A*M*Ezing new 'artiste' ahoy

Here is A*M*E.

(She's the one in the red coat.)

A*M*E has been a figure on our pop horizon for a while and we are very excited not only to be able to feature her first release 'City Lights' - written with MNEK and featuring his brother Bartoven - as today's Song Of The Day, but also to premiere the video.

Which is here.

She seems quite pleasant in that footage, doesn't she? Like you can't imagine her being a turbo-charged megacow. This sort of stuff is good if you want to be a popstar. As our grandmother used to say: "nobody likes a bastard".

Bio bits:

» Hashtag-unfriendly popstar A*M*E is 17 years old and has just finished school.

» She grew up in South London, but is originally from Sierra Leone. Both nice places, but we think we know where we'd prefer to be if we urgently needed a Nando's.

» She's signed to Gary Barlow's Future label. But she's not bloody boring! In fact she's amazing. Hooray etc.

» If the influences on her Facebook page don't make you quite excited you need to have a long hard look at yourself.

» She raps!

» She sings!

» She's done a fanzine (trans: glorified press release) thing called 'The A*M*E' which includes various photos and 'style tips' and an interview piece with MNEK, as well as A*M*E's 'Top Ten Tips To Making A Hit'. These tips include "hum melodies over the beat", "think of a concept" and "draw a spider diagram". CHEERS A*M*E. (We've got a stack of these on our desk - if you'd like one email us on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and we'll post one out to ten random punters.) (Or you can just read it online here.)

The single is one of those early releases that makes her seem a bit more tastemakery than she actually is but there are some big pop moments to come. Including...

'Play The Game Boy'
A sort of mid-80s Shannon-esque discofunk 'workout' with amazing drum fills, a Madonna reference and a "play the game boy play the game game boy play the game boy play the game boy boy play the game boy play the game game boy play the game boy play the game boy boy play the game boy play the game game boy play the game boy play the game boy boy play the game boy play the game game boy play the game boy play the game play the game" chorus.

'Love TKO'
About shaking bottoms like Beyoncé. We're in enjoyable mid-tempo territory here ladies and gentlemen.

'Hold Me Back'
This one just makes us wish Alesha Dixon would stop releasing Jessie J knockoffs. :(

IN SUMMARY
- Amazing popstar
- Amazing music
- There you go