Amaarae Exorcized Her 'Craziest Demon' with “Fountain Baby” Sequel EP: 'The Beginning of My Healing Journey' (Exclusive)

The Ghanaian American artist spoke to PEOPLE about "healing" and finding self-liberation with her new EP, 'roses are red, tears are blue — A Fountain Baby Extended Play'

Amaarae has had a lot on her mind lately. But, after months of cooking up the score to her new phase of life, she’s finally ready to relinquish it all.

On her vulnerable new offering, roses are red, tears are blue — A Fountain Baby Extended Play, out now, the soon-to-be 30-year-old (born Ama Serwah Genfi) embraces her newfound journey toward self-liberation as she closes her acclaimed Fountain Baby album era.

The Ghanaian American artist’s sophomore LP, released on June 9, 2023, became a critic’s favorite for its seamless fusion of genres, boasting global sounds of Afropop, punk-rock, melodic rap and Japanese folk. The thoughtful effort — which Amaarae calls her “turning point” —  earned spots on several “Best of” round-ups and skyrocketed her to even bigger heights after showing promise with her 2020 debut album, The Angel You Don’t Know.

For her new EP, though, the visionary vocalist tells PEOPLE she’s not worried about achieving groundbreaking perfection this time — she’d rather just have fun.

“I put a lot of work into Fountain Baby, and I think that it's a labor of love, and it deserves every possible opportunity that I can give it, to be visible and to grow, and to touch someone new,” Amaarae shares of why created an extension of her career-defining album.

“But also, just kind of staying in the realm and in the theme of things, I feel like the album, Fountain Baby, was an unfinished story,” she continues, adding that she finds herself “still processing everything” that came out of that LP. “It kind of ended on a cliffhanger with ‘Come Home to God,’ and I just really wanted to wrap things up nicely and to end the story, I think, on a softer note.”

Amaarae began recording and executive producing her seven-track EP (originally expected to be a Fountain Baby deluxe edition) last October, a departure from her usual routine of letting full-length recordings breathe a bit before heading back to the studio to resume album mode.

“I just had so much music, and I've typically taken a long time in between releases, and I just didn't want to do that,” the platinum-selling singer explains. “I was having so much fun making new music. I was like, ‘Yo, let's give it to the people. Let's give them some s--- to bump for the summer.’”

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Similar to her upbringing of bouncing around the U.S. and Ghana, the Bronx, New York native says she recorded her latest slate of songs — which include a Naomi Sharon collaboration and a three-year-old feature from 6lack — between Los Angeles and her parents’ homeland up until April, the same month she dropped a remix pack for her Fountain Baby hit, “Angels in Tibet.”

In the midst of this, she found herself drawn to the Afrobeats soundscape that’s energized her home of Accra, Ghana, which she leaned into heavily on roses are red, tears are blue with help from close collaborators Kyu Steed, Noah Glassman and KZ Didit.

Wanting to honor her roots and show that she’s grown to be more than the “quintessential African princess of pop,” Amaarae made it her personal mission to prove that she, too, can replicate the innovative African essence.

“Africans, in general, keep saying, ‘Amaarae is not an African artist in the typical sense of the word, where she doesn't make Afrobeats, woo woo,’ and I really just wanted to prove to n----s, I can make this s--- that y'all n----s make. I can do whatever I want to do,” the accomplished producer declares. “And to connect more with the fullness of my home base and the fullness of the African community. I want to make a record that leans more heavily into the sounds that I know that y'all love.”

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Hence why, listeners will notice the new EP employs more upbeat, familiar Afro rhythms that go hand-in-hand with the summertime vibe.

“I just wanted to do something direct that I feel like people could connect to, enjoy and not have to think too hard about. Because sometimes I feel like Africans, they just want to dance,” Amaarae adds. “They don't want to think too much about the lyrics and you did this and that. They just want to dance. So I was like, ‘You know what? Just give my people something to dance to.’”

Where roses are red, tears are blue shows real evolution is in Amaarae’s subject matter. Instead of singing about the same desires of love, lust and curiosity from Fountain Baby, the “Diamonds” artist’s new project reflects a shift in her world, taking a more self-confident approach even as she spills her innermost thoughts — namely, a recent heartbreak.

The final result, she says, is an “exorcism of the craziest demon I've ever encountered in my life.”

“Girl. I don't know if you've ever dealt with... you know, sometimes, motherf---ers come in your life, and they really turn s--- so upside down, you got to go back to Jesus,” the “sweeeet” singer vents of her last relationship, which helped inspire some of Fountain Baby.

She found spiritual relief through EP tracks like “THUG (Truly Humble Under God)” — a callback to Amaarae’s musical inspiration, Young Thug, who we have to thank for her signature high-pitched voice — which “ends in a prayer.” According to Amaarae, her collaboration with Sharon, “Wanted,” was also instrumental to her “healing journey.”

“Naomi's music, when I discovered it, it got me through such a tough time last year, and I think she's so amazing. She's such a poet,” the musician praises the OVO-signed singer, adding that she was “probably my most intentional choice on the record.”

She adds, “To have the artist who got me through such tough times be a part of a project that I feel like is the beginning of my healing journey is so important.”

After a life-changing year filled with success and obstacles, Amaarae says her roses are red, tears are blue EP gave her the “brain break” she truly needed coming out of the “layered” and “complex” process of her last album.

“I was just going into sessions and making whatever I felt like,” she admits. “I was just going in and saying, ‘I, number one, am sad and heartbroken, and there's that. But also, I am coming out of it, and I want to have a good time, and I want to reflect on everything that just happened. But also, I dealt with someone so crazy that it brought me closer to God. That's pretty intense, and I want to share that part of myself too.’”

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With her "free flow" EP out before her tour runs with Childish Gambino and Sabrina Carpenter this fall — for which she was hand-picked — the trailblazer hopes listeners will be open to receiving her truths and hearing more of her "origins."

“For the new fans that I've gained, I just want them to be open to understanding and accepting, ‘Amaarae is an artist, and she's a creative, so we can consume whatever she puts out and let her be her,'" the singer-songwriter says. "Instead of like, ‘Oh, go back and make us another “Princess Going Digital” or “Angels in Tibet.”

She concludes, “I just want my fans to feel like they're a part of my journey and growing, and they're getting the music that's happening as a result of that growth.”

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