Amaal unleashes a powerful single “Not What I Thought” to kick off the new year.
After featuring in our Who Is? category in 2012, Amaal returns to the hustler’s wing. Amaal is the epitome of female empowerment, shown through her music such as the inspiring ‘Scream’ released back in late summer 2017 and also through her activism work around the world.
Amaal has continued down a new path of self-exploration into her sound and the versatility that comes with being a woman; full of love, lust and mystic.
Now the Canadian musician has unveiled an emotional new single titled ‘Not What I Thought’. The bass thumping ballad will catch you singing along reminiscing of love in the past tense. This first single comes with a stunning music video shot in an other-worldly location and directed by Sean Brown (Daniel Caesar, K. Roosevelt) along with Amaal’s creative direction. The video follows Amaal in various breathtaking landscapes courtesy of Sister Nature.
Amaal reportedly has a new EP in the works, surely a project that will have us all in our feels.
Amaal was born in Mogadishu, Somalia and was raised in a traditional Muslim household, the middle child of seven sisters and two brothers. When the civil war broke out in Somalia in the early 90s, Amaal and her family emigrated to Toronto, Canada in hopes of a better life. Amaal quickly immersed herself to art having been exposed to music at school as well as drama classes. She did not begin until singing the age of 16, and only released her first singles 4 years later.
So far, she has followed a largely independent career path into the music industry, utilizing social media as an important marketing tool to help push the music. Her songs subsequently went viral on YouTube, Facebook and other social networking sites, which helped introduce her sound to a global audience.
Singles by Amaal include ‘With You’, ‘Mufasa’ and ‘Words Revealed’, ‘Last Ones’, ‘Who Are We’ and ‘Scream’. ‘Words Revealed’ alone achieved 200,000 YouTube hits within its first three months of release, and has inspired cover versions by fans. Another fan favorite, “With You”, similar earned 80,000 views in its first two months; ‘Mufasa’ is considered her most viral song to date with views and listens accumulated to over 2 million. Amaal’s lyrics have always been socially conscious, focusing on topics of growth, love/heartbreak as well as global causes. She draws influences from both her personal life experiences and her travels, including a trip to Uganda where she worked closely with women’s groups across local communities.
Watch the video below and check out her previous release here.
