Ama Writes Her Way Back
interview + written ALBAN E. SMAJLI
When AMA is asked how her London upbringing enters her songwriting, she points to “packed bags at sainsburys” and “blacked out bally and a new north face”. These are details a listener can picture immediately, drawn from the city in which she grew up with Guyanese and English roots. “There is so much of myself in my work that my London upbringing can’t help being a part of it,” she says. A question about identity gets an answer grounded in an errand and the clothes people wear.
AMA wears a dress by FERRARI, earrings by ALEXIS BITTAR and cuffs by DSQUARED2
For her new album, AMA, being understood became a priority. “I wanted the music to be simpler and easy to digest,” she says. AMA describes having hidden behind cryptic writing, leaving listeners to decipher what she meant. Now she wants them to hear how she actually thinks. “My real voice, I think. In all senses.”
The decision followed a writing block unlike anything she had experienced before. After her last album, the songs stopped coming. “I was only able to return to it when I wrote the truth,” she says. “The song would only solidify when I was singing about my real perspective.” As the new record took shape, Ama Lou became AMA. She chose the name she uses in everyday life to reflect how she wanted to appear in the work. “I really just wanted to show up as myself.”
She began writing songs at eleven, and her attachment to melody has survived each change since. “The melodies of a song and how it flows are the most important part to me,” she says. She describes an innate understanding of satisfying structures and melodic hooks, adding that she has “not always acted on them”. For a meaningful collaboration, her requirement is “that they care”.
AMA wears a dress by BLUMARINE
Writing from her own perspective still allows her to invent somebody else. On “So...”, she adopts a male point of view, enjoying the opportunity to play a character as she does in her videos. “It’s honestly just really fun,” she says, and she wants to do more of it. She sees a place for both songs that tell the truth and songs that tell a story, each capable of connecting with people differently. For “Need It Bad”, the subject that interested her was “the desire itself”. She describes the space around her vocal in terms of what a listener might bring to a song. “I think it allows space for the listener to relate to it,” she says. “I love that everyone relates to my music and lyrics in different ways so personal to them.” She wants people to understand her perspective; their experience of the song need not match the experience that produced it.
AMA wears a dress by FERRARI, earrings by ALEXIS BITTAR and cuffs by DSQUARED2
AMA wears a dress by EMILIO PUCCI, earrings by SUSANA VEGA and a necklace by ALEXIS BITTAR
AMA wears a dress by COLLINA STRADA
talent AMA
photo STEFEN POMPÉE
fashion + hair MARTY HARPER
make up SHANNON RODRIGUEZ
creative direction PACO LAMPECINADO
assistants MARCELLA ANTIKO + IAN ALVAREZ WARD
production PACO LAMPECINADO + MUSICISMUSE
copyright LE MILE Magazine / Stefen Pompée
photo STEFEN POMPÉE
fashion + hair MARTY HARPER
make up SHANNON RODRIGUEZ
creative direction PACO LAMPECINADO
assistants MARCELLA ANTIKO + IAN ALVAREZ WARD
production PACO LAMPECINADO + MUSICISMUSE
copyright LE MILE Magazine / Stefen Pompée