Sarah Itamah is an exploratory musician who draws inspiration from the likes of Lauryn Hill, Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, Sinach, and Foxy Brown. Intertwining the sounds of Rap, RnB, Soul, and the soothing tones of Gospel, Sarah Itamah is born.
It’s not surprising that Sarah incorporates Lauyrn Hill into her sound, as she’s one of her biggest inspirations. Sarah labels her “a modern-day Plato.” Additionally, another one of her inspirations is her dad, him and her family. Sarah avoids boxing herself into any genre. She’s still finding herself and her sound. As an Edo woman, one thing she loves to do is observe people. Sarah states,
“I enjoy watching. I love figuring things out whether it’s a subject, or a person, or maybe even a puzzle. The satisfaction is unmatched. Maybe that is my driving force- also kinda my fatal flaw.”
Asides from this curiosity about people and the world, Sarah enjoys being outdoors, being amongst friends, and more importantly, food. This trifecta of interest are her beloved pastimes, other than music.
In terms of music, Sarah has many thoughts about music and her relationship to it. She understands it as therapy; it allows her to reflect on herself and her personhood while affirming who she is. It has been the only unceasing thing in her life. Staying present and allowing her to feel comfortable in it. Therefore, she decided to dedicate her life to it to show gratitude.
She recalls having written certain songs in the past, whereby the lyrics apply to an exact situation she is presently going through. Reminding her that everything she needs is within her. Moreover, she wants her music to send a feeling to others. The feeling that everything will be okay. Even when it doesn’t seem so.
Conversely, her music isn’t meant to be deep; it’s merely meant to put a smile on the listeners’ faces. Making you realize that we are all going through the same things, whether it’s funny, sad, silly or another relatable struggle. A lot of the time, she grapples with releasing music because of how personal it is. Baring herself like that for everyone to see. However, she’s reminded of what she might do for someone else.
Moreover, her care for life and living through it is evident in her creation process. She cites the core of her creation is her experiences. Impulsively jotting down a response to whatever she encounters to transform into music. She usually starts creating a track with the beat, then lyrics. After having the lyrics down, she’ll edit the beat to write more, a repeating cycle.
After learning so much about Sarah Itamah, it’s exciting to know she just released her debut EP, “Nomacrisis” on November 11th. A project within which she incorporated sound theory into her music. Utilizing the concepts of Fibonacci sequence and Theta/Delta frequencies. Check it out on all streaming platforms!
Sarah’s Instagram handle is @sarahitamah, while her Twitter handle is @sarah_itamah.
All pictures were taken by Delali Cofie (@delali.cofie) and the album art was edited by Dami Babe Ajayi (@onlytheinspired.survive).
