Meet Amie Blu, the South London singer ready to rock your world

By 21-year-old Amie Blue’s own admission, soulful honesty is at the forefront of her music.

“I think it shows how honest I want to be, how vulnerable I want to be, and I want to find people who can relate to me all the time with that,” she explains of her first full-length project. how we losewhich arrives this Friday (July 19).

Just one listen shows that the South Londoner is already an ace at delivering guitar-studded soul that can break your heart in seconds (see the ‘who’s he gonna take home’).

She has also received resounding support from the London Gospel Community Choir – telling RS UK about the moment she was thrown in at the deep end and gave one of her first ever performances with the group as a child, during a Mother’s Day outing with her family.

Having also played with the venerable Flames Collective, it seems the time has come for Amie to step out of the crowd and become a bold musical voice in her own right.

Hi Amie! How was your day so far?

I just came back from a singing class. When I first started music, I had a hard time understanding how important it was to maintain your voice and the work that went into it. So it’s about learning to be safe with my voice, but also to project myself. I sing quite softly because I sing a lot with my voice in my head, so I had to learn to project myself and go beyond that range. Singing lessons are just so beneficial.

You talked about singing with the voice in your head. Are your songs an extension of that? There are some pretty personal themes in those songs.

When I write songs, I want to take the time to figure out what approach to take and record them in the most vulnerable way possible if it’s in my head voice. If I have my chest voice, it conveys more confidence, I think.

What does your first mixtape say about you as an artist?

I think it shows that I’m constantly evolving and just trying to grow. I think it also shows how honest I want to be, how vulnerable I am, and how I constantly want to find people who can relate to me. Because I have a really hard time writing anything from someone else’s perspective. So I always want to be honest and I feel like everyone will be able to hear that and feel the honesty in these songs.

You tackle themes like toxic relationships and jealousy. Given the personal nature of your music, was it cathartic to tap into that?

It’s a cliché, but music is a real therapy for me. I often find myself not really understanding what I’m feeling or why I’m feeling the way I am. So I put it all into a song and I get so much clarity on the situation, or my own conclusion. If I’m not able to get that from other people, then it’s just incredible.

What are your musical influences?

It’s weird because when I was little, my dad listened to a lot of rap and he would tell me how important storytelling was, like people like Eminem and Biggie did. And then my mom was really into Justin Timberlake and Alicia Keys, so I guess the melodies come from that side.

At the time I was writing this project, I was listening to a lot of The Beatles and Billy Joel. I worked with a team of producers who were very open about what they were listening to and that really helped me.

What was your first significant experience in music?

To be honest, my first memory is when my family went to lunch for Mother’s Day and the London Gospel Community Choir was singing in this restaurant. My dad asked the owner of the restaurant if I could sing and I didn’t necessarily want to be singled out, but the song was “If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys and I did the chorus and I thought that was it.

But the choir wanted me to continue and one of the members ended up being my voice teacher for a year or two. The fact that they encouraged me to continue singing was really good for me, especially at that age. My dad was always encouraging me to do that kind of thing.

As for performances, I’ve done shows with Mahalia who is lovely. I’ve supported Christine & The Queens, I did a show at Glastonbury and now I’m looking forward to my show at Omeara in London later this year and the Deaf Institute in Manchester. I can’t wait.

And finally, here is our PlayNext series, where it is obviously the opportunity for you to introduce yourself to our readers. If you were put in an elevator, how would you describe your music during the entire duration of this journey?

I would say my name is Amie Blu, I make mostly sad music but it’s really honest and very personal. And you should listen to it!