In The Heat Of The Moment?

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Amelle Sebert, better known as hip-hop star ‘Miami’ hasn’t always had the easiest time of things since arriving on the music scene back in August of last year. Signing her first ever major recording contract with indie label ‘Songs to Love and Die By’ it was considered a surprising choice for the newcomer signing to a label which only really specialised in pop-punk and alternative rock, but it has proved to be a wise choice for the musician although there were clearly moments of doubt at some points in her still developing music career. It was in September 2013 when she released her debut single, a track titled ‘Blazin’ My Own Trail’ a surprisingly arrogant statement from somebody who had yet to establish herself, she garnered very little interest or praise from peers and critics and the song failed to make any real impact on the industry, press outlet Culture Uncut instantly taking a disliking towards the singer, a recurring theme already but the musician pressed on in her own time and put negativity to the back of her mind;

“They gotta create some sort of controversy, right? It just happens that they saw me as an easy target. But yanno, I quickly learnt that you can’t let that stuff weigh on your shoulders because that sh*t will bury ya if you let it. I’m sure it’s always tricky when you’re starting out, trying to put your mark on an industry that isn’t always the most welcoming. It was a weird period I guess, I was lucky that I spent most of that time inside a recording studio because I think subconsciously it helped fire me up and give a little extra effort in the tracks I was recording. But yanno, it took a little while for me to understand that no matter who you are, you can’t one hundred percent block out the negative stuff, there’ll always be that five or six percent that gets through into your head, you just gonna go along with it.”

Following ‘Blazin’ My Own Trail’ was a period of quiet, she appeared to disappear completely from sight for a good two months and many had assumed she had already faded out and lost her opportunity. These thoughts were very much understandable because it came at a period when the rap and hip-hop scene was almost ablaze with talent and releases, acts like Lotus, Liyah, Kidd Amaze and Chloe were dominating the genre as well as the music charts and it appeared that if there was a moment to be an urban musician then this was the time, but it wasn’t until the buzz for the genre started to calm down slightly when ‘Miami’ returned with her second offering, this time around though, she had a little more luck;

“From the outside lookin’ in, I guess it’d be fair to assume that I was done. I had my chance and it had gone, but it wasn’t the case. I was working my ass off in a studio in Las Vegas and writing these songs like f*cking crazy, I burned though all kinds of verses just trying to songs that I was happy with. But it was the track that I opened myself up on that I felt really stood out and would clearly be my follow-up single. ‘Family Nightmares’ is my story, it’s about a time of my life that is still pretty damn raw and I still held a lot of anger over my childhood and I still do, but I put that anger into the verses and when we got around to recording the track, I just let loose. That’s what I love most about that song, the very aggressive nature of it. That’s the way I wanted it to be recorded, I wanted to go full force into it and I’m glad I did.”

The track became a relative hit, peaking at number three on the charts and it helped ‘Miami’ prove that she has something worth saying and that she does in fact have a place in the industry. She gained more fans following the release of ‘Family Nightmares’ and the song has been picked up on by a lot of people that have gone through similar issues, those that have spent time in foster care or have witnessed domestic violence in some form. Without realizing it, ‘Miami’ had begun laying stepping stones to becoming a positive voice against struggle. Again though, the musician took her time and made sure not to rush things too quickly. Another period of silence, primarily due to recording happened and it wasn’t until April that she once again returned with another single to be taken from her debut album, the track titled ‘F*ckin’ Barbie’ was seen as a relevant mirror held up to the industry, it instantly became a hit;

“I didn’t expect it to come from that song. But it felt like it was the appropriate choice for my third single, you had seen a two sides to me from my previous singles. ‘Blazin’ showed the confident and ambitious side to me with a little arrogance and swagger while ‘Nightmares’ was a more emotive and aggressive side to me. ‘Barbie’ on the other hand was the opinionated side of me, it was directed at celebrity and fame and my feelings on it all. The fact that it went to number one was quite funny to me in a way, in a way though, it proved that you don’t need to create these bland pop tracks in order to be successful. It sort of flipped the meaning of the song on its side, I guess. But ya know, I’ll take that”

That song was then followed up rather swiftly by the fourth single, ‘Slurred Preach’ and we finally saw a push for ‘Miami’ as she finished up recording her album and neared towards it’s summer release date. The album title, cover art and Tracklisting was rather harshly leaked by Culture Uncut who continue their one-sided hatred towards the musician, but she once again proved herself, risking a backlash with a track that hits out at religious in certain points. But it proved to be a song that caught the hearts and minds of the majority and became the second number one single from ‘Miami’, making the push leading up to her album almost complete;

“There was talk that there could be a slight backlash if I chose to release ‘Slurred Preach’, but that’s the track that I wanted as the fourth single and Amy Meyer encouraged me to make the choice that I wanted to make and not let outside opinions interfere with that choice. The risk was obviously that it could be taken as a straight-up anti-religious song, it was never intended to be the taken that way, it was intended as an anti-judgement song, because I used some religious imagery in the lyrics to just emphasize a couple of things doesn’t mean it was flat out hatred for religion, I’m not a person of faith, that’s my own personal choice and how other people feel and believe is entirely their choice, I don’t intend to offend but occasionally we might and it happens from time to time. We aren’t all perfect, but I’ll continue to maintain that the main theme of the song is basically myself saying, ‘what if we just decided to love one another instead’. No judging, no hate, simple as that really. I feel passionately about the song and theme and so for it to go to number one was just a really incredible thing to happen for a song I believe in in that way.”

We’re unlikely to hear another new single for at least three weeks as the focus shifts to the album release, the album titled ‘Hotel Miami’ has already had its artwork and a potential tracklisting leaked but a release date has continued to be held under wraps and any other details for the record have so far been tightly kept secret, however there is a collaboration on the record that will no doubt excite a lot of fans, also reportedly set to become the very next single, with a little persuasion, ‘Miami’ finally confirmed the details on the collaboration;

“I wrote a track titled ‘Pawn’ and it’s another track that plays on the whole, ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to get to the top and stay there’, it felt very light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek and I wrote a hook for it that needed a particular type of vocalist, I particular type of personality really. I managed to get ‘Andrea’ on board for the track, I’m loving the change of direction that she’s going in with her music now, there’s an edge to her and I think things are gonna completely blow off the scale for her this year. She’s a free spirit and it was a case of just let us loose in the studio and we’ll figure it out, we’ll have a little fun with the track and we came up with about six different versions of the track, she was full of ideas, like a total f*cking whirlwind and It was a lot of fun recording with her. I really think the track is seriously awesome and I think things can come together perfectly for both myself and Andrea around June with its release … and I should have the record out by then too.”