Winnie Ama is part of a new breed of electronic artists blending conscious lyrics, soulful alternative R&B 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 BBC Introducing and BBC Radio Ulster referencing her fresh writing style and unique 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. Winnie Ama has a collection of forthcoming new singles in the pipeline to follow up her debut showcasing her musical style due in 2021. 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 this interview spotlight, I chat with Winnie Ama about the latest music, adapting during lock downs, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and how do You describe your style of music?
Belfast, Northern Ireland. I make electronic pop music, modern retro influenced intelligent pop.
How did you get here? As in, what inspired or motivated you to take on this journey through music and the music biz?
One day I met a guy called Val at a youth international development conference told me I could write songs since I write poems, so I tried it and loved it. Much later I was sharing my songs on Facebook and a producer friend – Francis Groove asked if I wanted to collaborate. I told him he could keep my lyrics for free and he called me straight away to tell me how the music business works and explained how songwriting is an art and also a product and should be treated as such.
How does your latest project compare/contrast with your previous release(s)? Were you setting out to accomplish anything specific, follow a specific theme, or explore different styles of creation?
I wanted to make something upbeat, fun and uplifting, something that acknowledges all the love and friendship that inspired me to be the best version of myself. It takes retro synth features and a modern soundscape and lyrics to tell my story of overcoming self doubt and becoming a confident woman.
Name the biggest challenge you faced as a creative during these unprecedented? How did you adapt? How have you kept the creative fires burning during all this?
My team is in different countries, so we all have to get together physically to finish a track and with the restrictions over the last 2 years, we’ve had to wait for the little windows in country restrictions that allows us to travel. I’m used to working remotely, but my team is quite old school and prefers to work in real life and wait until it’s viable to do that for any project.
What was the last song you listened to?
Tweet – Never gonna break my heart again.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? 8-tracks? Cassettes? CDs? MP3s? Streaming platforms?
Streaming platforms because I would never have bought all the music that I listen to everyday because I would be poor! I love to mood on a mood playlist and let it just take me on a journey.
Where is the best place to connect with you and follow your journey?
Instagram winnie_ama_
I really appreciate Your time. Anything else before we sign off?
I appreciate YOUR time! Thanks so much for taking the time to get to know me.
