From Geneva, Switzerland to BIMM Berlin, Amanda Martin is the newest addition to our Who What Why feature.
WHO are you listening to at the moment?
I’m currently listening to a lot of music with smooth, pop-rock and electro vibes, such as Portishead and Massive Attack. This is a big change for me, as I used to listen to a lot of blues. Berlin inspired this change; this city is full of electronic music and complex sounds, which is very different to the blues where the format is already kind of decided. So I thought I’d explore that genre – I didn’t want to listen to full-on ‘electronic music’; I still wanted it to be a little poppy and rocky, so that’s why I chose the artists mentioned. For me they reflect that, and still keep it a little electro.
WHAT do you love about Berlin?
I love that in Berlin everybody’s doing their own thing; it’s not about fitting in with one group – you can express your own identity and personality. There’s always a million different things going on for you to choose from, so you don’t need to do the same as everybody else.
I love the fact that it’s a big city but it’s not overcrowded with people; it has calm and green spaces, which I wasn’t expecting. I couldn’t live in London, for example, because it’s much greyer than Berlin, and without all of the vast forests, parks and lakes which we have here.
WHY Vocals?
I had a friend that studied at BIMM London and loved it. When I heard about this popular music school, I was really impressed because in Switzerland it’s all about conservatory, classical and jazz music – there’s no such thing as popular music studies. So when I found out that at BIMM you don’t need to pick just one genre – you can do every kind of genre – I felt like it was the place for me. I learned that they had a campus in Berlin, and I felt like it was perfect timing – a city that I love with a course that I was passionate about… it all came together well.
