New Music Friday can be a lot. That's why every week we cut it down to the songs you need to hear for PLAY, our new music edit, and deliver a new cover feature to go alongside it. This week... Ama.
Ama is squeezing in a day of press ahead of an evening celebrating her self-titled new album. "I'm in New York right now," she says, "excited because I have a first-listen album event this eve!"
For the London singer-songwriter - formerly Ama Lou - the release marks another step in a career defined by an ability to turn personal experiences into sharply drawn R&B. After introducing a more vulnerable side of herself on her 2023 debut and reintroducing herself as Ama with last year's return single 'My Girl', she's now back with a new album that feels noticeably lighter on its feet than what came before.
That shift can be traced back to summer 2024, when she began work on the record with a simple objective in mind. "I just wanted the process of making music to be fun again," she explains. Whatever emerged from that mindset eventually became the album itself.
The record follows a period away from releasing music that gave her room to reassess where she wanted to go next. Time, she says, brought "perspective, as all time does", allowing her to take stock of everything. "What do I enjoy? What did I learn? What do I want to do next? What do I never want to do again? etc. lmao."
Since her debut, and since dropping the "Lou" from her name, Ama has learned to approach her own experiences with greater compassion. "I think I'm a lot kinder to myself now," she says. "I used to be my own harshest parent, but I'm much more appreciative of everything I've done and lived through now. Doing that has allowed me to be a lot more present in my own life."
"The whole project is like an organ of mine I've served up as an offering"
— Ama
It's a mindset she carried into the making of the album. Compared to her debut, which she was forced to redo, this release came together under far easier conditions. "The first album was a whole thing," she says. "I had to redo it from scratch after two years because of extenuating circumstances. So in some way, I had a point to prove to myself in getting it done. This album was made the way music is supposed to be made, in light, fun circumstances. Easy." Major creative hurdles were few and far between, helped by the fact that everyone involved was already part of her circle. "Everyone I worked with on the project are friends of mine," she says. "So it was easy."
Listeners may still find plenty that catches them off guard. Ama certainly thinks so. "Yeah, a lot, I think," she says of what might surprise fans. The finished album is, in her eyes, "way simpler, honest, and easily digestible" than some might expect.
When it comes to identifying the emotional centre of the record, she doesn't point to a single lyric. Instead, she highlights the songs that sit at either end of it. "'Life's Better' and 'RIP' open and close the project with raw insight to my life, then everything in the middle just SLAPS," she says. "The whole project is like an organ of mine I've served up as an offering."
Alongside the music, Ama has continued developing the visual side of her work with her sister, Mahalia. It's a creative relationship that predates music videos, album campaigns and pretty much everything else. "We work great together, contrary to the family and work stereotype," she says. "We both have very complementary skills and the same outlook on what we are trying to achieve." After years of collaborating, the process now feels second nature. "At this point, we're so locked in and have done so many projects together that it's automatic now!"
That familiarity has a tangible effect once filming begins. Ama remembers shooting the video for 'Same Old Ways' with two camera operators and noticing that she gave entirely different performances depending on who was behind the lens. "My sister just captures me in a completely different way," she says. "No one in the world knows me better than she does. I have absolutely no hesitation in front of the camera and never felt anything but completely supported by her! Which has historically allowed me to push my performances."
For Ama, though, the creative partnership is simply an extension of a relationship that's existed for as long as she can remember. The pair grew up making things together, getting into mischief and finding ways to channel their creativity side by side. "We have always been super close, getting up to mischief together," she says. "We would play and make things together as children, so I don't really know any different."
Asked how she'd like this period of her career to be remembered, Ama isn't interested in dictating anyone else's experience of the album. More than anything, she hopes listeners recognise the care that went into it. "I can't write anyone else's time or experiences, but I hope they see and remember how much love I put into this project."
Even so, she's not dwelling on reflection for long - her attention is already fixed on what's coming next. "Next for me is right now," she says. "We are already making the next project. And tour then another tour, so yeah, we are scheduled out for the year."
Ama's self-titled album is out now.
