Blue

London-based singer Amethyst has emerged as a prominent catalyst behind the recent surge of soul and R&B in the UK and I've got a solid evidence for that.

Her latest single "Blue" is an homage to the nostalgic late 90s r&b sound I've been missing for a while. Co-written and produced by renowned UK R&B producer and artist James Berkeley, this collaboration seems to be a match made in heaven.

I love the thick synth bassline underlying the whole composition and how beautiful Amethyst's multiple voice recordings are stacking against each other. Listening to the song, one could quickly pick her main influences, classics like Ella Fitzgerald and Donny Hathaway, and contemporary inspirations like Lianne La Havas and Jazmine Sullivan.

An absolutely exhilarating experience.

When it comes to "Blue", Amethyst elaborates, “Working with James was an absolute breeze. I’ve never felt so comfortable in a studio session before and he really allowed me to explore every vocal idea I had. We wrote the whole track in a day and it was so much fun getting to experiment and create a slightly new sound for me. Because James is also a singer, he really challenged me to get the best vocal take we could.I felt he understood more of the direction I was trying to take whilst incorporating his neo-soul and pop side into the track and I loved the blend we created.

I like to mix my own experiences with ideas from films, TV or my friends when I write a song to almost blur the lines so people never really know what’s my story and what isn’t. The main focus of this track is fear of commitment, I was almost writing this song from the perspective of my ex talking about me after our breakup, but then also how I was feeling about another situationship at the time. I think most people can relate with that fear of commitment, whether it’s them or their partner and it’s sad how common it is in all stages of a relationship."

As I mentioned, Amethyst is on the rise. "Blue" comes after the artist received significant acclaim from industry giants like Jamie Cullum at Radio 2, Victoria Jane at Radio 1, and Jamz Supernova at 1 Xtra.