Why Amira came out on top

I'm not going to repeat Amira's story. I've already covered various parts of it in over one hundred posts on this blog that were about her. The rest of her story is easily discoverable through dozens of documentaries and interviews online.

Lately I have been reading attacking comments about her on some new videos, along with the responses by fans defending her, and thinking about these conversations has led me to the thoughts I want to share here.

First I'm going to say something shocking. After hearing me out, anyone can go and check for themselves and see I speak the truth. At a mere 17 years old, Amira has emerged as the most popular young classical crossover voice in the world -- bar none.

I want to show that this is true, and then discuss what I think caused this phenomenon to occur. I also want to suggest that it is this fact that is partly the reason for so much negativity poured upon her by fans of other artists.

Fact: There are 70 videos on Youtube with Amira singing that have over a million views, many with over 20 million. There are ones on Facebook with over 100 million. Anyone can check this for themselves. These numbers continue to rise as older videos reach the million view mark. Her like vs. dislike ratio is also higher than any other contemporary classical singer. Hence not only does she have the most viewed videos, but people express their pleasure with those videos in greater numbers. There is no denying it. Amira is popular. A new video by her usually receives 30,000 views the first day.

Now try to find a single other classical cross-over singer under 50 years old that continues to get numbers close to that. You can't, because that person does not exist. I'll go over some of those who come close. Remember, I said under 50. Sarah Brightman (61 years old) has views in the numbers like Amira does today (when she's with Andrea Bocelli), but those videos were recorded 25 years ago. Here. Likewise, Lara Fabian (51), once the number 1 classical recording artist, is fading slowly and no longer receives those kinds of views on new videos. When it comes to people seeking a contemporary classical singer, recording today, people now turn to Amira.

A lot of my older friends are fans of Jackie Evancho, famous for being second place in the 2010 America's Got Talent competition. What they don't know is that Jackie Evancho long stopped being a classical crossover singer. The 21 year old soprano now sings rock and Joni Mitchel covers. The Mitchel song 'River' is so far outside of the traditional values of classical crossover, it literally conveys the wishes of a girl who wants to find a river so she can "skate away" from all those "songs of joy and peace." It is a counter-culture song, directed against all the things crossover came into existence to revitalize. In the official cover's 10 months on YouTube it still has not reached even 1 million views. Amira's Lord's Prayer, released just after it, reached a million views in half that time. We're going to get to why that is.

Here is a video by Jackie Evancho that took 2 years to reach it's current 10,000 views.

 

So what's going on? Why are people who are looking for classical crossover music watching Amira in greater numbers than anyone else in her generation? Many are millionaires (such as Jackie) and Amira is not. Part of the clue is in that. Watch this video where Bob Dylan talks about selling his soul. Even if this is a joke or a metaphor, ask yourself what Bob Dylan means it to represent. To me it is quite clear. He is dead serious. He sold part of himself long ago for success and fortune.

 

Amira is the only girl in her generation still singing positive Christian songs. And she is extremely open about her faith. A Christmas without an international Amira concert to usher in the season has become unthinkable to the millions of people who still hold these Christian values.

Amira has no corporate record label. She now records entirely under her own nonprofit foundation, Gelukskinders, formed in 2014 to help underprivileged children. She doesn't take one dime from the corporate borg.

Every other so-called classical singer in her generation forays into the cynical music of past counterculture, a movement that is quite dead. Amira has never ever fallen for that trap. She knows who she is and why she sings.

Elizabeth Tryon  

 Viva Trio  

Alexa Ray Joel  

I could go on and on. Amira is not just the most popular true traditional crossover singer in her generation, she is the only one left. Even Patricia Janečková, who began with so much fame and fan-fair, and was positively compared to Amira, after receiving classical training for opera, has finally re-emerged beyond reproach in her training and technique, but has no following left of any significance. Not only that, she is no longer technically classical crossover at all, but purely an opera singer. It impresses the opera snobs but no longer moves the hearts of millions as Amira does.

 

So what about these negative remarks about Amira's voice and technique I was talking about?

About two years ago, Amira's contract with her record label, Coleske Artists, expired. For several months we did not see her. She did no large live performances, and also she was protecting her voice during a particularly sensitive time of puberty. In December 2019 she briefly emerged to give a series of Christmas concerts in Europe. And then, returning to her current home in South Africa, Covid struck.

