Avant-garde international pop star Amaarae shares her highly anticipated album BLACK STAR–out now via Interscope Records.
Known for breaking the mold with her boundary-pushing blend of alternative, pop, R&B, and Afrobeats, Amaarae presents her boldest mix of global sonics yet with BLACK STAR, sending up her Ghanaian roots as a rallying cry for youth culture around the world.
The diaspora-hopping BLACK STAR is a futuristic statement of cultural pride through an ever-shifting palette of ghettotech, house, techno, baile funk, and African dance genres, stamped with Amaarae’s signature softness and hypnotic vocals and featuring contributions from PinkPantheress, Naomi Campbell, Bree Runway, Starkillers, and Charlie Wilson.
It recontextualizes Ghanaian and African music with pop and club sounds across time and space, connecting them with the roots of modern-day dance music, house and techno.
Alongside the album arrives an official video for “Fineshyt”, shot in Ghana, the visual trails a magnetic young woman moving through club scenes and city streets with sensual, self-assured quiet confidence.
Amaarae shares about “Fineshyt”, “1998 had Blue by French Duo Eiffel 65, 1999 had Believe by Cher & at the turn of a new millennium Modjo gave us Lady. Now, we’re at the mark of a quarter century, and Fineshyt is my contribution to a sound and feeling that not only took over clubs but minds, bodies and souls alike.
Music is such a beautiful and special medium and being an artiste has been God’s greatest gift to me. I remember being a little girl in Ghana hearing Believe by Cher and immediately being entranced.
The hard tuned vocals, the glittery dance beat, and that hook! Do you believe in life after love! What a sentiment. A true manifesto of life. My favorite thing to do as an artiste is take an inspired concept and flip it on its head. In this case, Fineshyt is Belive’s bad ass play cousin or maybe its evil twin sister!”
BLACK STAR is dedicated to the alternative youth of Ghana, who are finding their footing each and every day, as well as Black baddies all over the world.
In July, Amaarae released the effortlessly sleek single “Girlie-Pop”, accompanied with a video, directed by Omar Jones. Visually, “Girlie Pop” is a bold and sensual glimpse into the beat-driven ecstasy when two souls collide and the music provides the necessary alchemy, in and out of the club.
Just prior in June, Amaarae released the world-building single “S.M.O” alongside the announcement of BLACK STAR, exploring themes of sexual liberation and empowerment across a mix of highlife, kpanlogo, and zouk music.
On “B2B,” she uses DJ lingo to make a playful song about “love that is taken but given back at the same time,” she explains. With its lilting melodies and cool-girl energy, “Fineshyt” is a soundtrack for women and femmes that highlights “the confidence of being feminine and feeling beautiful.”
In April, Amaarae made history at Coachella where she debuted as the first Ghanaian artiste to grace the Indio stage. Her headline-making set saw the iconoclast playing energetic songs from fellow Ghanaian artists and exciting fans with unreleased previews of new music from BLACK STAR, in between her shaving her head on stage as a representation of “the new kind of freedom” the incoming era represents.
She followed suit in June at Governor’s Ball, rocking the stage while Ghanaian fans waved their flags high, and at an electrifying set at Glastonbury.
This summer, she brought her unforgettable stage presence to festivals around the globe including AfroNation, Lollapalooza, Osheaga, and more, and will continue in the coming weeks at Maiden Voyage Festival, Flow Festival, Lowlands Festival, Pukkelpop, and Best Day Ever.
The celebratory festival performances follow the success of Amaarae’s sold-out tour behind Fountain Baby, which was praised as among the best albums of the year by Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and The New Yorker and was Metacritic’s #1 album of 2023.
Featuring the effortlessly suave singles “Angels in Tibet” and “Reckless and Sweet,” the Afrobeats-flipping LP launched Amaarae into global pop stardom, landing her on the cover of NME, Paste, and Clash, as well as touring with Sabrina Carpenter, support billing on Childish Gambino’s tour, and an H&M x Mugler campaign.
Amaarae has long championed self-expression ever since breaking out with her 2017 single “Fluid,” an ode to living in between different labels and modes.
Her astronomical rise arrived with the release of her 2020 debut album THE ANGEL YOU DON’T KNOW, boosted by the now-platinum, globally charting “Sad Girlz Luv Money (Remix)” featuring Kali Uchis and Moliy.
She stepped into the Black Panther cinematic universe with “A Body, A Coffin,” her contribution to Marvel’s 2022 Wakanda Forever Prologue EP. And she’s since exhibited her versatility through collaborations with Childish Gambino, Stormzy, Janelle Monáe, 6LACK, Kaytranada, Babyface, and Tiwa Savage, among others.
Using songwriting as a way to “metabolize feelings”, Amaarae sees BLACK STAR as a full-circle moment, harkening back to when she recorded her first Passionfruit Summers EP in her mother’s house in Ghana. “This era is about vindication, for myself and my community,” she declares.
