Amy Shark: Amazon Music City Session in Brooklyn, NY
One of Australia’s most beloved musical artists, Amy Shark, has returned to New York to record an Amazon Music City Session in Brooklyn. After an interview with New York-based DJ Hesta Prynn, she staged a live performance featuring her new pop single, “Can I Shower At Yours,” and the many hits that skyrocketed her to success. With an Amazon production team, the event was streamed to her fans through the Twitch platform. Presented in a small, industrial space in Williamsburg, with a simple stage design, the performance felt intimate and stripped back, allowing her prolific song writing to speak for itself.
Amy first captured success in 2016 with her multi-platinum single, “Adore.” With a boost from this track, she went on to produce her 7x platinum and chart-topping hit, “I Said Hi,” and her 2018 breakthrough album, “Love Monster,” which was recognized with four ARIA awards, including Album of the Year and Best Pop Release. In 2020, she released another platinum single, “Everybody Rise,” which she opened with at the Amazon Music City Session here in Brooklyn. In 2021, she returned to the top of the charts with her album, “Cry Forever,” featuring a collaboration with Blink 182’s Travis Barker on the single, “C’mon.” For this album Amy also teamed up with global popstar Ed Sheeran to co-write the single, “Love Songs Ain’t for Us,” featuring Keith Urban. She charted again in 2022 with the R3hab collaboration, “Sway My Way,” a pop-inspired house track reimaging Bic Runga’s renowned track, “Sway.”
In August, Amy released her single, “Can I Shower At Yours,” which follows her track, “Only Want To Be With You,” but with a nostalgic 2000s pop-rock sound that “kicks it up a notch.” “Can I Shower At Yours” is all about the feelings you get in the initial stages of a relationship, and the moments where you let the butterflies in your stomach take over, says Amy. After teasing the song on TikTok, she released a full music video where she plays the role of a cupid dance instructor. “The song is just so much fun, and it lends itself to movement, so I thought, I’m the worst dancer in the world, I should be a dance instructor, that would be hilarious,” says Amy.
When performing “Can I Shower At Yours” live in Brooklyn, Amy wasn’t dressed as a dance class teacher, but she did keep things pretty casual and true to her style. Wearing a T-shirt, jeans, sneakers, and an Adidas jacket, and creating an “alter-ego” around her iconic top-knot hairstyle. When it comes to her sound and her look, Amy likes to “find her own way with everything.” Coming into the music industry “with a bloody nose” and constantly being told “no,” gave her the chance to really “work herself out.” When Amy finally broke through, she “knew exactly who she was” and how she wanted people to see her.
“I had 15 years of people telling me what I needed to do, and I would stupidly listen. Like guys telling me to wear dresses or to be more country. Then when everything started happening for me, I was like for once I wrote this song without anyone’s help, and I just want to do it my way,” says Amy.
Earlier this year, we saw the next stage of her career, with her appearance as a judge on the anticipated revival of “Australian Idol.” Amy admits she was “proud to be a part of Australian Idol” as she felt she “wasn’t there yet” in her career but had to trust that “she could add something.” Having experienced how “brutal” the industry can be, she hopes that now as a judge she can encourage even the contestants who are rejected “to not let this be the end.”
Article + Images by Mia Fyson, Contributor + Graphic Design Intern, PhotoBook Magazine
RELATED STORIES
