Yesterday we wrote about Amaru’s empowering new single, ‘Champagne Attitude (Rap-Titude Mix)’. We found him to be very interesting, and so invited him to answer six quick questions for us. True to our impressions, Amaru came back with some very informative answers, giving a deep insight into the music business, as well as other aspects of the entertainment industry.
EP: Hi Amaru! Lovely to meet you! You’ve had a very interesting career to date – can you tell our readers briefly the Amaru story?
Amaru: Hi there, thanks for taking the time, I appreciate it. Well, I am not a mainstream artist or anything, but I am always on the grind, as I put it. Going from audition to audition, always working on new music at the studio, writing lyrics… keeping busy artistically is what fuels me and I am very driven. It’s hard work, as you may well know, but for me it’s all about getting my work out there, first and foremost of all. It’s also about growth and building a fanbase, enthuse people with your creativity, so to speak. And I’ve always wanted to sing, as far back as I can remember, but it wasn’t until we moved to Europe when I pursued that. But oddly enough, after finishing acting school, it was the acting that took off first. But there is so much more to the Amaru story, we will run out of time (lol).
EP: What’s been the highlight of your career so far in your music career? How about in your acting career?
Amaru: Musically, my biggest victory is when I released my debut album “Champagne Attitude” in May of 2018, which went on to win TWO Gold “Global Music Awards” in Los Angeles, California (USA). The album won “Gold Emerging Artist” and “Gold Album”. Acting-wise I have done (independent) film, TV commercials, animation, voice acting and much more, but my proudest work as an actor are two animated films I did about AIDS education in Africa and certain parts of Asia.
The first film was a resounding success and some schools in Africa even incorporated the film as part of their curriculum, I was told. Because of the success of part one, none other than Sir Richard Branson decided to finance the sequel, which was also a success. They have since re-dubbed the voices of my character in the sequel, but my name still appears in the credits.
EP: What’s your advice to anyone wanting to start a career in music?
Amaru: Having the talent to sing beautifully isn’t quite enough these days, especially considering that “everybody can sing nowadays”…Trickery and technical fixes have become the norm in the recording landscape of today, but I always say: “If you can’t sing in the studio, chances are you won’t be able to sing LIVE”. So, first of all to be able to sing would be a start, but also, learn as MUCH as you can about the BUSINESS aspect of show business…There are a lot of grey areas in the music business that many don’t want exposed, which is why you have to be vigilant and tenacious. Know about your rights, about copyrights, about taxes, about money.
Let me tell you, I don’t proclaim to know everything, but I know plenty and I’m still learning. There are plenty of people in the music business who will take your last penny if they can and leave you high and dry and not give a rat’s behind about that…And when they see that you do know a thing or two about the business, that’s when they’ll do one of two things: they will pull back and keep you at an arm’s length (because you may be on to them…) or they will carefully try to engage with you to “do some business”.
What I see is that most (young) people only wanna sing and become famous…In their pursuit of fame they fail to realize that “fame” is not something one can put on a resumé. And what if the music fizzles out, what if people lose interest and you have nothing to fall back on…? That’s where your High School diploma or college degree would come in handy. What I’m saying is to always have a back-up plan.
EP: If you could go back in time, what if anything would you have done differently with regards to your music and acting careers? Why?
Amaru: Well, this is a simple one. I hardly ever look back. I think that things are predestined anyway and they happen in a cosmic order. I think that I am where the universe wants me to be, so I’m okay with the progress thus far.
EP: What’s next on the horizon for Amaru?
Amaru: What’s next? I am busy promoting the new single ‘Champagne Attitude (Rap-Titude Mix)’ and I will continue to shoot my first international feature film this spring! In addition to that I am awaiting a ton of replies to prospective musical gigs, so we’ll see what will happen.
EP: What question do you wish you someone would ask you in an interview but nobody ever does?
Amaru: I have done quite some interviews, but most of the questions have been about my work as a singer and actor…Maybe as my celebrity grows they will ask me my opinion about the state of the world today…or maybe they’ll ask me how I feel about religion…or sex and sexuality or maybe even aquatic life…I don’t know, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.
Thank you for speaking to us Amaru!
You can find out more about Amaru online on his offical website, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can buy physical copies, download, or stream his music from YouTube, CD Baby, Spotify, Google Play Store, Amazon, iTunes, Reverbnation, Tidal, and his music site.
Check out his acting credits on IMDb.
