When you’re in a lane all your own, there’s no traffic. And neo-soul crooner Anthony Hamilton is on cruise control.
From the church choir to touring the country hosting sold out concerts alongside fellow RCA label mate Fantasia, Hamilton has found the formula to a sound, stable career. Bright lights blazed in the singer’s Arie Crown Theater’s dressing room when The Source caught up with the Grammy Award winner on Wednesday, June 1.
From his debut album Comin From Where I’m From (2003), the North Carolina native describes what separates his latest effort What I’m Feelin’ from his previous projects.
“The three years difference! [laughs] But outside of that working with Mark Basin, we kept the cohesiveness in terms of the production, sound, mood and feeling- producers, engineers and writers. Harold Lily, Mark, Bruce Irving and I went in there with Eddy Kane and it was a tight niche.”
From “Charlene” (2003) to “The Point of it All” (2001), Hamilton is known for singing about love, loss and everything in between. It’s not hard to notice the southern charmer sings from experience, noting “having six kids, six boys” and “bought a four carat ring” as the craziest things he’s done in the name of love.
But don’t let his gentle spirit and sweet humbleness fool you. Electrifying, yet calmly vulnerable and introverted, Hamilton has perfected filtering old country soul with melodic down home tracks music lovers can both enjoy and relate to. Staying true to form and not compromising in an industry full of gimmicks and one-hot wonders, Hamilton is the same as he was ten years ago.
His lead single, “Amen,” a praise-worthy audio love note celebrating the beauty of woman, beyond her physical characteristics, gets back to the essence 90s R&B. Admitting the change in seasons of the R&B genre from the 90s/early 2000s to now, Hamilton says, “It’s a different time and the air is so different. People are different; [R&B] is more Hip Hop and pop driven, but every now and then you’ll get a good R&B song, like Tyrese, he’ll come through with a good one, or Tweet, Jazmine Sullivan and the new cats coming out Ro James, BJ The Chicago Kid; a good friend of mine, Anderson .Paak.”
Looking forward to closing out the tail end of the year on a high note, Hamilton isn’t finished: ” [I’m] working on new music for The Hamiltones and creating music for Shots Fired TV show. And hopefully I’ll be on Empire again. And I’m going to Europe and South Africa again this year and hopefully extend this tour.” We hope so Anthony, we hope so.
What I’m Feelin’ is available now on iTunes.
