Confidence and sensuality reign on Amaarae's "The Angel You Don’t Know"
Opening with a warcry of “fuck it up sis”, Amaarae’s debut full-length release “The Angel You Don’t Know” (TAYDK) sees the Ghanaian artist explore themes of confidence, sensuality, sexuality and fearlessness over a sound that is rooted in the fusion of genre’s on a backdrop of alté-RnB. The record features a number of her alté peers including Nigeria’s Odunsi (The Engine) & Cruel Santino, as well as British rapper Kojey Radical and Ghanaian singer Moliy.
Born Ama Serwah Genfi, Amaarae grew up between Accra, Ghana, Atlanta, Georgia, and New Jersey. Delivering her vocals with a whisper, the singer-songwriter, producer and engineer childhood musical influences range from jazz and artists such as Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis thanks to her parents, to her father’s favourite RnB/soul artists such as James Brown or SWV. Hip hop also featured heavily thanks to her uncles, who worked in the States and who would bring back CDs of acts such as Big Pun and Lil Kim, while another uncle’s interest in bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana and Panic! At The Disco introduced her alternative and pop-rock.
Amaarae’s first foray into writing and production came at the age of 17 when she was interning at a studio as a sound engineer where the artists that came to work in the studio inspired her to start creating her own music. Having self-released her debut EP “Passionfruit Summers” in 2017, the approach on “The Angel You Don’t Know” was one of collaboration. “Allowing people into my world and my space and learning new things from them,” explains Amaarae.
An example of this is “Fancy”, a track she wrote with TAYDK’s executive producer KZdidit. “He had this record and played it for me and said I need to do something like that,” notes Amaarae, adding that “after working with him it then birthed songs like ‘Trustfund Baby’ and ‘Hell’s Angel’ which I wrote 100% on my own but because he opened up my mind to that possibility of sliding into this pocket or bounce on beats like this or explore these types of themes.”
Amaarae © PHILIPP RAHEEM
The sonics of the album are also a product of collaboration and result in fusions that range from garage and baile funk on “Jumping Ship” to bits of Amapiano with hip hop flows and energy on “Sad Girls Love Money”. “It’s just because of all the people that were involved in this project. It really pushed me to think outside the box in terms of what my creative process is like and even what people might take to or might enjoy versus what I enjoy and finding a happy medium between the two,” explains Amaarae.
“It really pushed me to think outside the box in terms of what my creative process is like and even what people might take to or might enjoy versus what I enjoy and finding a happy medium between the two.” - Amaarae
Having begun work on TAYDK around September 2019, Amaarae started by recording ideas at home before going on a writing camp that included long-time writing partner Radical the Kid and Maesu which birthed tracks such as “Fancy”, “Jumping Ship” and “Fantasy”. During this time she also decided on her approach regarding the release’s content. “I was thinking, what do I want to say to people or how do I want my message to come across. Then I got to the point where I didn’t even care. I don’t have to have depth, I can also just have a good time making music that people can also have a good time listening to and that was eventually what I arrived at.”
“I don’t have to have depth, I can also just have a good time making music that people can also have a good time listening to.” - Amaarae
Most of the features came about organically or even accidentally at times. The hook on “Feel A Way”, for example, was first sung by Moily’s sister who was at the studio when Moily was recording “Sad Girlz Luv Money”, while “Jumping Ship” was actually a record that Kojey Radical didn’t want while Cruel Santino added a verse after Amaarae did a feature on one of his tracks and she asked if he would return the favour. “He sent it over, I asked him to try something different, he sent another verse and we chopped up his verses a little bit just to give it a duality because he had this pop-rock energy to it and then this ragga energy to it so we tried to fuse the two,” Amaarae says of Cruel Santino’s verse.
Amaarae © PHILIPP RAHEEM
The release oozes freedom and confidence with tracks such as “Fancy” carrying feminine, sexual energy that’s in your face. Similarly, on “Sad Girlz Luv Money” the overarching theme is one of ”get the fuck out of my way, I’m trying to get paid”. “All throughout the record, it’s about being that bitch and being in that energy where I’m going to say what I want, do what I want, feel the way I want and be unapologetic about it,” says Amaarae.
“All throughout the record, it’s about being that bitch and being in that energy where I’m going to say what I want, do what I want, feel the way I want and be unapologetic about it.” - Amaarae
After “Leave Me Alone” and “Fancy”, the releases latest single is “Jumping Ship”, a track that captures that feeling of falling for someone else when you’re already with someone. “Chasing that’s unattainable but you already have something going on, but you’re like nah, forget about that, I want you!” A video for the single is on the way and will be released on November 17th.
Amaarae © PHILIPP RAHEEM
While many of her promotional plans have had to be cancelled, Amaarae is looking at putting on a virtual show to showcase the release. With a number of features due next year, she is also back at work on her own music and hopes to release another project next year with an album perhaps in the following year. If TAYDK is anything to go by those projects are going to be worth waiting for.
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This article first appeared on RedBull.com