Amerie Is Passionate About Reading. So She Started a Book Club.
The Grammy-nominated multi-hyphenate and new mom shares her love of reading through social media
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At the turn of the millennium, a fresh, soulful, and versatile talent, Amerie set the music scene on fire — her debut single “Why Don’t We Fall in Love” quickly climbed the Billboard charts and became one of the hottest breakout songs of the early 2000s. On her second album, Touch, the standout, self-written single “1 Thing,” garnered critical acclaim in addition to its digital download snagging certified gold in ringtone releases. With its backdrop of go-go beats and sampling of the funk record, “Oh, Calcutta!” the singer-songwriter soon found herself a unique and sought-after talent in the industry.
In recent years, it might seem like the singer-songwriter faded from the limelight, but with subsequent studio albums and EPs, Amerie has also been very busy delving into other lifelong passions. She became a New York Times bestselling author (Because You Love to Hate Me), anthology contributor (A Phoenix Must Burn), and launched a popular YouTube lifestyle channel. In 2011, Amerie married Sony Music executive, LG Nicholson, and welcomed a son, River, in 2018. Last year, she launched Amerie’s Book Club — an interactive social media experience that illuminates how books can “capture our struggles, resilience, and eternal hopes.”
ZORA sat down with Amerie to discuss her book club, adjusting to life as a new-ish mom, what songs are in heavy rotation on her personal playlist, and merging all her life’s passions.
ZORA: You are the poster child for multi-passionate creatives. How did all of your interests come to be?
Amerie: I’ve always loved to sing and I also had such an intense love of the written word. I devoured books in grade school and even formed a writing club with a dear friend. It was a collaborative space where we created a graphic novel comic book series. As I got older and began focusing more on music, the love of reading and writing was there but I didn’t make it a priority — that was until I was on tour with Usher and Nas and someone sent a care package which included books. I couldn’t put the books down. I’ve been playing around the book club idea…
