The Voice That Keeps on Giving: Getting to Know AMEA
Written by Dulce Mercado
If there is someone that has an unforgettable beautiful voice it definitely has to be AMEA, an R&B singer originally from Oklahoma now residing in San Antonio as she finishes her Master's degree in Sociology.
AMEA has been singing for all her life as she has been raised by creators. Her mother also sings and her father is an artist. She got involved with the children’s choir at her church at only three-years-old and has been around music ever since. She has taken these past two years to experiment with her voice and be an independent singer.
Getting her degree in sociology has helped her design her structure when creating a new song. She takes what she knows about studying social groups and patterns and articulating people's narratives to convey what she wants to get out of her music. Her music is meant to relate to as many people as possible and she does so by understanding peoples’ perspectives. To her, music is in peoples narratives so she wants to pressure the sociological factor artistically, academically and scholarly.
A lot of her focus is on R&B and soulful music, but that is not all she does. She does whatever she feels. She might rap or produce, whatever she feels — “I try to get my hands into everything, experiment and create,” she says.
Her goal is to make dope stuff with people and keep growing as an artist. She loves meeting different artists and learning new cultures. She is always down to collaborate with new people and create new things. AMEA believes it is important to do so as it will always be a positive outcome since they are all trying to have these “mind trips.” She has a long list of people she would like collaborate with such as, Brandy the R&B queen, Miguel, Prince if he was still alive (may he rest in peace) and many others. Miguel is one of her greatest inspirations, she has been following his movement since 2010-11. She loves how he experiments with instrumentation and production.
“If I could just sit in a studio with him for like three hours and talk about life and jam, that’s all I need,” she says, “he is one of the first people in our generation to really just be totally different; people don't even realize how influential his sound is.”
“Keep dreaming, keep loving, this world kinda sucks but it is also beautiful and great things can be accomplished, believe there is love.”
She is big on instrumentation when it comes to her production. Some of her favorite groups are the Doobie Brothers, Earth Wind and Fire, Maroon 5 and Outkast. She even likes country! Anything with heavy instrumentation is pleasurable to her ear. Especially the guitar. She loves the guitar, even though she cannot play it. However, she is talented with other instruments like the drums, violin, and piano.
Some of her most popular and highly played songs are “VayCay,” “Foolish” and “High.” VayCay has 5,000 plays on SoundCloud; she says she didn't really like it when she put it out since it was very random. Nevertheless, people really enjoyed this song because of the feeling conveyed through that track. “Its what I felt,” she says, “an emotion people don't want to feel at times, that vulnerability of not understanding life.” She went on to talk about how this year had a lot of battling. When she wrote VayCay it was a start of roughness and she wasn't too sure about the song, especially since it was a FREESTYLE, but people felt it and that’s what got it so many plays. "Foolish" was the first song her mom actually liked so she holds that one dearly to her heart. "Foolish" and "High" make “feelings, scenarios and situations.” They are both produced by CJ Stephens who she met just this year. She says people really felt these songs and again, the reason why they are the most well known.
To AMEA music does set a tone depending upon the person. People observe whatever energy is produced from what they are listening to. She mentioned how the songs her and CJ made this past summer have an energy that people relate to. They typically test situations and see if someone does or doesn't connect with it. She always tries to write on what message she wants to send with the instrumentation she has going on in the background. She makes sure to have the right tone with the right message.
“Experimenting with whatever I think is cool,” she says.
Which ties into something she likes to preach: TO EACH HIS OWN. She believes everyone should do what they like and that what is for you is for you and what is not is not. There should not be judgment or a fuss about what you’re into or not into — “peace and love,” AMEA says.
“Everyone is where they're supposed to be in that time,” she says, “2 years ago I was freestyling now I’m going on tour.”
She has toured around Texas in cities like Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Her dream is to be able to tour overseas in places like Brazil, Sweden and the United Kingdom. She wants to meet as many artists as she can and branch out.
She sends a message in which she says, “keep dreaming, keep loving, this world kinda sucks but it is also beautiful and great things can be accomplished, believe there is love.”
Her beliefs are to not be an asshole, understand we are all people at the end of the day, we all have things going on and we must be aware of that.
“I try to be conscious of other people, try to practice to step in other people’s shoes and see what they're going through,” she says.
Her persona makes her and her music that much more beautiful. Once you listen to her voice you will fall in love with her craft.
Reason to why you should care about AMEA is because she cares about you, she tries to express as many narratives and stress that everyone has a voice and everyone should be able to express themselves.
A little message from AMEA herself: “THANK YOU TO EVERYBODY WHO HAS CHECKED OUT MY MUSIC AND CARED FOR MY MUSIC. YOU KEEP ME GOING AND YOU ARE WHY I AM GONNA KEEP MAKING MUSIC THANK YOU!”
Listen to her Modern Life Mag exclusive premiere single, "Own Network" below.