WORDS MAISIE JANE DANIELS
There’s something irresistible about Sweets—not just in name, but in the way this emerging poet and musician stitches together words that stick with you long after the last note. Born and raised in Newcastle, Finn (aka Sweets) has Geordie roots that form the foundation of his sound, giving a raw, unfiltered honesty to his work. From the evolution of his name—ditching “Sweet Connector” for something punchier—to the introspection in his latest single, Hockey Puck, Finn isn’t afraid to crack things open and explore what’s inside.
With Hockey Puck already spinning on BBC Radio 6 Music, Sweets has a knack for fusing poetic lyricism with a deep dive into trauma, inspired by Buddhist philosophy. Beyond the music, Finn intends to extend into political spheres, tackling issues that matter while navigating life with ADHD—something that influences both his creativity and the world he builds around it.
As festival season looms and new chapters unfold, we sit down with Sweets to talk origins, evolution, and the power of words. And trust us—Sweets is one artist you just might get addicted to.
Maisie Daniels: Hello, welcome to F Word! How’s your week been?
Sweets: It was good, I did a big show last weekend and I was supporting Antony Szmierek in my hometown, which was the biggest venue I've ever played as well!
MD: Congratulations! I can see that your real name is Finn from this Zoom call but why did you choose the name Sweets?
Sweets: The name Sweets comes from a Geordie term, which was thrown around when I was at school, which is like a sweet connector. It’s when you punch someone - if you have a fight and you connect with someone [laughs]. So that's what my name was originally and as I graduated from the local scene I was like, oh, that's just a little bit cringe, it wasn't resonating, so I just shortened it down to Sweets. I like it when people have zeros - when it's just a solo act as well - like Grimes or The Streets. I just like how that feels.
MD: You've mentioned being from Newcastle, so I want talk about Geordie backstory! How did growing up in in Newcastle shape the artist you are today.
Sweets: Newcastle is a fun place to grow up. It’s a lot safer in some respects, but then a lot more unpredictable in others. There's this culture of fighting and nightlife where it's not really the same as in Manchester or London, when you know what you're getting when you see someone a bit sketchy, it's like everyone's a bit more loud and brash.I experienced a lot of that in school. The only connection that I can make between that and my music, other than my accent, is the angry side of it. I use music as a way of expressing anger, and I have a lot of that within me - music’s a healthy outlet - but I feel like maybe that came from getting into scraps all the time when I was a kid… [laughs]
MD: I read that you saw yourself as a writer more than a musician. But do you remember the point when those two
things combined.
Sweets: Yeah. One of my favourite artists has always been Frank Ocean. I remember learning and looking in depth into his use of words, and his lyricism, and just how deep and nuanced, and how much he’d slaved over it. So, with that, a moment came where it was like Oh, this is really accessible poetry. It's just storytelling / poetry that is put on a really nice, neat little of plate and made really palatable and for everyone. Plus, I just loved music, and I loved rapping. I loved hip hop music so it all just came together. But I wanted to create a vehicle so that people would hear what I have to say. Ultimately, I just, I want to be heard, and I think the music's a great way to be heard.
MD: Yeah, definitely. So we've got to talk about your new single Hockey Puck, which was released this week - congratulations. It's great track. What’s been the what's been the response so far?
Sweets: Thank you! It’s been good and Huw Stephens played it yesterday.
MD: Amazing!
Sweets: I’ve been buzzing about that because I've always had this image of 6 Music in my head where if it gets on the show, especially during the daytime, it's got value as art. Or I can take my music seriously to the level that I want. I would always discover new things or passions on 6 Music. It felt a bit like the arty validation that I really wanted. But then apart from that, everyone loves it. It’s similar to my punky stuff - the punky / indie heads like it and it's just a banger. It's a radio song. I'm just gonna try and get it in as many ears as possible, and hope that it takes off a little bit.
MD: It’s defiantly a banger. This is just me being nosy but when you get a song played on 6 Music, do they tell you before? What’s the process?
Sweets: Usually, they do but I think Huw just big timed me and put it on. I was having a nap and then my mum called me, and was was like you know Huw Stephens just played your song? And then she sent me a text from her friend who heard me playing on the radio… so normally I know but I didn’t this time.
MD: Oh, what a nice surprise to wake up from a cheeky nap and find out that!
Sweets: [laughs] I immediately sprang out of bed and shouted at all my house mates. It was good.
MD: What do you hope listeners feel or think when they hear Hockey Puck for the first time?
Sweets: Lyrically, I’ve been very interested in Buddhism the past few years and there’s this concept of the way that Buddhism refers to trauma. They call it coverings and it’s how you relate to your imperfections and how they get piled on by external things. In the verses in Hockey Puck I want people to feel like a child. I want people to remember the purity and what they are that core, which is present, and loving, and kind, and genuine and authentic. And just existing. Then the chorus snaps you back into adulthood. It talks about those coverings, like: grip, squeeze, tear, tug, this hand of good. Feared, love, pain lust. It’s a pragmatic approach to acknowledging that I'm a little kid. In one word: childlike.
MD: I feel like we can all learn from reverting back to our childlike self.
Sweets: Defiantly! Our childlike selves are still part of us. Even the concept of an inner-child is something that I would find myself turning my nose up at, but the more I've learned about this stuff, I realise that I’m basically being controlled by a little boy. When I’m acting in ways that don't align with me it‘s normally just a little boy and he's having a little tantrum in there.
MD: [Laughs] Yeah, I hear that! You've openly spoken about your ADHD diagnosis- how did that affect you growing up?
