Big Girls Do Cry: On Music and Emotional Release with Amelia Moore
Continue reading for office’s full interview with Amelia below, where we discuss her next project, emotional freedom, and why the color orange has impacted her life so profoundly.
I read that you gained a love for music by singing with a choir when you were young. That is a very passionate and prideful type of music. What skills or lessons did you bring with you from your choir days to your music now?
Amelia — Wow. That's a really good question. I grew up singing in church pretty much from four years old until I left for college at 17. There wasn't that much technique involved. I feel like there isn't, in church singing. It's kind of just like, 'If you feel called and the Lord wants you to sing, you're gonna sing,' right? I just really, really fell in love with singing and being on stage in general. I've taken a lot of inspiration from choirs, in general, into my music. Even whenever I'm writing my lyrics today — without even realizing the influence of church and biblical references that I grew up learning — those things just seep their way into my lyrics and into my writing now, which I love. It was such an important part of me growing up. I took less of actually learning how to sing from growing up in choir and more of just being inspired by the sound and I'm very interested in using it in my music today.
I think that's kind of a natural progression too. These things from your past find their way into your music without it even being intentional, which is the case for a lot of artists. I want to talk about something else that you did when you were younger — you played violin, right? I read that you quit after a time because of feeling like it was a bit too restrictive. What do you feel like singing and piano provide you that violin didn't?
I started playing violin when I was four or five and I played for about seven years. Initially, I only wanted to start playing because my older sister was, and I just wanted to be like her. But then I started to get really good. And as you said, you know, the violin is a very technical instrument. You're learning somebody else's music, you're learning how to be in position correctly, and you're learning how the person who composed their music wants you to play it. That was interesting to me for a while. But then as a kid, I didn't even know how uninspiring it was and how uninspired by that I was. I remember being pretty young and trying to write my own songs on violin and I took one of them to my violin instructor and played it for him. He was like, 'Oh, okay, that's cool. So let's get back to practicing sheet music.' I just got really bored with it. Quitting was really, really difficult because my parents loved hearing me play so much. Toward the last couple years of me playing, I definitely felt like I was just doing it to make them happy, even at such a young age. But as soon as I quit, my dad bought me a light-up Casio keyboard and it felt like absolute freedom. There was no sheet music. There was no technique. I wasn't in lessons. I was literally just learning everything by ear or from YouTube or from the buttons that would literally light up on the keyboard. It was just fun. And I could do whatever I wanted; there wasn't somebody telling me to practice for however many hours a day. I could practice as long as I wanted for whatever I wanted. I started writing songs on piano when I was 11 or 12. I just remember watching piano tutorials on YouTube for One Direction songs. That's how I started learning and teaching myself piano and I still write on the piano today.
I love that you learned One Direction songs because I literally was obsessed. I had a One Direction Tumblr — I was one of those girls.
I was a Directioner for sure. Still am.
So now to come from all of that to just recently coming off your tour with Fletcher — that's so amazing. What was your general overall experience touring with her?
These Fletcher shows were my first big girl, full band with track shows. The first show that I played in LA was a little acoustic set at The Hotel Cafe. It wasn't even my own show. I was just playing a set with a couple friends. But the Fletcher tour was absolutely insane. It was the best first tour I could have ever imagined. I'm so fucking thankful that she invited me to be a part of that tour. I remember the first show in San Francisco, I was so, so, so nervous the whole day. Oh my gosh. I just remember feeling like an absolute, crazy person. I was freaking out, but just seeing everybody, as soon as I got up there, was the most surreal feeling in the entire world. I'm also so lucky to have gotten the opportunity to go on tour when I have such little music out. I basically got to tour my EP that's about to drop before anyone's heard it and see what songs the audience reacted to. It was such a great experience. And I'm so thankful, for sure, and excited to get back on the road.
Did you have one song that you really liked performing or a song that got the best crowd reaction?
I think the crowd favorite consistently every single night was this song called 'Over My Ex' and it's not even on this upcoming EP, it's gonna come out soon after. But it was the second song I played and I made it a drinking game for everybody. So my intro into the song was, 'I need you to drink every time I say the word ex,' which was a lot of times in this song. So people were just really engaged and interacting with it, which felt really good. So I'm excited to put that song out later this summer.
Getting that crowd reaction has to be incredible. I can see it now, even with your hair color, that the color orange plays a big role in your personal style and in your life. If you had to assign a color to your aura, would it be orange or would it be a different color?
I think it would definitely still be orange. Orange is the color of creativity and energy. I feel like I want to keep those things very close to me at all times. I feel like they already are. But, I don't know — maybe my aura is a different color. I should figure that out. I do feel like it's orange though.
I have a feeling it might be orange too. Through my deep dive, I also found that you've mentioned that you see your world in orange. But aside from the color orange, what else characterizes Amelia's world — what does Amelia's world look like and feel like?
