In spite of the crowded music field, you have managed to create your own lane. Although "1 Thing" has been credited as your signature hit, what single do you think has been pivotal in defining you as an artist?
That's a really hard question to answer because it just really depends. You can't have one single that defines you as an artist at any particular time. Music just defines you at that particular time. Music is like a photograph. It's kind of like saying "Who are you really: your eighth grade picture, your senior graduation picture or your college picture?" You're all of those things at that particular time. "Why R U?" is a very definitive representation of me. But I also have a record like "Tell Me U Love Me," which I did with Teddy Riley, and "Higher," which I did with Warryn Campbell – which have live instrumentation and percussion. That whole vibe was very raw, which I feel is very much true to who I am now, just as "Why Don't We Fall In Love" was very much true to who I was in 2002. It changes. We're never the same people.
When you look back on the recording experience for In Love and War, what thoughts immediately come to mind?
For this particular album, I spent a lot of time writing at home. For instance, I wrote "The Flowers" in the doorway of my bedroom. Sometimes I have to get in the mood. That song was very somber and the track was very sad, very melancholy. So I had to take myself back emotionally to certain situations. I usually don't write songs down. Instead, I usually just write them in my head. As soon as I put the pencil on the paper or the pen on the paper, I usually feel a creative blockage. "Why R U?," for example, was written in my head driving around in New York in the rain. A lot of the New York element, the melancholy feeling of that song, you definitely hear that – the New York rain, cloudy day vibe. As far as recording went, the process was really interesting. I recorded a lot of it in California and some of it in New York, a little bit in Atlanta. It's funny, I used to think that I had to be in one place to do an album. Now, it's no longer a fear of mine. On my next album, I think I want to record it in Egypt. There's a great studio there that I think would be really cool.
Article comments
1 - Chacob
I've been waiting for Amerie to get this kind of recognition! Well Done!
2 - Jun
Sanaa Lathan, Alicia Keys, Amerie and me in a tub of jelly and I'm GOOD..