AMA reintroduces simplicity on her self titled sophomore
Ama moves on from the sonic intensity of her debut album, 2023’s I Came Home Late, and plays around with more minimalist melodies that reflect her love for classic pop and R&B.
After a two year hiatus, GUAP Magazine catches up with Ama to discuss the freedom of being seen, the pressure of a sophomore album, and why AMA felt like the only name this record could have.
The London-raised singer-songwriter returns after a two-year hiatus with a record that feels less like a follow-up and more like a reintroduction. Formerly known as Ama Lou, AMA sees her step into a more exposed and immediate creative space, trading cryptic lyricism and character-building for honesty, restraint and self-revelation. Featuring collaborations with Bryson Tiller and Brent Faiyaz, the album explores confidence, desire and womanhood through minimalist production, layered harmonies and honeyed vocals.
With AMA out now, a support slot on Ella Mai’s North American tour this summer, and her creative world expanding beyond music through ventures like her recent Salomon collaboration, Ama enters this new chapter with plenty ahead of her. GUAP catches up with the singer-songwriter to discuss reinvention, womanhood, vocal restraint and the freedom that comes with finally being seen.
Ama ! The music world has missed you. You’re returning with this beautiful self titled sophomore album, AMA. This album is candid in lyricism, some standout tracks being ‘I’d Do Tt All Again’, and ‘Life’s Better’. Where are you in the world right now ?
I’m in LA !
There’s been a bit of a hiatus. You’ve said the version of yourself that made “I Came Home Late”doesn’t really exist anymore - I’m curious - what changed in you to bring you to AMA?”
I Came Home Late two years ago, I’ve changed a lot. I’ve realised a lot since then and had changes in my career and personal life, so that was a closing of a chapter. I spent the next year not having a lot of pressure on myself,and I wanted to make music fun again - I’ve been writing since I was eleven, so I think I lost my purpose in music a little bit. In 2024 I took the pressure off of things - I wanted to make music for the sake of making music and for it to be fun again, it’s always been my salvation and in any mood I’ve ever been in I can’t help but write.
When I started making this album I felt a writer’s block which was weird because I never had that before and I feel like the only time I’d had it before , and the only thing that relieved it was being 100% honest in the writing and showing up as the most simple version of myself. With I Came Home Late , it was very authentic but I think I used character building as a little bit of a shield, but I definitely wasn’t hiding around cryptic lyrics and intense production this time around.
Everything on the album includes things I would actually say or do - if you ask me about the songs I can tell you an anecdote, or story, or line, that connects to my daily life. That’s why I wanted to change my name, because I’ve always been known as Ama, that’s what the people in my life know about.
There is definitely this talk of the pressure that surrounds sophomore albums. They say your first album is your whole life. How did you deal with that weight at all stepping into this project ?
I felt way more pressure before, especially in the beginning of my career - a lot of my potential was spoken about.This project was about simplifying things and showing up as myself. I feel like a lot of people show up as themselves in the beginning of their career and then change and reinvent themselves as they move along.
How could I put pressure on something I can’t change?
I’m, showing up as myself on this album, so I didn’t feel any external pressure because I feel like a different person to who I was when I made I Came Home Late - I didn’t feel too much pressure this time around
You left London just days after finishing school for NYC, and then came back after releasing your firstfew EPs. I came home late really leaned into those themes of home, and in return - what does home and location mean to you now in this album cycle ?
The concept of home has been important to me and been a very big theme in my life, whether having one or not having one, or feeling suffocated by the things that you used to consider home, expectations and disappointments - I’ve done a lot of work from releasing myself from any physical parameters that create home.
I love LA, when I first came here it felt like coming back here from a past life . It suits my lifestyle, I like to wake up with trees and isolate and be near the sea and the sun everyday, but I think that maybe in this album I have come away from a lot of the external validation, not necessarily to do with people, but this album is centred around me which I haven’t done before. I think the sense of home I relate to is bringing things back to myself and knowing that home is wherever I am, in the least cheesy way possible.
I know ‘Ride or Die’ was inspired by someone not understanding the intensity of how you commit to someone. Creating an album needs commitment. How intense did it get when committing yourself to making this album?
I’m not an intense person, and I wouldn’t call myself possessive. I think I have a depth of caring about things and people quite deeply but live outside of myself. Similarly, when I’m creating a project, it’s never driven by ego.
I always love working with people who understand that when we’re creating music, we do what’s best for the project. Obviously I fight for people to get the flowers and give credit where it’s due, but in terms of the creative process, it’s important everyone puts aside their ego and do what’s best for the project, rather than implementing an opinion just because it’s yours.
Ride Or Die looks at feeling alone in being disappointed throughout life and not being met in the way that you care about the things that you do. I think that people who are like that can feel a little bit alone.
One thing that stands out in this album is a sense of vocal restraint - it sounds like you know your voice and what suits you best vocally. I know voices like Brandy’s are inspirational to you, what drew you to embrace this restraint sonically?
