"I'm going to be one of the biggest stars in the world," Amelia Moore told me during our chat, and it's easy to believe her. The up-and-coming artist has quickly amassed a loyal following with her relatable lyrics and haunting production. She just released her song "vinegar," and she's about to head out on tour with FLETCHER, so she's definitely an artist to watch right now.
Moore grew up homeschooled and, according to her, "really, really sheltered" and received a lot of backlash from her friends when she'd talk about her dream of being in music. She says, "I eventually started to surround myself with people that also not only believed in me but believed in themselves, too, and had similar goals."
She ended up dropping out of college and moving to LA right before the pandemic hit but still found her footing in the quickly changing music landscape. She surrounded herself with a close-knit team that became like family—fueled by authenticity and building a community.
"A big part of why my videos started to do so well is because they're literally just relatable songs," she explains, "The songs I posted are just, 'hey, let me know if you can relate to this extremely specific thing that just happened to me. I wrote a song, and here it is.' Then the lyrics are on the screen, so people can connect with the song and how it feels sonically, but the lyrics are right in front of them too."
It's easy to understand the hate directed towards TikTok from an artist's perspective. Especially when the term "industry plant" is thrown at any artist where it appears like things just fall into place for them. They don't see the work that goes behind the success. Moore's content resonated so well within the app because she never made music to be popular on TikTok. She made it for herself.
She says, "I've never gone into a session being like, 'I'm going to make a song for TikTok today.' It's really important for me just to write authentically about what's going on in my life right now. And I feel like secretly, we are just all living the same life. So whatever I'm writing about, there's got to be somebody else out there that's going through the same thing."
It's about adapting to the current climate. Music is clearly the essential aspect, but if it takes social media to bring her closer to her fans and propels her career, then that's what she has to do.
She tells me, "Every day as an artist, there is the opportunity for people to fall in love with my music. I think the industry has changed so much, and being an artist right now is way more about a lot of what happens outside of the studio, and social media is a part of being an artist right now."
Her new song "vinegar" is a perfect example of that connection. It's in the details of her writing. "Vinegar, pour it in my body. Where it hurts, like a pity party, you couldn't tell, I go through hell, I go through hell again. Just to get it out," it's so visceral and specific.
Moore says, "Writing this song was honestly a big reason I am starting therapy right now and focusing on my mental health. Because I realized that there were all these things that I hadn't dealt with, and I tried everything, but I just kept running from them and trying to distract myself with music or people or boys or whatever."
That's something that Moore has emphasized during our conversation, how COVID changed how we interact with people. She has to prioritize herself and her alone time. "I thought for literally my entire life I was an extrovert," she says, "COVID happened, and we all just got used to being alone. And once things have started to open up again, my capacity for social interaction is so much lower than what it used to be, just because I love hanging out with myself."
That self-care is paramount in her creative process, especially now that she's about to go on tour with FLETCHER. Everything just seems to be falling into place, but that's not a surprise because she's always seen it. Her vision boards, her hard work, it's all finally paying off.
"It makes me misty and nostalgic because everything that's happening now is everything I've been dreaming of since I was probably 11," she muses, "I'm proud of myself for putting in the work and not taking any shortcuts. I feel like I've spent the last three years developing my sound with Pink Slip and with other producers and writers that I've met along the way. And now that I have the music, I'm just really excited to get it all out there. It's all coming to fruition."
