what I’m always aiming for. As mentioned before, I always want people to know an Owen Saward record when they hear one! & I think that’s what helps me stand out from the rest. I don’t wanna copy what someone else is doing in their lane, I wanna create my own.

It’s been just over a year and a half since your first official release… has your outlook/approach to creating music changed over that time, and if so, how? 

My approach to making Music will always remain the same. I never plan. I try to make every session its own entirely. To find the vibe in the room that day and build from that. 

Music is a team game. And something as little as your commute into the studio can affect the direction the song goes and in a room full of creatives it’s important to be on the same page. 

So often we catch up for half hour before even getting to making the song. And in doing so we create the vibe and the feel of the song just by a conversation before even stepping into the studio.

Do you see yourself as having one huge aspiration/big goal you want to achieve? If so, what is that? 

Yes, my goal is broad and has always remained the same! I want people from all corners of the world to enjoy my music.

I wanna be able to fly anywhere and put on a killer show and hear people scream the words back to me. 

I want to make my mum proud. But most unfortunately, I want to create a legacy for my future family and children, whenever that may be, and for them to be proud to have the surname Saward. 

Looking forward to the new year, what does 2026 hold in store for you? 

I’m incredibly excited for the new year. I have been working extremely hard on constantly tryna perfect my craft and I wanna kick of 2026 with plenty of new music & Hopefully some shows aswell. 

When you think of your musical plans for the new year, what is it that excites you the most?

What excites me the most is the unknown & the endless possibilities surrendering that. I always say that your biggest achievements lie at the end of your comfort zone and quitting theatre to pursue music was definitely the end of my comfort zone. But if I can achieve this much in over a year it excites me to think what else I can do in another year from now. I’m excited to just wake up everyday and put 110% into my music and craft and see where I land.

Owen Saward’s brilliant new single ‘I Wish’ is out now on all DSP’s – the Spotify link of which you can find below.