A New Term for Toxic People: Amelia Moore Launches Her Debut EP
Groundbreaking and rising power-pop artist Amelia Moore has created a new meaning to the word “robot” that should be noted in everyone’s vocabulary. Most of us are familiar with that toxic, “emotionally unavailable” person in our lives. Well, Moore addresses them with her debut EP that she released last Friday, June 3rd. She asserts that “What I wanted to do with the title of the project, teaching a robot to love, is give people another word to describe their partner instead of toxic or emotionless or emotionally unavailable or whatever. No babe, we are going to start calling these people robots.”
Moore grew up homeschooled in Lawrenceville, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta. Her exposure to music consisted of learning the violin at four years old. But, she later found her heart calling for piano instead, to which she is self taught. When she turned eighteen, she broke away from the east coast and moved to LA, sparking a shift in her career and the release of her hit single “sweet and sour.” We asked her what it was like to live in two cities with such prominent music scenes and she said:
“Well here’s the thing about my experience growing up in Georgia, I didn’t even really get to experience the Atlanta music scene at all just because I was so sheltered and literally the first secular album that I listened to was Justin Timberlake’s “The 20/20 Experience” album which is still like such a big inspo for me… But LA has just been monumental in my growth as an artist. Living here was the first time I was able to be around so many creative people that were so amazing at what they did. I also lived in Nashville because I went to Belmont for a year and a half. Even then, it wasn’t as inspiring as living in LA because everyone’s just getting started, everyone’s kind of afraid to admit that they want to be an artist and do sessions together… I can definitely speak to more about my experience in the music industry in LA over Atlanta. But maybe one day I’ll go back home and get a little taste.”
Moore presents an authentic representation of self within her music. Her songs delve into vulnerable topics that are not easy to discuss. Yet, she creates a safe space for emotions, advocating for people to talk to their friends more and to walk away from the “robots” in their lives. She states that “The music is also as honest as a conversation with you about my breakup would be.” This can be seen through the blatant transparency in her lyricism, we are delivered her reckonings on a silver platter.
The idea for the EP was explained by Moore as entirely accidental. She was playing the popular game “Cards Against Humanity” with her friend Alex when she drew the card that read “teaching a robot to love.” She explained that “I can’t remember the black card that he played it on. But, it was really funny and we were like laughing about it and I was like ‘damn you know what that is how it really feels sometimes.’” Later on, the idea resurfaced in the studio, where she began to craft it into a full EP, beginning with the “intro” track. “The concept completely happened as an accident and it just found me at a time where I was really ready to utilize it creatively and I’m really happy that I did.”
In the futuristic world that is teaching a robot to love, we are teleported into Moore’s personal atmosphere. She describes the style of the EP, articulating that “In this EP, I would say it's predominantly pop more than it is anything else. But something that I’m really proud of with this project is sonically and lyrically it is so cohesive in this ‘robot world.’ There are a lot of robotic sounds and lyrics that are all in the same universe. Just experimenting in this metal sounding world was really fun to do for this last project.”
Moore’s career is only going upwards from here. The debut of her EP prompts a new and more experimental side of pop music heralded by her music. We asked her what the future looks like for her as an artist and she said:
“Lots of more experimenting. I never want to put myself in a box. But in the future, just more personality and a bit more playfulness. You know, I can be emotional and I can be a sad bitch, but I’m also a bad bitch too. So throughout the rest of the year, not all my records are going to be like sad heartbreak songs. I’m definitely going to talk some shit eventually as well.”