Amaarae songs have the frozen glamor of luxury photography, but none of the silence. Driven by her fluids, the Ghanaian American singer's restless Afropop constantly flows and bubbles, liquid and frothy like sea foam. In last year's globetrotting Fountain Baby, played a Dionysian priestess, extolling the wonders of pussy and high-end products over beats that bridged Accra, Virginia Beach and Hokkaido. A line from “Angels in Tibet” captures the constant pairing of opulence and effort: “Diamonds beat sweat.” In Amaarae's music, even jewelry gets wet.
The next EP, roses are red, tears are blue — A Fountain Baby Extended Play, is equally sultry and luxurious, although the mood is more restrained. The lyrics aren't that manic. The songs don't break out into commercial punk and dream pop. and the samples aren't as eclectic, but an Amaarae after party is still crazy. She continues to twist her lithe voice into sensuous and otherworldly shapes, her indelible coolness always stemming from her boundless sense of play. For her, flexing is a love language.
The lush production, which comes from key collaborators like KZ Didit and Kyu Steed, blends alté, highlife, R&B and house. The songs are svelte but always textured, the airy melodies and soaring polyrhythms layered with strings, horns and cues. If Fountain Baby it was a flying circus, roses it's a homecoming parade, down-to-earth but no less colorful. The melancholic “chilled” builds to a slick vocal sample, breathy harmonies and drumming to a soft groove. “I'll be wanted,” Amaarae and OVO signee Naomi Sharon sing with determination. Affirmation is vulnerable and cocky, suitable for chanting to oneself or whispering to an opponent.
Amaarae's longtime admiration for Young Thug is evident on this record. She double raps on “Jehovah's Witness,” with her lyrics often breaking out into giddy ad-libs and chants. At the triumphant “this!” her slippery melodies erupted into squeals of pleasure. “Thirty carat diamonds on my wrist/And I'm vigilant/Close my case ain't fit,” she screams, her tone and lyrics channeling the incarcerated rapper. She's not as chaotic or expressive as Thug, but she shares his belief that perpetual motion is the ultimate freedom.
Of course, sometimes even indifferent games are played. Beneath the grandeur and charm of these songs lies an undercurrent of longing. “Sweetie, honey/Love, honey/Pick up/The phone/And pick me up when you miss me,” he pleads on the sunny “Honey,” like a obsessed lover leaving a voicemail. Pet names and a chirpy delivery belie her anxiety. On “Diamonds,” a fluid dance track, sparkling gems offer some solace as a relationship crumbles. “Who's that you've been calling, texting/Sawty, finesse/Loving me is a blessing/I guess I never learn my lesson,” he sings with frustration.
Frustration, joy and confidence converge in Jeffery Williams' ode to “THUG (Truly Humble Under God),” which takes its title from a moment in YSL's ongoing and surreal trial. The ballad is one of the most minimalist in Amaarae's catalog. it opens with a sample prayer for blessings, then slowly builds toward cleansing. She sounds nervous the first time she sings the chorus. “I don't fold under pressure/I don't hurt/Tomorrow might be better/But I'm looking forward to today,” he murmurs over a void of piano and strings. But as the instrumentation grows bolder and the drums rush, her voice rises and the hook becomes rapturous, as if she's been breached after a deep dive.
The pop experimentalist always seeks relief in her songs – through sex, through expression, through movement. But here, confidence alone doesn't guarantee it, a twist that adds new intensity to her busy music. Amaarae sticks to her signature, carefree for the most part rosesbut remains a shaper.
