Daily Inspiration: Meet Teo Amari

Today we’d like to introduce you to Teo Amari.

Hi Teo, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in London, Ontario, Canada. I got started making music when I was around 10. My brother got me FL Studio and I would just spend hours messing around on it. At that time I was obsessed with electronic dance music, and wanted to learn how it was made, so I spent hours on YouTube, watching tutorials and digging on forums to learn as much as I could. By the time I was 16, I was djing at local bars in my hometown, and opening up for bigger acts. Eventually I got flown out to Los Angeles by another DJ to work on music. He had a studio in Downey at the time and that trip was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. For the first time ever I was in a real studio. I was around other musicians and creatives who loved making music just as much as I did. I wasn’t making music alone in my bedroom anymore, and that was a crazy feeling. Long story short, I made dance music for around 6-7 years before I switched to rnb/hiphop. I felt like something was missing, I realized that the dance music I was making wasn’t satisfying me creatively. I started to write my own songs, about my own experiences, and my own life. And instead of music with just synthesizers, it finally felt like my songs had something more to them. I started going back to my roots, and remembered what I had listened to growing up. I have two older brothers and they would always be playing 2pac, 50 cent, Fabulous, Neyo, and Akon around the house. Those were my earliest memories of music. That’s how I transitioned into the music I make today.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Definitely not. But nothing that’s worth it is ever easy. People don’t understand the sacrifices you need to make in order to even give yourself a shot at this. But I also think you have to pick what you want to sacrifice. Whether thats a social life, time or money. In my case I feel like I’ve sacrificed almost everything haha. Skipping parties when I was younger because I was DJing every weekend, to now sacrificing basically any existence of a love life. I’m too committed to this to let anything else weigh me down, and I think that’s been an internal battle I’ve always had. Sometimes that 9-5 life, where you settle down with a girl and everyday after work you go home to her seems nice, but I know deep down that wouldn’t make me happy. Sacrificing time away from friends/loved ones is real too. Even now I haven’t been home in over 6 months, because I know here in LA is better for networking. One day I’m going to be able to have my friends/family with me wherever I go, and I can’t wait for that. There’s going to be ups and downs no matter what you do in life, but I would say don’t ever get too high and don’t ever get too low.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m an artist, producer, writer, and engineer. But really I’m just a fan of music. I’m just here to tell my story and express myself in the best way I know how. I started off producing, then started writing, then started engineering, and then I became my own artist. I also do freelance work as well, where I do any of the above for others as well. That’s been a whole journey itself, but at the end of the day I make music for me. It’s therapy for me. Some people always ask “are you going to be making music when you’re 70?” and my answer is always yes…..music and life go hand in hand for me. When I live life and experience ups and downs, I write about it. Sometimes the best way for me to express how I feel is through music. I don’t need to have a conversation with anyone else, and I don’t have to worry about what other people think. Just me and my own thoughts. What sets me apart from others is that I’m me. We’re all unique and different in our own ways, and so if you’re always being yourself, you’re already setting yourself apart from the rest.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I’ve never read a book in my life honestly hahaha. I do love YouTube videos, and I always joke around and say I graduated from YouTube university. But I really learned almost everything from YouTube. Nowadays twitch is becoming a great way to learn as well. I remember during COVID, a couple of my favourite mixing engineers started streaming. I would watch them everyday and they would take you through their whole session, and show you how they mix an entire track. That’s something I never had when I was younger, so it’s great that it’s available to the younger generation now. I get inspired by everything though, I think it’s important to have a mental diet as well. We all know if you want to get in peak physical shape you need to eat healthy, and workout. But I think people don’t talk about your mental diet enough. What are you feeding your brain? What are you watching? What are you listening to? It’s important because what you feed your brain can effect how you feel about yourself

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teoamari/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TeoAmari
• Soundcloud: https://music.apple.com/ca/artist/teo-amari/1622688571
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/42hj4ymUCrMBjhahncgDvi?si=NCmCwbbhRtOyJqLB3huNcw

Image Credits
Kidustookthis
Harrison Wayne