Working with The GAP’s Individual Shine campaign, singer and songwriter Willa Amai recently released her new music video for her song “Blow By” to spread a message of optimism and inclusion. This campaign acts as a catalyst that “amplifies the voices of a distinct and diverse cast that better represents all of us.” Alongside working as a musician, Amai is an advocate for mental health, utilizing this campaign’s platform to spread a message for good.
Through the medium of music, feeling of optimism and hope are able to become abstracted and by extension, more accesible to a larger audience. This is at the core of Amai’s mission as a musician. She talked with GRAZIA about this campaign, her role as a musician in the greater conversation of mental health and the importance of inclusion, intersectionality and diversity.
What made you decide to become a part of The INDIVIDUALS campaign? And what does modern American optimism mean to you?
Becoming a part of the INDIVIDUALS campaign was a no-brainer to me; encouraging activism and individuality has been a core pillar of my career since day one. Knowing that I would get the opportunity to talk about mental health and music on a platform as large as Gap’s was a dream come true, and I can’t thank the team and the company enough for making it happen.
Through the medium of music, oftentimes feelings of optimism can come forward easier than with words. Do you find music to be an easier medium to express the message of something like The INDIVIDUALS?
I definitely think music can provide a way to be even more articulate with feelings of optimism, or any feelings for that matter. Words are incredibly useful and I love words, but intertwining music with those words provides so many other dimensions to the emotion you’re trying to convey that I’ve found it has always been the more appealing option to me. It’s my way of expressing myself in the truest form, and I love it!
This campaign is very centered around diversity, intersectionality, and inclusion, what do these values mean to you?
These values are immensely important to me. Growing up in a city like L.A. with so much diversity around me, I’ve always understood the importance of these words. As I’ve grown, though, I’ve had the experience I think every young person has in which their eyes are opened to the realities of systematic oppression and marginalization in a way that forces them to internalize it in a way they hadn’t before. I think diversity is the foundation of everything that makes being human beautiful, and celebrating it has always been important, but I think now more than ever people need to be able to see real human beings they can relate to on their screens.
