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NEXT UP! | Ama Lou – “Trust Nobody”

North London native Ama Lou is the British R&B prodigy writing her own story

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For British singer Ama Lou, this strange period of on-again, off-again revolving Pandemic isolation has led to a dogmatic work schedule and what she describes as prolific musical output. “I wake up early every day, go to the back room in my home, study boards on the wall where I’ve pinned ideas for songs, and listen to music and audiobooks,” the 22-year-old songwriter explained in a recent interview.

But it all started for the Brit Soul Ptodigy when she was just an 11-year-old girl sat at a kitchen table in north London playing guitar with her father. It was 2009. The Miley Cyrus starring Hannah Montana movie had just come out that April and Ama was obsessed with it. Well, that and Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad. And Destiny’s Child. She was learning how to play their songs, singing and strumming along, so when she sang the heartfelt ballad called “You Ran Away” her dad asked: ‘Oh, that’s the new Rihanna song, right?’.

“I was like: ‘No, I just made it up’,” stated Ama, laughing, while mocking her dad’s stunned disbelief. “He was like: ‘What do you mean you just made it up? You’ve just been singing it for a minute!’ I was like: ‘I don’t know, I just made it up! It just came from some­where!’ He ran and grabbed me a piece of paper and he was like: ‘Write it down, write it down.’ So I did that and then just, honestly, never stopped.”

Lou describes it as a life-changing moment. And lthough she wouldn’t be diagnosed for another five years, Ama was growing up with dyslexia and it was beginning to cause her trouble at school. Reading didn’t come easily, but songwriting was something else. “I felt like: ‘Oh my god, this is so natural,” she says. “I didn’t have to try at all, so I gravitated to it. I would run home every day to write songs in the kitchen.”

Lou has stated she is a classically trained singer, and has expert control of her voice. “I use it as a muscle,” she explains. She previously supported her diaphragm by running 20 miles a week, but during the pandemic, she’s taken to bouncing on a mini trampoline to break a sweat. She’s also rekindled her childhood love of riding—trekking to the Santa Monica mountains twice a week to exercise horses for a friend.

A couple of months earlier, during her first trip to Los Angeles in April 2017, she’d been introduced to Che Pope. A legendary producer who’s worked on everything from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill to Kanye’s “Bound 2”, he and Ama immediately saw something in each other. 

At the time Pope was the president of Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music and he simply didn’t have the time to produce her himself. However, in something of a recurring theme in Ama’s life, what could have been a setback for someone else turned, in her hands, into an opportunity to develop. “I had written these songs, the three DDD songs, and I took them to him and was like: ‘Yo, I need you to help me make these’,” she says. “He was too busy to sit down with me, but he gave me the resources to create my sound myself. He never told me I couldn’t do it. He’d go: ‘Here’s a session musician. I’ve got a meeting, I’ll see you in four hours!’”

 He’s been my mentor and a big player in my game. He’s a good dude.”

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NEXT UP! | Fana Hues Drops Visual to support her single “Icarus” after it’s added to Issa Rae’s Insecure

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Fana Hues is a 25-year-old singer songwriter and actress who recently released her first official project, calling it a “collection” instead of an album or EP. This is because, she has said, she sees this project as a culmination of her whole life and experiences.

She grew up one of nine children in a very musical household. She told Teeth Magazine that everyone in the family grew up playing instruments, so it felt very natural to her to be musical and perform, even if it was just in her own backyard.

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The collection “Hues,” dives into relationships, pain, infatuation and the convergence of love and loss that happens all too often.

One of the feature songs “Yellow” on the collection is a soft and emotional piece that features grainy piano sounds and smooth electronic beats in the background with a video showing the artist camping and dancing among her friends. “Desert Flower” is a a delicate and heartbreaking song where Fana Hues sings about sadness and pain with beautifully angelic vocals over a simple animated video underscoring the hurt in her words, “am I too much?/ am I enough?”  


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& All That Jazz

NEXT UP! | Why 32 Year Old Violinist Daniel D is not just Playing with Fire… He is the Fire.

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Daniel Davis, known professionally as Daniel D., a violinist and producer, is a three time 1st Place Apollo Theater Winner and studied at NYC’s Juilliard School of Music. He has become one of the most popular new age social media superstars with a constantly growing international fan base. A seasoned performer with seven studio albums to his credit. Daniel D. has opened for Kim Waters, Boney James, Jamie Fox, Kanye West, Najee, K’Jon, Lalah Hathaway and performed for Oprah Winfrey, the late Michael Jackson as well as President Barack Obama. He has been the lead act for many Jazz festivals and performs all around the world.

He attended Charleston County School of the Arts in Charleston, SC. At 12 years of age he took an after-school class to learn the violin, but only progressed once he had private teachers. Daniel named Miri Ben Ari his major musical influence.

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Daniel was born in Charleston, South Carolina, where he attended Charleston County School of the Arts. At the tender young 12 years of age he took an after-school class to learn the violin, but only began to progress when he learned to focus once he had private teachers. Daniel named Miri Ben Ari as his major musical influence.

A friend of Daniels’ dad hired him for an event at the age of 16 and at that point he noticed he can make a living from playing his violin professionally. He then began playing local events around his hometown. Later that same year, Daniel was the Full Scholarship Winner of “Summer In the City 2005” and studied thereafter at the esteemed Julliard School of Music.

Since graduating Julliard as a classically-trained musician, Daniel’s talent has taken him around the world, he has performed at the Atlanta Jazz Festival, toured with the Coca-Cola College Tour, had shows in Spain, Canada, Hawaii, and Barcelona, however in a recent interview with SouthernLaced, he cited his performance at the Beverly Hilton before stars such as the late Michael Jackson, Larry King and others as his most memorable experience to date.

The future is looking exceedingly bright for this talented young man calling himself Daniel D, who only picked up the violin initially to meet girls, we can’t wait to help document his continuing journey, ascension and successes.

 

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NEXT UP! | From her ‘Before We Go’ Lp, India Shawn drops single “To Change My Mind”

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NEXT UP! | Newbie Bianca Jade has a Breaking New Single, “Everything I’ve Got”

Rising Cuban-Jamaican singer and songwriter Bianca Jade releases a new music video for her hit single, “Everything I’ve Got.”

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Bianca Jade is a Cuban-Jamaican powerhouse RnB/Soul singer and songwriter from Miami, Florida now based in New York City. Her music focuses on bringing light and empowerment to her listeners, especially women. 

Influenced by soulful female artists such as Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys, Bianca Jade began developing her craft the young age of nine years old. She later taught herself to play piano by ear and wrote songs at her piano starting at the age of fifteen. 

Bianca has become a seasoned performer with experience on stages from Miami to New York City such as the Adrienne Arsht Center and International Music Festival in Miami, Florida to the legendary SOB’s and the Bowery Electric in New York City. She has also been interviewed and performed on iHeart Radio and TV shows such as BET’s 106 & Park and NBC6 in the Mix South Florida. 

Bianca has recorded two projects including her debut album “B-Light” and her latest EP “JADE Vol. 1” which has reached over 180,000 listeners on Spotify. Through her following on social media, Bianca Jade encourages self-love and empowerment to her followers and has endorsed brands like Rhythm Superfoods and celebrity skin care guru, “Elizabeth’s Secret Beauty Bar.”  

Bianca Jade’s EP “JADE Vol.1” is available now on all music platforms.

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NEXT UP! | Young Brit Sensation Pip Millett still “Running” (Live)

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