The hottest news of this week’s Latvian music records – Aminata’s mini-album or EP “Savvalias päše” with five songs. Very soon, on August 4, the singer will have a big solo concert on the summer stage of the Andrejosta block, so it is understandable that she had to prepare something new for it.
The songs included in the mini-album were already written in the early spring of this year, when Aminata organized a songwriting camp with the support of the Universal Music company, inviting several well-known artists. For example, the member of the group “Astro’n’out” Māra Upmani-Holšteini, with whom the title song of the new mini-album was created (producer JJ Lush and rapper ansis also took part in its creation). “Aminat and I easily found a common language because we feel the same way about music and lyrics,” says Māra. “It gave us a lot of freedom when writing, we quickly caught one wave. We started the work with conversations in order to be able to speak directly in Aminata’s language. It was a wonderful experience to work in an unprecedented composition – a team with excellent professionals, but each with a different musical experience. This non-standard combination of musicians forced everyone to step out of their comfort zone, but just enough to meet in the golden middle, where everyone is happy with what they have created, but at the same time they don’t quote themselves.”
As the first track on the album, the duet with the young singer Būu (real name Ilze Fārte) in the song “Kur saule” is included, which was also created by singer Mikus Frišfelds, Kristaps Ārglis from the group “Triānas Parks” and DJ Rudd (Rūdolfs Budze). but the album also contains the songs “Aphrodite”, “Ko Tu dari ar mani?” and “The Tide. Bēgums”, in the creation of which the singer Chris Noah (Krists Indrishonoks) was also actively involved.
“This was an interesting experience for me, because I had never written songs in this way before,” admits Aminata. “The single “Kur saule”, for example, is a song in general, in the writing of which I was practically not involved. It was a good experiment, because it is very interesting and maybe even necessary to look at yourself through other people’s eyes, to understand how other authors see and hear me. It creates a new sound that I am very happy about. I think that the new mini-album came out quite felt, and I flourish in it.”
It should be reminded that until now Aminata has released the full studio albums “Inner Voice” (2015) and “Red Moon” (2016), as well as the mini-album “Maiga vara” (2019).
PAR. Aminata has always been great and she is also in this mini-album, no comments are needed about her vocal talents either. The club hit “Kur saule” is already playing radio stations and dance halls, but the stylistically similar “Aphrodite” could be no less appealing to these halls. “What are you doing with me”, which is already closer to Aminata’s previous works, will also find its audience. Also worth noting are the lyrics, which in Aminata’s case were also very personal in the past, and in this mini-album, too, they seem to have come from the deepest depths of the soul.
AGAINST. The new album is unfortunately the weakest in Aminata’s discography so far. The biggest minus – it seems that Aminata has listened too much to various advisors, and as a result she has lost her handwriting. Although the mentioned song “Kur saule” – it is rather a collaboration between Boo and Aminata, and not an Aminata song in which Boo takes part. “The tide. “Bēgums” – Chris Noah’s tendencies are already noticeable here, which in Aminata’s style of music should not be evaluated as a plus, and the song itself should also be recognized as quite mediocre. On the other hand, the title song “Wild Side” – it simply does not appeal. The stylistic fragmentation in such a short distance – in only five songs – prevents this work from being perceived as a unified whole. Nothing, even great masters make mistakes, as we will consider this EP as well. Aminata can do better and stronger, she will prove it.
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