Amaarae is back. The BLACK STAR is here. She is elegant, she is fierce. She teeters on a tightrope over a river of unshakable desire, looking up at clouds – fluffy, silk soft like doe-eyed adoration. Behind her, 2023’s Fountain Baby, a lover’s paradise. A multicultural jamboree kingdom with late-night dance clubs on every corner. Salty autumn beaches graze the horizon with fervent eclecticism as a wide range of sonic inspiration floods the dance floor. The music spans chill house, dancehall, Latin guitar, angelic harps, and angsty punk beatdowns. Amaarae details her sugarcoated sexual cravings and personifies her deepest desires, filtering sensual fantasy through a glimmering, bubbly R&B lens.
Forward across the bridge, 2025’s BLACK STAR. A bustling midnight city. An afrofuturistic utopia with cyberwave rave depositories and moonlit rooftop paradises. Dimly lit stone floor warehouses serve as tribal venue, with red brick walls and windows for show.”Stuck Up” opens the album by bombarding our senses with blaring alarms and flashing, multi-colored beams of energy reflect off of the inches of space between shifting heels and stomping boots. A voice from within the darkness casts a royal decree across the dancefloor; “Turn out the lights. Turn out the lights.”
The alarms are met by sticky bongo taps before transitioning into bass-boosted “thump thump thumps.” Amaarae flexes her range and vocality as she matches the ferocity of the beat with braggadocious bars that pack a punch every line. The track ends with the energized crowd stomping the ground and belting out a chant to usher the rest of the album in.
The vibes stay strong with “Starkilla.” Producer Nick “Starkillers” Terranova lays down this sick, sashay vogue number, complete with some very on-brand robotic beeps and risers. Bree Runway enters the scene, the role of captivating announcer, whisking us away to far off lands like “CzechSlovakAtlanta” (a play on Drake’s “Housatlantavegas”) while delivering sexually charged lines in Russian and Akan. Amaarae jumps back in, armed with an insanely sticky chorus, “Ketamine, coke and molly,” drenched in perspirative appeal.
“Fineshyt” features wavy whooshes and a baile-sounding rave beat. Amaarae rides the track at lightning speeds, giving it this midnight street race vibe to it while she gushes and boasts about her partner.
“She Is My Drug” rewinds the clock back to the 90s with a fun interpolation of Cher’s 1998 hit, ‘Believe.” Anaarae puts her own spin on the iconic chorus, singing to someone if they “Believe in love off the drugs.” The song asks if they’re willing to let the rush take over them and give in to the same desires Amaarae is feeling at the moment. It adds to this narrative she seems to be presenting, of a confident and assertive protagonist who, at the same time, craves companionship and understanding.
Amaarae balances love songs with more risqué lyrical subject matter effortlessly in songs like “B2B” and “Dream Scenario”. The latter of which is this very intimate song about co-dependency with a sweet Charlie Wilson refrain of “It’s all about you, baby!” that just puts a nice bow on the whole track.
“Kiss Me Thru The Phone pt 2” lays out sensual body heat grooves and romantic rhythms. PinkPantheress feels right at home on a beat that was almost certainly made with her in mind from the beginning. She and Amaarae switch off telling a story about the pitfalls of cyberlove and online dating. They juxtapose the sweet tune with intimate confessions about certain…bodily feelings occurring at just the thought of one’s partner. It’s not the most complex of tracks. But once again the chorus is impossible to get out of your head. PinkPantheress and Amaarae are a vocal match that just makes too much sense.
Amaarae imbues the well-earned confidence of someone with five years of back-to-back incredible projects on BLACK STAR. Sonically, her previous sound has evolved into its best shape. She effortlessly mixes influences from African, Latin, and East Asian music while still managing to sound entirely unique. She’s fully grown in to her style. The result is a loud, provocative flex session, wherein Amaarae reminds us all that she is the best to ever do it.
Amaarae wastes no time in shedding the “I’m baby” aesthetic presented in Fountain Baby. This new Amaarae, the BLACK STAR, is in your face and proud of it. Not to say she ever had an issue with self-confidence, but this new album is the most assertive we’ve heard the singer. She is assertive both in her sound and the various ranges and styles she sings in throughout the record. She presents this untouchable aura while at the same time crafting these extremely open and honest songs. The album has deep lyrics and lighter moments that show that Amaarae hasn’t completely abandoned that softer side to herself at the end of the day.
Album cover courtesy of Interscope and Golden Child.
REVIEW RATING
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Amaarae - "BLACK STAR" - 8/10
8/10
A desert seed that let the wind carry him to the chilly east coast. Currently in his “starving artist” era.
