Video: Willa Amai, ‘Not a Soldier’

Kevin Bronson on April 9th, 2021

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Go ahead and trust 16-year-olds who dispense wisdom on the vagaries of love at your own peril … unless, of course, you happen to be 16. Or unless that teenager is nascent pop singer Willa Amai.

Amai today released the video for her new single, “Not a Soldier,” the latest dispatch in the run-up to her debut album, arriving in June. The song, Amai says, “is for anyone who has had to come to the acceptance that love is, for better or for worse, out of our control. But I think more than that, it’s a reminder that this lack of control is what makes love so worthwhile.”

The video was directed by Amanda Demme (who also did the visuals for last fall’s single “Unorganized Crime”), and the song was made with Linda Perry, the musician/producer/label-management impresario who has mentored and championed the young artist since she was 12 years old. At 14, Amai, the daughter of movie executive Adam Fogelson, impressed by teaming up with Dolly Parton on a version of “Here You Come Again” for a film soundtrack, and she’s performed with Brandi Carlile, too.

For her part, Perry says she is letting her protégé evolve organically and work through her own battles. Despite what Amai professes in her latest plaintive ballad, she might be up for the fight.

||| Watch: The video for “Not a Soldier”