Winnie Ama is part of a new breed of electronic artists blending conscious lyrics, soulful alternative RnB vocals with dance, house and pop rhythms. The Belfast born and raised Northern-Irish-Ghanaian artist has had success with multiple MusicWeek UK Club Chart top 10's and support from, RTE2FM, FM104, BBC Radio Ulster with BBC Introducing referencing her fresh writing style and distinctive voice.
Winnie Ama's writing style is inspired by Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone and Amy Winehouse. She switched from writing poetry and stories to writing music. Then she studied jazz vocals before making her commercial music debut in 2019 writing 3 songs in collaboration with Francis Groove that made the top 10 in MusicWeek's UK Urban/Black Club Chart - Can't Wait #1, I Swear #7 and Born to Win #6. She also appeared in Photo Vogue in 2019. Her solo debut 'What Are We' was in MusicWeek's Black Club Chart for 6 weeks, peaking at number 11. In 2022 she has been the resident artist for the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast, in the Jazz room at One Night Records, London and Bert's Jazz Bar Belfast.
Winnie Ama is also a lead data analyst for the Why Not Her? movement which campaigns for gender equality in the music industry and mentors other artists.
In 2022 she has a series of singles followed by an EP. She kicks off the year with electronic pop track ‘Here I Go’ produced with Sim0n Le Saint on 25 Feb 2022 and a pop house collaborative track with two New York Producers Genpop and Lonny - ‘Awe of You’ out on 25 March 2022. ‘Awe of You’ spent 3 weeks in the Amazing Radio UK chart at number 9.
Thank you for taking this interview! How has the New Year been for you so far as an artist? It’s been excellent. I’ve had two new songs out, been a resident artist three times, in One Night Records - London, Bert’s Jazz Cafe - Belfast and the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Belfast. I’ve also performed for BBC ATL Introducing at the Output Festival and performed my songs live in session on ATL in visualised broadcasts filmed in Brussels. Can you tell us how you've transformed from the beginning to now as an artist?
I started as a writer for other artists, collaborating and mostly watching, so it was quite a change to being the centre of the decisions and having to make up my mind on what I wanted and the vision for my artist project. It's been cool to experiment and explore through trial and error, and the journey continues in the same way. It's a relaxed and collaborative process and I'm crossing genres and using different setups all the time, so every live performance and track is quite different to each other. How did you come up with your latest project?
'Awe of You' is written with two New York producers that I met on Instagram, we just threw out some ideas for this track, and pretty fast we finished it. It's a cheeky song about seeing someone you fancy and taking a chance to get their number in a bold way. Where are you from originally?
I'm from Belfast, Northern Ireland. My parents are from Ghana so I'm also from there too. Where do you live now?
Harlesden, NW London. Do you think where you live impacts how your music is made?
I'd love to connect with musicians who live near me to collaborate and create a community locally, or to join one if there's already a scene. My music community is global, in Belfast, Dublin, all over London and Belgium. My music is all made in Brussells, Belgium where my producer lives. So there are global influences in my songs, I also travel a lot and love going to live music venues everywhere I am. What was the inspiration to make music your career?
It never crossed my mind to be an artist because I enjoyed being a writer so much and I've always written poems and stories since I was small. Then I was writing a song for a singer and they said that what I wrote was complicated, so I decided I'd sing the next song myself instead. It was a practical decision because I thought it would be quicker and more efficient to sing my own songs rather than write for other people, then it turned out that singing is super fun. That's how I became a recording artist. Then I sang a short song and put it on my instagram and Tommy from One Night Records found me on a hashtag and asked me to perform for ONR, and that's how I became a performing artist. How do you want to shape your career?
Through open minded exploration and experimentation. Collaborating with other artists, performing live, travelling, always pushing for more and better. Do you work on a tight timeline always or do you go with the flow when it comes to your music?
I like deadlines, but when you're working with people all over Europe and when most people are touring, working on multiple projects and doing a hybrid of in person and remote collaboration, it's hard to keep a tight timeline but I definitely prefer it. How did your latest title of your music come to be?
I wanted to name it something that describes the feeling of seeing someone incredibly good looking, without being overly obvious or using phrases that are overused. Is it hard to let go of the music when it is done?
No,I always want to share it as soon as it's done and as far and wide as it can go. Do you feel an emotional attachment to your music?
Yes, normally I'm writing real stories, like a diary. In conversation I'm quite moderate and relatively private, but in songs, I tell my deepest secrets and things I'd never say in conversation. How would you describe your music in one word to someone who hasn't listened to it yet?
Conscious Where do they go to listen NOW?
Youtube Spotify you can find me on all major platforms What has been the best fan reaction to your music?
I absolutely love it when people listen to the lyrics and tell me a personal story that relates to the lyrics, because it feels like we're sharing our secrets together Is there anything exciting coming up for you?
I'm doing a high profile secret gig in France on 1 June and lots of incredible festivals all summer including Stendhal, Fevor Festival, Earagale Arts Festival, Latitude, and We've Only Just Begun. Plus I'm finishing my EP which will be out later this year. Are you performing the song anywhere LIVE?
Yes, lots of gigs, I'll be posting them on Songkick and via Spotify https://www.songkick.com/artists/10140288-winnie-ama Give us all your socials and links so fans can link up with you! https://winnieama.com/ https://www.facebook.com/winnie.ama.music https://www.instagram.com/winnie_ama_/ https://twitter.com/winnie_ama_ https://soundcloud.com/winnieama https://www.youtube.com/user/winnieama https://winnieama.com/ https://open.spotify.com/artist/4DJIumnofpauv3dYkgZSv1?si=JQMysBkMQL-59mmdl8q5dg