If a British soul star is having a moment, you can rest assured that Canadian hip-hopper Drake is always one step ahead. There he was, chasing down London keyboards dude Sampha and Midlands breakout artist Jorja Smith to appear on his album More Life. Off he went, high-fiving London’s grime stars and sampling UK club classics on his albums. Or else he’s posting a little-known singer’s lyrics on Instagram and sliding into their DMs.
Those lyrics, about pretty girls having nothing to say, belonged to 18-year-old north Londoner Ama Lou from her debut track, TBC, in 2016. The Hotline Bling rapper liked it so much he told her so himself and even bought some of her T-shirt merchandise. TBC was written after a spell living in America against a dispiriting backdrop of police brutality. Likewise Lou’s sound is rather transatlantic: husky soul, feathery trap and skittering, downcast R&B that sounds placeless but also a bit like AlunaGeorge.
Lou’s EP released in March, DDD, headed to California peppered with G-funk and accompanied by a 13-minute film in which she plays a gold-toothed young member of an LA crime ring. She has the acting and musical nous – having until now co-produced her songs – and is currently presumably waxing her recently signed major-label advance on a brief tour of Australia. If Smith was 2018’s soul success story, then 2019’s could be Ama Lou’s. Just ask Drake.
