Photo via amara.raps - TikTok
Amara
Amara
There is no shortage of new music being released every week. Yet, with few exceptions, older music is the bulk of that which is streamed and purchased in the U.S. in recent years. And some musicians in popular styles derive their artistry’s inspiration not from others in their peer group, but some aged enough to be their parents and grandparents.
Youthful Milwaukee singer-songwriter and self-confessed old soul Amara makes articulates what draws her to artists far beyond her own years. “I have found it hard to like newer music. Artists like Jeff Buckley—my all-time favorite—Joni Mitchell, and Neil Young are so raw in their emotion, and it really comes through in their music. In my opinion, a lot of newer music is edited and Autotuned, so I feel like I can never get to know the artist as well as artists from the ‘70s to the ‘90s.”
However, modern means are aiding Amara’s search for the sounds that feed her soul. "Since I’ve had an interest in older music, I’ve always scoured apps like Apple Music and Spotify in order to find things I like!” she declares.
Amara hopes to issue her first album early in 2025. In ramping up to that milestone in her fledgling music career, she will be playing her folk- and country-tinged songs as an opening act on, perhaps improbably, a bill otherwise comprised of local hip-hop performers. She will commence a night of music at Anodyne Coffee (224 W. Bruce St.) location where Riz—better-known as Mr. Williams to the middle school students he teaches—and headlining rhyme master Jaquawn "Rap J" Gaston will follow. The musical variety begins at 6 p.m. on Sunday Nov. 17.
Crediting Friendship
But it’s not some advanced theory of post-genre music that precipitated her place on such a diverse lineup. Instead, she credits friendship.
“I met Quan while working at the Drunken Cobra, and we have been close friends ever since,” Amara recalls of encountering the cerebral palsy-afflicted rapper at the Wauwatosa watering hole. “He is such an amazing person and has really kept me going with music. He is truly one of the most inspiring people I have ever met, and I am so excited to be able to perform alongside him.”
Amara sees the compatibility of what Anodyne’s audience will experience. “Although it may seem out of place for me to be performing with two rappers,” she explains, “I feel like it actually does make a bit of sense. I can go up there, make everyone feel something with my sad music, and then Riz will go up there and cheer everyone up with his funny songs. Quan’s music after Riz is just as exciting and upbeat, but his lyrics are absolutely amazing and very thought through. I am so excited to hear his new single live!”
Though Amara may be happy to be sharing a stage with Rap J and Riz, the melancholy in her own songs comes firsthand. At times, it has been debilitatingly so; and those experiences explain her emphasis on mental health advocacy.
She confesses, “I have spent most of my life in a very difficult place. I barely passed high school, as I was so depressed and anxious I hardly ever left my bed for over three years. I even had to drop out of college the first year because my mental health was so terrible.
“Struggling with these issues and being extremely suicidal for a long time has definitely changed who I am as a person. I just want to reach out to those going through the same things, and provide comfort for them through music, as music is what has kept me alive,” Amara shares.
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Painting with Stones
If, however, her songs don’t bring a listener comfort, Amara’s paintings may provide some visual uplift. She uses lots of shells, stones and sea glass in her work, all of them collected by hand.
“That way,” she emphasizes, “I have memories of where I got each thing, which gives me more of an authentic way of creating artwork.” Amara will soon shift enrollment from Mount Mary University to UW-Milwaukee. “That way I can double major in both studio art and music production, doing both things I love,” as Mont Mary offers no music degree.
“Overall, I just want to be able to portray emotion through my artwork,” Amara says. “A lot of the music that I choose to sing and cover is very heartfelt, and mostly sad. I do this on purpose, as I feel it makes the audience slow down and really feel the music and lyrics."
Though Amara has yet to upload any of her own songs onto her TikTok account, @amara.raps, here she renders a medley of songs recorded by her beloved Buckley and Lana Del Ray...