I think that less is more sometimes, with the last album I felt like I had something to prove but that process is very intense. Every single song from that album, you could split up and make an album from it alone. I didn’t feel the need to have a lot of fluff around it, I worked with some amazing producers who I trusted sonically, and I think I wasn’t so controlling, I was happy to take away the adlibs, reduce the stacks, and every time I felt overwhelmed I wasn’t afraid to take things away that could distract from the core reason of the song I had written. I didn’t want to hide anymore.
When involving others into your world in the production side of things, how much of yourself do you have to let them see ?
I work with a lot of people who are pure music lovers, and in the game for the same reasons that I’m in the game - the people I’m working with I trust 100%. It’s like picking friends, the people you surround yourself with should never be accidental. It came together very naturally, at one point two producers that had never worked before but I had known each of them separately started working together, we all just got along really well. I don’t ever feel like the people I’m working with are stepping on my toes, and I do all my own writing - I feel like the producers I work with respect me for that as I respect them for what they do as well. Everyone showed up and was excited to work on the project, it was an easy process.
This project feels like it explores different facets of womanhood closer than your previous work. ‘Need It Bad’ with Brent Faiyaz has been received very well - what made you ready to explore that side of your artistry ?
The last project took twice as long as it should have taken to make, so I’m quite constipated with songs about my evolution and growing as a person and I wanted to show how I speak with my friends. It’s one of the choices I’ve made as an artist, and loving being a woman I wanted to show up in that honest way. Brent approached me with the song and I wanted to match the vibe.
We know his sonic reputation and it was something I’d never done before but it was a great experience, and I went in and matched myself to the scenario and what I would say
Where in the process did you realise this was a self titled album ?
Before I was with the team I have now, when I first started this album it was self-titled. I don’t remember who I told that it would be self-titled but I was told it wasn’t a great idea - I had another name for it for ages and my team approached me with the idea of it being self-titled. I started laughing when they said that because it was self titled when I started writing it, unbeknownst to them. I never told anyone it was originally self titled but it’s meant to be.
‘SO’ is written from the perspective of a man. When it comes to your writing process, do you feel more comfortable to step outside of yourself to tell stories or to tell them as yourself, as AMA ?
I wrote that song for another male artist a couple of years ago. The artist didn’t end up using it so I asked for it back and changed the chorus, realising it was written from a man’s perspective, but authentically. It came from real conversations that I’ve absorbed and put myself in people’s shoes. I realised there was something cool about a woman writing from a man’s perspective but also not being so satirical because it was intended to be sung by a man. I wanted to be a songwriter first, at the age of eleven, and I feel I’ve always had the ability to absorb other people’s lives and regurgitate it into music without any bias.
We’ve talked about how this project feels very detail-led and intimate in its production - how do you take something designed for headphones and reimagine it for a live space?
I realised I can’t sing ‘So’ in the key it’s in but I wouldn’t change it because the song needs depth. I always want to give people the experience that they are craving as a music lover. When you have a song you love so much you want to hear it in that form, or elevated. With my shows I like to build them in a way that I would want to listen to the music. If I was a person that loved this song the way I love other songs, how would I want to hear it after waiting to hear it? What would surprise me? That’s a question I ask myself. I care about the listener’s experience, because when you release music, it’s not yours anymore and it’s interpreted through the people that are ingesting it through their life experience, and you have to honour that. That is part of the process, and the reason you’ve risen to the place that you are. Honoring collective experiences is the beauty of it, and it doesn’t take away from your creation, it only adds to it and makes things complex and fun and adaptable.
The live aspect of being a musician is so interesting to me, I love it. If someone really listens to this album, would you feel like it explains you fully, or would you still feel a little misunderstood if the album was the only thing they knew you by ? I was talking to someone the other day and they told me they were annoyed when I was misunderstood. It’s never bothered me, but you can’t care about being misunderstood unless it’s by the people in your life, that can feel alienating. From my own experience I don’t mind being understood because it gives me the chance to bring something else out that I haven’t brought out before. My life has been pretty complex and I don’t take it as an insult, but understand that not everyone always has the capacity to understand in the moment, and it won’t dissuade me from doing what I do.
In honour of my favourite track - I’ll do it all again’ - would you do it all again to get to this point? All the way from 12 year old Ama with a guitar and piano - to on the cuff of releasing your self titled sophomore?
100%, I have no regrets. I am really grateful for my life, every single day. I like the person that I am and I ‘m proud of the person that I am. If any single thing in my life would be different, I wouldn’t be who I am today. I would do it all again - that song was the first song I wrote after the hiatus after my last album. I lost a lot of faith in the universe and the pursuit of being an artist. A lot of things became heavy and realistic and stoic, which is not typically how I am. The song is a conversation between the universe and I, personified as God so it was easilyunderstood. If you’re still here, you have another day, and you can’t regret things. You can always apologise or say thank you, or revisit a dream or idea. It’s never too late to just try.