Ghanaian pop star Amaarae: 'I'm presenting black women as deities'
Raised between Accra and Atlanta, the genre-rejecting singer draws from her cosmopolitan upbringing - and a love of Kelis - to confront narrow definitions of womanhood
You can't box anyone in any more," Amaarae says from her bedroom in Accra, Ghana. As older cultures die out, things inevitably change."
The 26-year-old is describing the shift underway in West Africa embodied by alte, the eccentric musical style that has expanded into a non-conformist cultural movement. Amaarae is one of its pioneers, and her debut album The Angel You Don't Know an instant classic in its canon. Euphoric in its risk-taking, it leaves no genre, sound or cadence off limits: Amaarae's whispering vocals hopscotch between the Southern hip-hop rhythms on Celine and dance over the lilting soundscape created by Rvdical the Kid in 3AM.
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