Walk around the hallways of SPASH and you are bound to see countless students with headphones in their ears, but this begs the question, what are they listening to on those headphones? Although we can never know for certain, what we can know is who they should be listening to: Nathan Sharp. 

Nathan Sharp is a popular youtuber and music creator who has made the intro music to several popular shows and several other projects. If you haven’t heard these tracks yet, you’ve probably at least heard some of the songs that he has covered from other popular artists such as Fall Out Boy, Linkin Park, and Panic! At the Disco.

Who is Nathan Sharp?

Nathan Sharp is a Korean American singer, songwriter, voice actor and composer with a professional bio. In 2017, he co-founded independent record label Give Heart Records. Under the name NateWantsToBattle he’s created over 300 songs and he has sung the official theme songs for shows like dragon ball super and beyblade burst turbo.

Nate’s songs fall in the genre of alternative rock and indie rock. So you will hear a lot of electric guitar, electric bass guitar, an analog drum kit, and synthesizer/digital piano when approaching the chorus. Nate often explodes into his chorus with heavy emphasis on the drums, especially in the song “Smoke and Guns” and “Bones,” where the pre-chorus music is quieter, reaching a crescendo when the chorus finally does arrive.

According to a 2018 interview in Substream Magazine, Nate was asked what the meaning behind the song “Take Me Anywhere.” Nate responded with, ”This was, without a doubt, the hardest song for me to write. ‘Take Me Anywhere’ is about perspective and how important it is to change yours from time to time. I was at one of the lowest points in my life and it wasn’t until I had a change of scenery that was touring to really show how unhappy I was with my life. ‘It’s easy to see it. Too hard to believe it. But once in a while you’ve just gotta come clean’ devastated me. I typed out that line and just stared at the words that, to this day, still haunt me. This song was the ultimate therapy and really showed me that I needed to do something different and not idly watch as my life goes by without me being as happy as I knew I could be.”

Nate also said for the songs “Smoke and Guns” and “Dream Alone,” “Sometimes there’s chemistry and sometimes there’s even more than that – a really intense spark. I wanted the music to reflect that and have a nice danceable beat behind it. Probably one of the most feel-good tracks on the album. Where “Smoke and Guns” is about undeniable chemistry, ‘Dream Alone’ is about uncertainty. Feeling like there’s something there, but unsure if it will come to fruition. It’s frustrating knowing what you want but not what direction your situation will take.”

No matter what song or what album a listener chooses from his catalog, they are bound to hear a song that they will enjoy.