Amelia's world is not only orange, but also extremely emotional and vulnerable, and silly and playful. Sonically, I've been experimenting with some more hyper-pop sounds recently — so very bright and loud. But I also love being inspired by more R&B vocal performances. So it's also silky and smooth and sultry at times too. But also ever-changing, like the ocean. I love being diverse in the music that I make. I also love writing for other artists and experimenting with different genres and not keeping myself in a box. But there's a lot going on in Amelia's world. I'm wearing this hospital gown right now, just for the fashion — just to experiment. Amelia's world is also full of fashion. I'm really excited to show all of the looks that we just shot in this music video. But my world is just continuing to expand and grow as my fan base does. I'm really excited to show everybody all of these different sides of who I am in my artist project.
I can't wait to see the video that you're talking about right now, too. While we're still talking about the color orange, I found that you have shown some love for something else orange — that I also hold close to my heart, which is Frank Ocean's Channel Orange album. That album impacted my life so deeply. Was it an impactful album for your musical process as well?
Frank Ocean's music was just so pivotal for me. Listening to him for the first time was just absolutely life-changing. But, I will say, the first album that really rocked my world was Justin Timberlake's 2020 Experience. I didn't really listen to that much secular music growing up, because I wasn't really allowed to. I was very sheltered and homeschooled and religious and my parents kept me from a lot of pop culture. But that album was one of the first secular CDs that my mom ever kept in the car because she's such a Justin Timberlake fan. I remember listening to that for the first time, just being like, 'Holy shit — these harmonies, these drums!' All of the songs on that album are also so long. And they each have extended versions of the radio versions of each song itself. It was just so inspiring to me. That was definitely the first album that made me realize, 'Wow, I want to do something like this.' And I'm still very inspired by that album today.
And you can really hear those influences in your music too. There are so many layers to it and it’s a really dynamic listening experience. Another thing, aside from your personality, that characterizes your persona is your Instagram handle — Icryatwork. I feel like the girls who get it, get it. Sometimes you just need to have a good cry. What's your favorite place to cry in?
Wow. There are so many different places. I feel like a spot that always hits is in the car or just in bed or in the bathroom. Those are three go-tos. I will say though — just as a little sneak peek about this music video that I shot this past weekend. While we were shooting, I was in this super intense moment and feeling the lyrics and I just completely, in the middle of the shoot, started full out sobbing. That's probably gonna make the final cut. So, also, I cry on-set of my music videos. That might take the number one spot actually.
Yeah, I think that has to be number one. That's a good one — a very niche one.
Yeah, very, very niche. I'm really excited to see how that video comes together.
On a similar note, you spoke before about being really in tune with your emotions, which I think is so important for emotional growth. And I think that through your music, you can sense that this is someone who is really in touch with this side of themselves. Do you see your music as an emotional release?
Absolutely. My first EP happened because I needed to release and feel all of the emotions that I was going through. That's honestly the main reason why I started writing songs so young — I was just feeling so many different ways about so many different things. I was growing up and I didn't wanna talk to anybody about it. So I would just sit down at the piano and write the worst songs about how I was feeling. It was very therapeutic and has always been very therapeutic. It felt like a healthy way of processing. I made this whole next project with some of my best friends, so music has always been and will always be for me a really healthy outlet. I'm so lucky to have this medium, where people can hear what I write and also know that they're not the only ones that feel that way.
Yeah, for sure. It's a personal, emotional release, but it has to be incredible to put your feelings on paper and know that it resonates with other people too.
Just getting it on the page feels great. And then it's like, 'Okay, wow, I got that one off my chest.' Something that I've found that's really funny is that sometimes I'll write a song because I need to listen to myself more. You know, whenever you're listening to a song and you're like, 'Oh my God, I feel that.' I'll literally do that with my own songs. So even writing it to process my own feelings is a part of my creative process.
Totally, that makes sense. It's this idea of the music being a release, but in this case, it also can bring clarity. I'm sure sometimes you don't even know what you're feeling and then you listen to a song or write one, and it's like, 'Oh, that's how I'm feeling.' I actually think that's super profound. What was the general inspiration behind your latest track, 'Crybaby' and the corresponding video?
'Crybaby' is so special to me and I wrote it with my friend Jackson Lee Morgan and my producers Iverness and Pink Slip. I knew I wanted to write a song called 'Crybaby.' It's very on- brand. I've been wanting to make a ballad in six-eight for a long time too. I was going through this annoying, stupid breakup and I was feeling every single line of what we wrote and writing it did not take long at all because of how intensely we were feeling these emotions. It happened very naturally and seamlessly. We wrote it and I kind of already saw in my head, 'Okay — grand piano in the rain.' I didn't have to think twice about it. Seeing that come together in real life was really cool. I'm really proud of that video and I'm happy that it's out.
I mean, it's beautiful. You should be proud. Looking ahead now — you've been named an artist to watch in 2022 by many publications and critics. What do you hope the rest of 2022 brings you and your music?
2022 for me is all about setting the groundwork for what's to come. This first project is something that I'm so proud of. I think it's the perfect introduction to really show people what I want to say and the kind of music that I want to make. But for the rest of this year, I'm really just focused on making the best music possible for the upcoming year. We just have so much planned already. So yeah — 2022, we're laying the groundwork, showing people who Amelia Moore is. Setting up 2023 to just smack everybody in the face with some incredible next-level music and visuals and, you know, continuing to grow more into myself and inviting everybody else along the way, who are willing to get emotional and cry with me.
