Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with an album they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Beckah Amani writes of her abiding love for Ed Sheeran’s debut album + (2011).
The music of Gold Coast-based songwriter Beckah Amani has been described as “a breath of fresh air” by The Guardian and “catchy” and “compulsive” by Gal Dem. The Tanzanian-born artist’s latest single, ‘Waiting On You’, continues a trend of stylistic fluidity for Amani, whose work to date has spanned stripped-back acoustics, celestial vocalisations and African grooves.
Beckah Amani’s Love Letter to Ed Sheeran’s +
Beckah Amani: Music is a part of my family’s blueprint. Some of my earliest memories are of my family and I around a fire with my mum and dad singing African folk choruses and passing down songs they sang with their families growing up. To put it simply, music has always been a part of me.
At 11 years old, my love and relationship with music changed and shifted. The story goes, one Wednesday night my family and I tuned into The X Factor as we always did. That particular night though, emerging artist Ed Sheeran was the guest artist. He sang ‘The A Team’ and I was completely floored. For me, ‘The A Team’ started a new love affair with and appreciation for the songwriting element of music.
What got me about ‘The A Team’ wasn’t how catchy the song was or how nice Ed’s vocals were. No, what got me were the lyrics. They were deep, narrative driven and the songwriting approach was unlike any pop music at the time.
Ed Sheeran – ‘The A Team’
To my absolute delight, the raw and honest storytelling Ed Sheeran introduced in ‘The A Team’ was the backbone and overall sentiment of his debut album +. On tracks like ‘Small Bump’, ‘Kiss Me’, ‘Give Me Love’, ‘This’ and ‘Drunk’, the conviction in his voice made me believe every story he was telling and totally break, hurt and reflect with him.
An album had never taken me on such an emotional rollercoaster, especially as an 11-year-old who didn’t have the same degree of experience with love and heartbreak as Ed Sheeran did. At 11 years old, my take away from the album was to use songwriting as another form of journalling: a place I could go to be honest, express my feelings unfiltered, reflect on the world around me and explore stories and the ever-changing narratives of life.
Although I hadn’t planned to pursue a career in music at the time, Ed Sheeran’s + was the reason I began songwriting. Songwriting became a safe space for me to express everything through lyrics. The impact that + had on my songwriting rings true to this day. My sentiment and goal with songwriting is to tell stories honestly and vulnerably, so others can feel and also express themselves through my music.
Beckah Amani – ‘Waiting On You’
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