This was a terrible time for all performers, even very successful ones, but it was especially difficult for Amira. Finding herself with no label, no manager, and home-bound, she bided her time and (in her own words later) prayed continually. 

Then something amazing happened that could have only happened to Amira. Over the years Amira had made many close professional friends. She continues to be extremely well-liked and respected in the South African music industry. Notable among these professional contacts was a professor of classical and jazz piano, Charl Du Plessis. They had first met years earlier in Switzerland, and he had even worked in the technical and arrangement staff on her third album in Prague. 

So when Amira called upon Charl to ask what her prospects might be, he immediately came to help her. Under his extremely capable direction Amira made two streaming shows under lockdown before Christmas. These were recorded in Africa in September and November 2020. 

Amira and Charl on the set of her first streaming concert, "This is My Dream."

Now recently these performances, collectively called Amira Streaming Shows of 2020, were released publicly on DVD and USB. The shows are an incredible and unprecedented accomplishment, representing 18 previously unrecorded songs by Amira. 

A certain portion of these songs, about 5, have been released on YouTube. And here is where there has been some criticism, either by opera snobs or jealous fans of other musicians who have been less fortunate. While the overwhelming response has been joyful exuberance and effusive complements, these trolls have noticeably stuck out, prompting a lot of response in her defense. I won't go into the details of these arguments, except to say that even the cruelest tend to reveal in a backhanded way just what a force to be contended with Amira has emerged as. For she is compared to women many times her age. And those who have gone and looked at these other recordings have found they are nowhere as popular as her new versions of the same songs, and often not as good when listened to objectively. 

Anyway, it was due to my interest in engaging in some of these discussions and reading what others had to say that I got the thought to complain to Amira's official website about a particularly abusive troll. Usually such queries to Amira's organization are met with professional staff who work for her nonprofit. Yet in this one instance, I was amazed to receive a personal reply directly from Amira herself. This is what she wrote to me. I share this because it says so much about Amira that I can't put into words: her incredible courage and strong backbone, her sincere spiritual faith, and her understanding of who she is and even, in her own words, why these people ought to be expected to respond in this way. Also, to my delight, instead of reprimanding me for my concern, she thanked me for my sticking up for her. 

Dear Mr Ott,

I want to thank you a lot for contacting me with the information of abusive comments on one of my songs. My father will try and remove such comments. I appreciate it a lot that you are protecting my music, my other fans as well as myself😊 these types of comments you've found will always keep recurring, but I won't let it affect me in a negative way, as long as other people keep enjoying my music, the other opinions don't matter at all. I am aware that with the talent I've received from God, these negative aspects will come along. That's why I am especially thankful for people like you that try and protect my talent.

I hope you can continue to enjoy my music along the way and thank you for your support.🌺

Much love,

Amira🐢

So it is Amira herself who put into words what it is about her music that these people feel so threatened by. "I am aware that with the talent I've received from God, these negative aspects will come along." Amira has said in many interviews that she believes her talent is a gift from God. And she speaks constantly of the power of prayer. She has enough spiritual wisdom to know that such light attracts darkness, and it is to be expected and forgiven. 

Even in her most recent video release of two days ago, she speaks of prayer.

 

She speaks of her talent as a gift from God here.

 

So I repeat what I set out to show in this post: At a mere 17 years old, Amira has emerged as the most popular young classical crossover voice in the world. All other comparisons are either of much older recordings by much older singers, or are by singers who are not really part of the classical crossover genre at all, but have begun to sell themselves for fame and financial success - willing to do whatever that takes. Amira does not compromise either her faith or her choice of songs, and this is what really outrages her competition, not her slight imperfection in technique that she has often admitted to.

Anyone who has read comments under Amira's videos has seen her voice and personality compared to an angel, and it is very often said of her that she was sent by God for a particular mission. I think Amira is personally aware of what that mission is. She is the stalwart for holding the line for Christian tradition in music. Her mascot, the shelled tortoise, represents the slowness at which she works and the protective shell against external unwanted abuse. And like the Tortoise and the Hair, Amira is once again coming in first place.