"Black Star": Amaarae's new album returns to her Ghanaian origins

Recording artist Amaarae says distance from home has deepened her connection to her roots — a theme woven into her new album ‘Black Star.’

“Maybe in the last two to three years, I go home once a year for two weeks. And I've noticed that now that I'm away from home, I crave it more and I want to be connected to it more,” she said. “It's not just through even physically being there, but through food, through seeing my family often, through going to places and being able to interact with other people from where I'm from or from the diaspora."

The Ghanaian-American artist says she approached ‘Black Star’ with a different mindset than her previous album ‘Fountain Baby’, which earned her critical acclaim.

“I think for me as a human, it feels good to know that something I put into world is appreciated,” she said. “Going into this album, ‘Black Star,’ I didn't think about the critical acclaim of ‘Fountain Baby’ at all. I was like, all right, cool, that's done. Great, let's go have some fun. I wanna be rooted in who I am from top to bottom.”

Part of that self-expression comes through her lyrics — something she began to take more seriously after a surprising comment from her younger brother. “He was like, ‘oh, I don't listen to your music for lyrics. I just listen to it for vibes.’ And he's like, ‘are you even really saying anything?’ And this was maybe four years ago. And he made me take lyric writing very seriously,” Amaarae recalled. “I love writing and I love lyrics, but I love to also be smart and to play around and be flirty with the way that I present a topic. Because people can take it at face value, or you can go a little bit deeper and it could mean a whole other thing.”

Her music’s energy and confidence, she says, are rooted in advice from her father — who initially didn’t want her to pursue music. “My father told me when I started making music, your message and the way that you make people feel should always be on the highest frequency.”

“I love the fact that people always tell me how good, how sexy, how confident my music makes them feel. But I don't know if it's a responsibility or just a gift, because it's scary and daunting to think about,” she said.

Amaarae’s third studio album ‘Black Star’ is out now.