Sweets: ADHD was really hard for me growing up. I presented with a lot of emotional disregulation and hyperactivity so I found it really hard to do anything that was institutionalised. I was kicked out of three schools, I would loose jobs pretty frequently, but I always had this chip on my shoulder where I always knew that I had potential. I wasn't bad, or stupid, which I was kind of led to believe by the institutions. That's what shoved me into artistry as well because I wanted to show people what I'm capable of. It's hard to be at school with ADHD. It’s especially tough nowadays for children because the waiting list to be diagnosed is three years long. It was six months when I was a child, and that's six months that I remember being so, so difficult for me.
MD: Had you not had ADHD, do you think you would have been the poet and musician you are today?
Sweets: ADHD - you hear about attention deficit; you get distracted, you can’t focus but it’s actual attention regulation disorder. It’s not that you can’t focus, it’s that you can’t choose what you focus on. So people with ADHD, their attention is interest-driven as opposed to practicality-driven. If something is really important (obviously not if I'm gonna fucking lose a friend, or, get in a grands worth of debt) but if something feels more important because it's a great idea, or a poem, or something that seems trivial to people without ADHD, but people with ADHD can't go ah I should definitely focus on this more practical thing. So a lot of people with ADHD become artists and chase their passions because their brains don't have the facilities to not do that. I always thought that it was probably an asset if you want to be an artist because you just don't care about paying your bills as much [laughs]
MD: [Laughs] true! You come across as incredibly determined and resilient through your life stories. What role does vulnerability and honesty play in your writing?
Sweets: I feel like I'm just an honest person and I feel like it comes naturally to me. Maybe a bit too honest at times [laughs] but I love the truth. When you go through things that you thought were solid, and you thought were set in stone, sometimes you realise that they're not what they seemed. They’re relationships with people that you grew up with, or things that you took for granted when you were a child like just being safe and good… I've always found that truth and honesty it’s impregnable. It's unbreakable. It's the only thing that if I can just be truthful with myself and with everyone, then the truth won’t turn around and betray it. In that sense I feel like the truth is my favourite. Or something that I've especially been a bit obsessed with the past while I was writing this project.
MD: When you're writing is it free-flowing / continuous writing? And if so, does that help you figure out things from your past?
Sweets: Yeah, yeah! It does sometimes. Especially when I have writer's block. One of my favourite writing exercises - and you can do this with journaling as well - is where you set a timer and you're not allowed to edit yourself during the time that the timer is going. Even if you usually would spend 20 minutes on one line trying to get to get it right, I don’t allow myself to stop. So exactly what you said - normally it’s 90% bollocks [laughs] and then there's one little nugget of gold and a whole idea will grow out of that, which is nice. I've heard a few different analogies for it but my favourite analogy is that you have to mine through loads of stone and then when you see a little glimmer of gold, you just have to spend time uncovering that.
MD: I love that. Why do you think there is such a correlation between music and mental health?
Sweets: It’s a really healthy expression for things that can be expressed unhealthily. For a start when I say anger for me - that’s part of me. I've got anger but when I shout, or when I’m screaming a punk song, and I’m thinking "fuck everyone" that's a lot more healthy than actually saying "fuck you" to anyone [laughs] So I think that it's a healthy outlet for people.
MD: What advice would you have for your younger self?
Sweets: I would say ride it out. I would want him to trust himself more and learn how to take his own side.
MD: We have three tracks out already, and three more to drop. What does this new body of work titled GIVE IT TO ME STRAIGHT mean to you?
Sweets: It was what I was saying about honesty before. I was learning about things that I thought was set in stone and it turned out that it was actually quite different looking back on my childhood. And then I was like “give it to me straight” - I think you can heal through staring the shite in the eye, even though it's shite.
MD: All right, I'm gonna ask you to “give it to me straight” with some quick questions!
MD:What’s your biggest vice?
Sweets: Snus. It's my only vice now, which is good. I was a smoker and I lost my voice on stage, three songs into a set and I thought I’m gonna be smokeless…
MD: Snus just goes straight to my head - it's quite embarrassing really…
Sweets: Yeah, it can make you feel sick. You have to persist [laughs]
MD: [laughs] Give it to me straight! Biggest pet peeve.
Sweets: Mouth noises. If someone's chewing next to me and I can hear their mouth…
MD: Last one, give it to me straight! What’s the biggest change you'd like to see in the world?
Sweets: I want to see people try and find common ground with each other and listen to each other more, as opposed to focusing on the areas in which they disagree. Especially with how polarised we've been made to become on purpose at the hands of the media and the way that social media functions. I think that we've lost the art of “well we disagree heavily, we’re on opposite sides of the political spectrum,” but what what are your values? You probably just want to look after your kids as well. You just want to find love as well…
MD: We've got three more singles dropping but have you got anything going on this year that we should know about?
Sweets: My goal for this year is to play some big festivals. I've always had this silly little thing where I don't want to go to these festivals until I'm playing them. It was a little reward for me but now I'm at the point where I just really just want to fucking go to Leeds [laughs]. I really want to go Glasto, so yeah, hopefully this summer!
MD: We’ve got to manifest that. What's inspiring you most these days.
Sweets: I have been very inspired by philosophy recently. I'm feeling more politically energised than I have in a very long time. I'm feeling like it might be time to start screaming about politics as like an artist and as a punk artist especially. So I’m trying to get informed.
MD: Do it! I think it’s important to use our platforms and voices to speak up.
Sweets: Definitely
MD: This is F Word magazine, what's your favourite F word?
Sweets: Frog. No justification here.
MD: [laughs] mike drop!
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