Sheffield singer-songwriter Sam Scherdel has signed a global recording deal with Create Music Group alongside its UK label Ostereo and US-based Broke Records, a milestone he hopes will help him follow acts such as Arctic Monkeys and Pulp from his home city. The deal caps a four-year journey that began in 2022 when Scherdel lost his job and decided to commit fully to songwriting, a decision that led to a breakthrough single, viral online success and growing recognition on both sides of the Atlantic.

His single "Somewhere in the Middle" reached one million TikTok views within four days and was later featured on ITV's Love Island, helping push his overall streaming total past three million. The new deal was marked at a signing event in Manchester and will see him release new single "Kyoto Snow" on 16 October, following a busy 2026 that included performances at SXSW, The Great Escape, BST Hyde Park and Tramlines, plus new representation from X-ray Touring. Scherdel's management describe his style as part of an emerging "redemption music" trend, comparing his emotionally honest songwriting to artists such as Noah Kahan and Jeff Buckley.