For Hamzaa, making music isn’t about curating something perfect, it’s about making something true. Fresh on the release of Rush, we got the chance to chat with the artist for our series The Palette, all about what’s influencing creativity. For Hamzaa, it’s all about being here, now. See what Hamzaa has to say, and check out her recent Sofar performance with Costa Coffee.
Hamzaa’s influences:
Impulsive Creativity
Hamzaa: Being in the moment has meant that I’m way more edge, much more particular. I’m much more impulsive to do things if I feel it in the moment. Sitting in it, while it’s happening, it’s tough. I find myself crying most days, or I find myself trying to not overanalyze everything. It’s wild.
Unfiltered Performance
I want everything to just feel raw. For example, even doing the Sofar Sounds Costa event, that was super raw, it was just me singing to a small room of people, and every person in that room being able to feel the project in whichever way it resonated with them. That’s authentic. I don’t know exactly what it may look like, but I just know it needs to feel raw and like as if it really did come from me, and in that moment that’s really how I was feeling . Otherwise I’m gonna watch it and be like—if i don’t believe it, no one’s gonna believe it. That’s just how it works.
Embrace Challenge
I definitely stepped out of my comfort zone or writing for this. Especially “Believe It”, as I was pulling out some of my drum sounds, this one drum sound [was] like my pet peeve, [but] I was like, ‘I can flip this’. It was like stepping out of what I’m used to, I’m used to having a nice four chord piano thing, keep it simple, keep it cute, but this was very different for me. If anything I tried to challenge [myself].
Anti-Habit
I’m what they may call neurodivergent, and I find it’s so hard for me to create a routine. Oh my goodness. In my times of like, I guess you could say, when I’m creating, and things I do to put together a creative body of work, I don’t have any particular kind of like, set routines, habits, or anything. It really is all very free flow. Like, extreme level of free flow, actually.
Tears
I say I’m not a crier, because I’m not, but when it comes to music, oh boy, oh boy. Just, might as well have a box of tissues ready, it can get wild. It sounds so self-centered, [but] when I move myself to tears, that’s when I know I’ve done something good, because I’m like, ‘I’m being real here, this is real.’ I’ll just write write write write write and blindly listen back and be like, ‘oh my gosh…. yep, that’s me.’
Ready to discover more artists like Hamzaa? Browse shows.
Words by Sofar Editorial Team
