British singer-songwriter Amii Dawes is from Northampton. Since early 2011, she has been touring the UK and Europe. She started writing songs when she was 12 years old. Joni Mitchell, Dry the River, John Lennon, and Alanis Morissette are some of her primary influences.
Her first group project, Carefully Yours, was made into a single. It presents a love story from both perspectives. In this instance, the girl, whose heart has suffered too many heartbreaks and now feels vulnerable. Despite everything, the boy still wants to love her because he thinks she is special. Amii Dawes and Stephen Tanner wrote the song, and they also produced it. REMIEWORLD did the mastering. Check out the song and the exclusive interview with Amii Dawes below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?
AMII DAWES: I come from Northampton, England. I started writing songs when I was about 12 years old and fell in love with music from the 60s/70s. When I was around 16 I taught myself some basic chords on piano and guitar to accompany my lyrics and fell in love all over again.
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
AMII DAWES: I am self-taught in everything I play, although I did have some music theory lessons when I was at school which helped a lot.
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘AMII DAWES’?
AMII DAWES: The first time I remember being inspired by an artist was when I heard The Beatles for the first time as a child – A bit of a cliche I know! However, soon after, I discovered Joni Mitchell and that discovery blew my mind entirely.
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
AMII DAWES: I write from the heart. What I do may not be perfect, lyrically or musically, but it is authentic and honest which I feel people appreciate.
5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as POP?
AMII DAWES:
When I first started out I tended to lean more towards the acoustic folk kind of style – It suited my melancholy lyrics really well. It felt a little safe though and wanted to branch out into different genres. So, more recently, I’ve blurred the lines between folk, pop, rock and indie/alternative.
6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?
AMII DAWES:
I never make a conscious decision to put any sort of agenda into my lyrics, I only want to speak to the truth of how I’m feeling at the time of writing it. So, naturally, politics and social issues do creep in there occasionally but more from an emotional standpoint – I’m not trying to change the world.
7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
AMII DAWES:
I genuinely love every aspect of what I do. The writing, producing, promotion – Everything that is involved with making music, even the “boring” bits. It is a lot of hard work but it’s something that I don’t mind doing if I know people are going to hear my music at the end of it all.
8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
AMII DAWES:
99% of the time it’s the lyrics that come first for me. The ideas hit me in a multitude of ways – After watching a film, taking a walk, when I’m about to fall asleep. I use my Voice Notes app on my phone to record any ideas, big or small and gradually add to them over the course of a couple of days. With ‘Carefully Yours’ the process was completely different. Stephen had written the guitar part over 10 years ago and was struggling to come up with a melody or lyrics. We’d been performing at the same gigs for a couple of years and we both admired each other’s writing so he asked me help him out on this song. I did a first draft of lyrics within a couple of hours and he loved it. Within a week or so we had a completely finished track – I’d never worked like that before.
9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
AMII DAWES: Sometimes getting the motivation to keep it going can be hard. It’s difficult when you spend so much of your time creating the best music you can, putting in so much of yourself thinking this time will be your “big break” only to discover that it isn’t the case.
10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
AMII DAWES: I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve achieved so far in my career. I’ve met incredible people and been part of a handful of really cool bands – With one of the bands I got to record a live lounge session at Maida Vale for BBC Radio 1 – That was pretty special.
11. With social media having a heavy impact on our lives and the music business in general, how do you handle criticism, haters, and/or naysayers in general? Is it something you pay attention to, or simply ignore?
AMII DAWES: I don’t tend to take that stuff too seriously. Maybe because so far everyone has been nice to me on the internet. When you get your first hater that’s how you’ve made it right? – So, bring it on!
12. Creative work in a studio or home environment, or interaction with a live audience? Which of these two options excites you most, and why?
AMII DAWES: As much as I love performing live, I still get ridiculous stage fright after all these years. Being in the studio really is my happy place though. Playing around with new ideas and experimenting with different sounds is one of my favourite things to do.
13. Do you think is it important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?
AMII DAWES: A lot of my songs make it quite obvious what they’re about so they don’t take too much explaining. I’m more than happy for people to interpret them as they see fit though, that’s the joy of music – You can take from it what you need at that time.
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