Don't call her a dance artist, because Amber is so very much more. A singer/songwriter known for her club hits "Sexual," "This is Your Night," "One More Night," among many others, Amber recently released her fourth album "My Kind of World." A striking departure and an incredibly personal album where she explores love, relationships, and spirituality, MKOW has already spawned the hits "Voodoo" and "You Move Me."
DJ Ron Slomowicz: I've had the honor of seeing you perform several times and I'm always struck by how much you connect with your fans on stage. When you write your songs, do you ever picture yourself performing them on stage?
Amber: It's not so much that I visualize the performance right away, as when I'm in the process of writing a song I'm very into making sure that it sounds right with the interpretation and the feel. Everything else just comes naturally. If I think a song is good enough to make it on an album, I think it's going to work on stage as well.
RS: When you work on a song do you start with a lyric, or with a melody? What's your songwriting process?
Amber: Usually I start off with lyrics. I sit down and write lyrics for weeks and months. Sometimes there will be lyrics laying around that I've written that I'll find the perfect melody for two years later. I work with a producer who sets up music as well and then we find a melody. If we both like the lyrics and the music, we sit down and try to put things together.
RS: This album is a bit of a refreshing change, something a little bit different. What was in your head when you were making it?
Amber: I had a lot of things to go through. I had a very nasty divorce unfortunately, that was dragging along and I was trying to go on with my life. I could not talk about it too much because you go to court and there's nothing you can say to the opposite party. So what happened is, I had to start writing it out and it's made great material.
Also, it was very important for me to grow as an artist, to show what my capabilities are as a serious songwriter and vocalist. The problem with being put in the corner of dance artists is that often you're not in very good company, let's be honest. There's a lot of one-hit wonders there, novelty artists and low quality productions with so-so singers and playback performers. It's more producer-driven. So I felt, even when you call me a dance artist, everybody sees that I have a history with a great string of songs. There was always a difference. I felt that when I was already marketed towards dance and my previous record label insisted on and pushed me into that. I really wanted to make sure and insisted that my dance material be different lyric-wise, production-wise, and quality-wise.
With this album I had requested for my previous label Tommy Boy to please release me, because I really didn't feel it was doing enough for me as a musician and it really frustrated me. I was very happy when they released me and I was able to come out with a little bit of different repertoire where I could show-off my facets more. I think that's what I've achieved with this album.
