ELLE COOK • ALL I HAVE

There are so many albums that come to mind when I think about which artists and sounds pushed me to blossom as an artist, but the one that is at the forefront of my mind is All I Have by Amerie. Anyone that knows me, knows that I’m the biggest Amerie fan. I love her as a singer, dancer, author, content curator, but I was originally introduced to Amerie in 02-03. My older sister bought her album, along with the likes of Ashanti’s Happy and Destiny Child’s Destiny Fulfilled. In that same timeframe, my aunt used to take me and my sisters to Skateland in Towson, MD every Saturday when I was young and there was a guy that sold bootleg CD’s out of his trunk. So somehow I managed to get my young hands on bootleg versions of Mya’s Moodring, Kelis’ Tasty and 50 Cent’s Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. Of all these classic masterpieces that my sister and I owned, Amerie stuck with me heavy. Her long, black bouncy hair, charisma and of course her voice. The chokehold that this woman had (and still has me in) is insane.

To this day, I continue to study her vocal abilities, harmonic arrangements, songwriting, everything. With every song I create, I always say to myself “I know Amerie will love this.” Sounds silly, but it really boosts my confidence when I’m creating something new.

When I was younger and leading into my adolescence, I was so impressed by her harmonic arrangements, being able to turn your voice into a literal instrument or a full blown choir with just you and your mic. And I never thought that I would be equipped with the tools to execute the vocal concepts that I’ve studied for years. Once I found out that home studios, with budgeting and timing, were really affordable, I hit the ground running. I worked on my harmonies at a constant rate in 2014-15.

As of lately, I’ve been studying other artists such as Amy Winehouse, Ari Lennox, Tinashe, Shungudzo — mainly paying attention to their strong vocal abilities. I’ve been learning from them how to project and belt without fear (I can be a bit of a whisperer at times) and also how to just have fun with singing. Singing like I mean it, singing cause I love it.

All in all, yes, Amerie has had the biggest impact on me as an artist, but all of the artists and albums mentioned have shaped me to be the artist that I am today.