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ama lou
Three years ago, I was in a coffee shop on Portobello Road and I shazamed a song playing on the speakers. On my way home, I searched for this song on Spotify and I was immediately hooked. The song was called "Tried up". When I got home, I looked this artist up and this is how my "obsession" with Ama Lou begun.
Self-produced singer and songwriter Ama Lou broke through in 2018, the year she released DDD, an understated and fluid EP that affirmed her place in a class of emergent English R&B artists including Mahalia, Ray BLK, and touring partner Jorja Smith. This led to her 2019 major-label debut, "Northside." allmusic
The North London native, born Ama Louisa John, was writing songs as early as the age of 11, but she honed her writing, singing, and production skills for nearly a decade before she made her commercial debut. Her first four songs were independently released during 2016 and 2017. Greater strides were made in 2018 with the three-song DDD, touring in the U.S. -- as an opener for Jorja Smith -- and a Nez & Rio-produced appearance on Creed II: The Album, executive produced by Mike WiLL Made-It. Signed to major-label Interscope, Lou returned in 2019 with the single "Northside," a collaboration with Frank Dukes, Murda Beatz, Jerald "Coupe" Cooper, and Foster. allmusic
Lou’s EP released in March 2018, DDD, headed to California peppered with G-funk and accompanied by a 13-minute film in which she plays a gold-toothed young member of an LA crime ring. She has the acting and musical nous – having until now co-produced her songs – and is currently presumably waxing her recently signed major-label advance on a brief tour of Australia. If Smith was 2018’s soul success story, then 2019’s could be Ama Lou’s. Just ask Drake. theguardian
Ama Lou returned in 2021, with “AT LEAST WE HAVE THIS,” a release captivating in its versatility and triumphant in its honest contemplations of love. The EP is complete despite its brevity, with its 12-minute runtime and four-track orientation providing prime ground for the exercise of Ama Lou’s unique artistic compass. While the baby picture on the cover coats the EP’s possessions in nostalgia, Ama Lou, now 23, succeeds in piercing this thick layer of remembrance with the pointedness of her narrative retelling. loyolaphoenix
Keeping things short and sweet this time around, hopefully this is the start of a more frequent release schedule from the versatile and dextrous singer-songwriter. trenchtrenchtrench