Belfast-born singer-songwriter Winnie Ama accidentally entered the music industry after a friend’s record label noticed an original song verse she posted on Facebook. Now an independent artist, Ama blends genres and storytelling to craft a unique discography, which she showcased at South by Southwest on Tuesday and Thursday. The Daily Texan spoke with Ama about her music inspiration, creative process and SXSW performances.
The Daily Texan: How are you navigating being an independent artist?
Winnie Ama: Being fully independent means that if I don’t do anything, nothing gets done. … I would happily sign a deal that made sense, where we’re mutually benefiting from each other, but also, some people just want to sign for the sake of it which is really dangerous. … The difficult parts (of being independent are), one: If I don’t do something, nothing happens. Also, the commercial side — there needs to be a strong commercial plan, and sometimes you need investment and things like that. There’s loads of grants available. I got a grant to be at SXSW because it’s very expensive to bring a whole band over and everything like that. And so that’s the difficult side, but it is worth it.
DT: When you’re creating music, what are the things you’re keeping in mind in order for it to tell a story?
WA: The chorus needs to be the headline of the story. Like, if you rush into a room to tell your friends something urgently … you say that thing first, that’s the chorus. Verse one needs to set the scene and the tone and the mood and make you understand where we are and why. … (The second verse) needs to resolve the story. … And then, if there’s a bridge, it could be an alternate perspective that makes you realize there’s more going on. … People say, ‘I could never write a song,’ because they don’t realize that it’s just a story in a certain format. … We’ve always (told stories) since the dawn of time — sitting around a campfire, having bedtime stories … Stories (are) how we learn, (are) how we experience other cultures and other people’s points of view. And so, that’s why I love it.
DT: What are you most looking forward to for your SXSW performances?
WA: I’ve never performed these sets before because they’re all from the debut album, so I want to see everybody’s reaction. … I love the honesty of a crowd because people don’t dance when they don’t want to, and in a crowd, you kind of feel invisible. You just do what the music makes you do. … I’m also looking forward to meeting new people in the music industry. I’m fully independent, so it’s really important to meet new people who could be in my team for the future and also meet other artists. … I’m looking forward to all of it.
