American singer songwriter Ameera is a Dallas, TX native. Ameera’s musical journey started from a young age from pageants to dance performances. Ameera was in the Glee club at Desoto High School and was voted most likely to be famous for music. After Highschool, Ameera attended Cedar Valley College for music where she studied commercial music, audio engineering, music Theory 1 and 2, music business, voice, and midi. While at college, she wrote her song “Addicted” and entered it in the DJammys and won for best pop song. After college, she got the opportunity to work with Ike turner Jr and Sweet Randi Love and was a backup singer within shows in California, Dallas, Oklahoma, and Clarksdale, Mississippi. She was still finding her sound and perfecting her craft and currently takes voice lessons in the Colony with her voice teacher Edward Kunchev and has worked with songwriters like Kassy Levels and producers like DJ Skywalker. Ameera has a project coming out soon called S4S so be on the lookout for that. I’m excited to be able to speak with Ameera on so many different topics.
Was your family supportive with your musical passions or did they recommend a different route?
I was always interested in music during my childhood and it wasn’t exclusive to a single genre. I loved all genres from country to R&B music and would even dabble into classical records. I started songwriting around the age of 8 that really was inspired by groups like Destiny’s Child, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera. I did try to start a music group with some of my childhood friends, but they couldn’t really sing. It was just a fun, little game to them and I wanted it to become professional. When I realized that they weren’t taking it seriously, I decided to go off to write music solo. I now use YouTube to come up with wording and write out my songs, but during my childhood I could think of melodies without listening to anything. My parents were originally hesitant because they didn’t know a great amount of detail about the industry. They were continuously pushing me towards a career in the sports industry because I was very talented as a goalie throughout high school. I constantly told them that I didn’t enjoy the role and was miserable in that sport, but they didn’t seem to understand my predicament. I used this as an opportunity to bring up the music again, but they were still bewildered. Throughout high school, I would be staying after classes to speak with the piano teacher and learn different songs. I didn’t have this same passion for sports, where I only had enjoyment playing with friends.
Had you dealt with any scams that supported your family’s discouragement of music?
I would recommend to any new artist to avoid people who name drop a lot and to analyze any new collaboration you come across. You need to look at the individual person and the opportunity they’re mentioning and decide if those two things match up. If something seems too good to be true or doesn’t make sense coming from that person, then it’s probably a scam. For example. I had met this guy who claimed to know high-level producers who featured mainstream names. Almost immediately, this guy was rude and acted like he didn’t even want to speak with me. In that situation I decided to hold my tongue because I assumed many people in the industry were probably just rude like that. My dad and this guy still hit it off and became close friends. He reached out to me later stating that he would create a beat and get me in touch with high-quality people, but that he would have to charge an initial $300. I paid up but the beat I received was garbage and I knew more about basic melody in my courses at Cedar Valley. This guy continued to name drop people like mentioning that he knew Nelly’s uncle or other close connections. I knew there was another issue when I went to his location to record music and noticed that he didn’t know how to work his own equipment. I felt discouraged because when I brought this up the producer was acting as if I was being difficult or wasting his time. He still states that the possibility of getting my music out to mainstream contacts, like Rihanna, is possible for a $2000 down payment. I’m lucky to have family that helped with that support, but shortly after the payment the guy stopped returning my phone calls. The man disappeared off the face of the Earth and probably supported the reasoning my parents had to hate the music industry.
Was making beats or music behind the scenes ever an interest for you?
I learned a little about making beats in Cedar Valley College, but at the beginning was lacking the patience needed to do it in depth. I still dabbled in it to learn chords and how its effects melodies but knew early on that writing music was more for me. I’ve had long-term collaborations with producers who handle that stuff, like DJ Skywalker who has really made perfect beats for me. This year was the first year of me working actively with a single producer and it’s amazing to have someone that understanding the unique style you’re bringing to a song. Cedar Valley College was having this annual DJ & music awards event and I decided to submit a song last minute. People were surprised and would reach out to me, not expecting me to have quality music like that. I was a little introverted in some of my classes and didn’t state anything about my music until my contest submission, so it was a welcomed surprise for most people. I was confident going into this event because I had solid vocal teachers in the past who taught me clear exercises to prepare. She taught me how to stay creative and keep getting past mental blocks, like finding inspiration in novels or poetry. I’ve used this trick more and more as I create new songs.
Was there a pivotable moment where you wanted to take music full-time?
I knew for a long time that I wanted to have this music become fulltime and honestly just dive into my passions. Attempting this launch can be expensive though so it requires a lot of commitment and determination to start pumping out content. I remember being at job and just having a bad week, but my sister came to me and mentioning things about trading currency. I took the leap with that and music and was making more than what I was doing in a call center. The call center job was fun because I worked with a solid team, but it was time to make this transition so I could work on music. Luckily, my parents were both supportive of this leap and it was cemented by my travels to Puerto Rico. My plane ride coming back from a vacation had major turbulence and put me in fear for my safety. It gave me a new perspective on life and made me realize that I could die going to a job I loathe. I used that renewed faith and instantly handed in my two-week notice at work.
If someone had $1000 to invest into starting out with music, what should they do?
If you have a thousand dollars in cash and you’re willing to spend it on music, then it would go great towards a lucrative feature. It can sometimes be worth it because that small payment can lead to your own fanbase, if your original content is unique and interesting. The thing is that typically $1000 won’t be enough and that the time and energy also required can be exhausting. I would recommend finding a cheap studio and to just focus entirely on figuring out your style, rather than worrying about the levels of equipment. Reach out and form collaborations with solid engineers, maybe people new to and trying to build their own resumes. You really must believe in yourself because that’s the only way you’ll convince engineers to collaborate with you. You’re going to be regularly discouraged from people like family members or friends who don’t believe in your path, but consistent work will block these moments out.
