Too many artists seem overly concerned with trying to reinvent music—forcing genres together in the hope of finding something new or declaring war on the past in an effort to convince people that the world is a blank canvas and everything that has gone before is irrelevant.
The clever artist knows that most of the heavy lifting in the music world has already been done. The clever artist understands that the foundations of music are solid. The clever artists know that it is enough to take the forms that have already proven to work, give them a repolish, a refit, a reimagination, and ensure they are fit to move with the times.
Amara Fe is one of those clever artists, she understands all of this, and whilst her latest album, Shift, doesn’t exactly rewrite the pop rule book, it indeed breathes much needed new life into the genre.
Opener, “Eyes on Me” is everything modern pop needs to be: spacious and sassy, full of precision grooves and ticking beats. It is pop that borders on R&B and dance sounds, channeling some darker vibes and speaking in the lyrical language of the modern age.
“Love Loyal” is infectious and forward-thinking, the soundtrack of the most exclusive dancefloor in town, the music full of night-time, neon-soaked, sonic sophistication, and songs such as “The Potion” show that she is as adept with the more laid-back and balladic as she is with the upbeat floor-fillers.
At 24 tracks, there is a lot here. Whether it is the upbeat or the understated, the energized or the subtle, Amara-Fe in general and Shift in particular are the perfect indicators of not only where pop is right now but where it is heading too. And where it is heading, others are following. You should, too.
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