The lockdown period gave AMA a chance to refine her approach. Working on producing music and self-recording at home, the R&B singer-songwriter settled into the task with relish. “It’s definitely fun and has been challenging my confidence as a producer,” she tells Apple Music. “But I hope that it’s a skill that will get better with time.” The West Londoner’s Apple Music Home Session—where we ask some of our favorite artists to set up from home and exclusively reimagine their signature tracks, as well as covers—is a perfect stripped-back exhibit of her latest evolutionary cycle. “I chose ‘Signal’ because it’s one of my favorite songs lyrically on Pixelheart [her 2020 EP],” she says. “Doing this rendition, I learned even though the lyrics are so sassy and in your face and empowering, the song can still be interpreted much more gently, calming and beautiful. ‘Hour We On,’ meanwhile, seems to be the song on the EP everybody is gravitating towards the most right now. The message of the song really does relate to how a lot of people are feeling in lockdown.” There was also room for her take on Caroline Polachek’s “Ocean of Tears,” which AMA calls a “no-brainer.” “I’m always singing along pouring my heart out when I’m listening to the original,” she says. “The lyrics are so beautiful, and the emotion in Caroline's delivery is crazy. Covering the song made me really appreciate her vocal range.” Though she calls lockdown an “emotional rollercoaster,” it's renewed her focus to eventually get back in the swing of things. “Performing live was a world that I really was only starting to dip my toes into and then lockdown happened,” she says. “So I’m looking forward to sharing my music on stage again, whenever that may be.”
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