Written by @kittycat.kollective

Amity is a young man with an old soul who invites connection through his lyrics, music and conversation, sharing both his vulnerability and immense strength in his lyrically charged storytelling and cinematic soundscapes, writing about things that he is passionate about, whether from personal experience or a need to speak out on behalf of others.

Following a glowing review in The Guardian for one of his early performances, Amity went on to receive the Real Business Entertainment Musical Excellence Award for 2023 and become the Royal Albert Hall’s Future Maker Artist of 2023/4. His current single City of Stars has a huge cinematic feel to it, full of depth and emotion with the music swelling and pulsing throughout. Lyrically it hits hard: a journey of self-liberation from isolation, control and destructive relationships.

Catch Amity at his UK Unredacted Tour April/May 2026.

I had the opportunity to interview Amity following his headline show in Feb 2026:

Who are your biggest musical influences?

I’m hugely influenced by lyrically dense work, where the lyrics and the instrumentation complement one another other. For example, Will Wood, is an incredible lyricist, genius instrumentalist and just all around incredible. Musical theatre has also been a big influence, playing a huge part in my life growing up.

My music is very much intended to be cathartic for anyone who resonates with it and to inspire empathy in people who don't resonate with it. I write about things that I am passionate about whether that is something that deeply strikes a chord with me, something that I've been through, or something that I need to speak out about.

Music is my way of speaking up on societal issues, things I've been through personally or for those who can't speak up for themselves; to be a foil for bystander apathy and the kind of loss of empathy and humanity found on social media.

Music saved me, not only writing music but consuming it as well.

What made you move from creating music for yourself to delivering your first live performance?

I performed a lot as like a little kid both through school and music academy which was familiar, safe and comfortable. Then we had lockdown, which was a devastating time for me, as it was for many people. I became a shell of who I used to be; I didn't feel like a person anymore, I was just existing.

Post-lockdown performance made me feel more like my old self, so I did an open mic night at a small pub. I was terrified as it was a completely different environment for me. People were a bit tipsy, no one was listening to the act who was on when I walked in, and for a moment I thought I'd made a terrible mistake. But I got up there and started playing and people went quiet and started listening. I ended my set on a song called Ragdoll which I wrote as a cry for freedom but now I sing because I am free. A few weeks later, I was lucky enough to have a performance reviewed in The Guardian.

How would you describe your new single City of Stars?

I think sonically I would describe it as cinematic; there's a big build up and it very much pulses throughout. Lyrically it's a journey; a journey of self-liberation from isolation, control and destructive relationships. There’s a metaphor of a tower throughout, representing the isolation and the control - a tower to keep me locked blindly away. The metaphor extends throughout as the lyrics describe the journey; even though the relationship is ending, the control and isolation lingers. It ends with the declaration that your tower is gone now but there in its place grows a flower to mark where you let me decay. So there will always be a scar under the new growth and beauty.

We all take lyrics and mould meanings around them into something that fits our own experience. That's another part of the beauty of music; its flexibility, its plasticity – the beauty of art is subjective but its meaning is also subject.

Ultimately, I'd like to leave the world a little better than when I found it; to make a positive impact and I feel like this is my way of doing that. I'm human and fallible but I hope that when I leave this world my memory will be a good one.

How did you go about creating City of Stars - do you start with the lyrics, or the melody, or are they a simultaneous creation?

So I wrote City of Stars during a Physics exam. I was not able to write anything down, or hum to myself, so I had to keep it all in my head. Afterwards, I ran to a piano as soon as I could, found the chords and melody and recorded it on my phone as a voice memo there and then. I often write in slightly odd places or when multi-tasking, which somehow helps me focus.

The lyrics generally come first but they have a tune attached to them depending on the overall meaning, the meaning of the words and how they're strung together. They intertwine with the melody. I try to make sense of it all and capture the core concepts and feeling of it. But creativity isn't just mine, it is also the listeners. As listeners or consumers, we all take lyrics and remould the meanings to our own narrative and experience.

What musical goals are you currently working towards?

My biggest immediate goal is my UK tour: The Unredacted Tour. I’m terrified but so excited too. I’ll be performing and taking my music to some venues that are completely new for me. I've got some more political music about the rise of fascism coming out soon and I’ll be releasing songs every eight weeks or so in the run up to the tour. Plus I’m planning to release the music from the Royal Albert Hall show.

What do you hope listeners take away from your music?
I hope that people connect with the music and that if a song isn’t something that they have thought about before I hope it evokes empathy and invites greater humanity as that can sometimes be drained out of us through desensitisation and echo chambers. I hope it changes some listeners’ views or at least makes them rethink. Changing somebody's mind is difficult but I believe in the good in most people. I think I would say everyone but not Donald Trump, sorry, not him, everyone else!

Catch Amity at his UK Unredacted Tour April/May 2026.