This story originally appeared in i-D’s The Post Truth Truth Issue, no. 357, Autumn 2019. Order your copy here.
Last summer Ama Lou released DDD, a short film that accompanied her impressive debut EP of the same name. Written and directed by Ama and shot by her sister it stars the young Londoner as a member of a Los Angeles crime ring. With a gold tooth and impressive confidence, the film has since racked up a cool 2.2 million views and led many of her fans to believe that she’s American. Spoiler: Ama Lou is from Stoke Newington. “She’s definitely going to blow up like SZA or H.E.R,” said one YouTube comment. “If Zendaya and Jessie Reyez had a love child!” said another. “A masterpiece. So raw and different. A true queen. I’m inspired,” said a third. Agreed.
The hardworking 21-year-old has been making music for as long as she can remember, vividly recalling one occasion where, age 11, her dad caught her singing one of her own songs on the guitar. “He was like, ‘is that the new Rhianna song?’ and when I told him it wasn’t, he was both amazed and weirded out by the whole situation. After that, I used to come home from school every day and write songs. That’s just how it’s been forever.” Keeping her passion hidden from her school friends, the dyslexic artist soon realised that she had found her thing. “I didn’t necessarily plan this,” she says of her nascent career. “Everything kind of just fell into place.”
While Ama Lou doesn’t subscribe to a particular genre, the thing tying all of her work together is, she confirms, a banging melody. This is evident in her latest project, Before It Was New, which came out this summer. “It’s serious but not in an unfun way,” she explains. “I put a lot of heart and love into it, and right now I’m excited to get this fucking project done and out! You know when you’ve done a lot of behind the scenes work and start manifesting the future? I’m really excited to get things moving now and actually start doing what I was always supposed to do.”
Credits
Photography Josh Olins
Styling Max Clark
Hair Cim Mahony at LGA Management.
Make-up Ciara O’Shea at LGA Management using Fenty Beauty.
Nail technician Trish Lomax at JAQ Management using Cnd.
Set design Max Bellhouse at The Magnet Agency.
Photography assistance Jeremy Young.
Digital technician Brian Cleaver.
Styling assistance Giovanni Beda, Joe Palmer, Monica Armario and Gal Klein.
Hair assistance Tarik Bennafla and Rohmarra Kerr.
Make-up assistance Jade Smith.
Set design assistance Miranda Latimer.
Production Etty Bellhouse.
Production assistance Molly Senior.