PREMIERE: Amanda Sum Blends Man & Machine On Debut Single “Groupthink”
Self-described “dabbler” of the arts, Vancouver artist Amanda Sum pivots between music, theatre, and dance, intersecting her multi-disciplinary background in as many ways as possible. With credits primarily in the Vancouver theatre scene, Sum has honed in on her musical side, and has officially made her debut with “Groupthink”, a song she explains is about the relationship between humans and machinery – a relationship surprisingly more similar than you’d expect.
After a nerve test allowed Sum to hear the inside of her body, she was inspired to write about the connection between man and machine. “They stuck a needle inside my leg and I could hear the inside of my body. Very trippy...I was lying in bed one night and a car drove by, and it sounded exactly like the inside of my body”.
With that comparison, she sings “Press one when you think that you, too cannot disagree / press three when you don’t think the same but don’t say you don’t think the same you’re a machine” turning tongue twisters into catchy melodies.
Sharing similarities to Hayley Blais, Hannah Georgas, and her childhood influences of Fleetwood Mac and Anne Murray, “Groupthink” is rounded out by Sum’s rich, warm voice and playful lyrics as she blends together indie pop, art-pop, and warm, singer-songwriter tones. It’s a carefully crafted track that makes room for enjoyable pop hooks and also insightful reflection about societal norms and falling into formation.
Featuring an all-female musical line-up, and female-dominated production team, the accompanying music video depicts a more personal connection to breaking free from societal norms and expectations for Sum. Wearing traditional cheongsam dresses, she guides her friends to a new paradigm with candy and crazy coats.
Enjoy the music video below.
As well, I spoke with Amanda about her debut single and the aforementioned cultural and societal differences, and you can read the interview just past.
Interview With Amanda Sum:
Kane W: Congratulations on ‘Groupthink’! How do you feel about the debut?
Amanda S: It’s very exciting, but it’s scary too. I feel very nervous, but I’m grateful to feel nervous because I think if I don’t feel that then the work isn’t testing me enough. It’s a good, giddy thing to feel, “maybe it’s testing me, and it’s challenging me”, and it’s fruitful to be doing something that people can say “I love it” or “I hate it”.
KW: Have you always wanted to have a career in music?
AS: I wasn’t gifted with knowing what I wanted to do. Music was always a side thing, and only kind of recently is it more focused. Through high school, I was doing piano lessons, band and jazz choir, but I was always more drawn to theatre. And so, I ended up studying theatre, but was doing my own music thing on the side.
KW: How do you find the differences between music and your other disciplines?
AS: It’s been a learning thing – in theatre, it’s so much about the process, and valuing that over the product. But for music, we’re making a “thing” and it’s the product. I wanted to bring that practice from theatre to my music.
KW: Tell us about ‘Groupthink’.
AS: The preliminary idea is equating humans to machinery and this mechanic sense. It was an awakening for me when I was getting some nerve tests done recently. They stuck a needle inside my leg and I could hear the inside of my body. Very trippy.
KW: Whoa. That must be hard to explain.
AS: It’s just constant movement. You kind of know your body is constantly moving, but to hear the flow….It’s so strange. Anyways, I had that awakening and I was lying in bed one night and a car drove by, and it sounded exactly like the inside of my body.
KW: Oh cool!
AS: That’s kind of the first few lyrics in “Groupthink”.
KW: I’m never going to be able to think about my body the same way again. That’s so weird to think about.
AS: Yeah! So then I was like, the human body, internally, is truly like a machine and all these little parts are working together to make us function. But then, how externally, how we’re socialized and programmed how to think or act a certain way. That is where the song came from; trying to target how sometimes I conform to ideas or norms, but how do I confront them, in broad ways or more specific ways. Like how I never understood why high heel sneakers started trending, but I just accepted it. (Laughs)
KW: Do you think there are pressures to conform to tradition and expectations growing up that you’re aware of now as an adult?
AS: I think just inherently, there’s so many. The video touches on it as a cultural thing, but the song is a bit more broad. Culturally, theses stereotypes and boxes that are set out to say, “these meek submissive Asian girls are used to people speaking for them”. But how do we break out of that or how do we say that we think differently? Growing up, I fed into that, and I went along with this bubbly thing where I’d just accept anything as the right answer. Now, I think, let me analyze and interrogate these thoughts that I have if they differ from someone else’s and figure out how to express that.
KW: That’s certainly something you learn the rest of your life. In terms of the video, half way through you and your friends take little “White Rabbit” candies. What do those symbolize?
AS: [The director] Mayumi Yoshida and I talked about it a lot. Once we take it, it acts as this drug almost like a cultural awakening. You can tell in the movements how we go from more mechanical rigidness, to a more liberated, rebel stage as we call it. Those candies are symbols of childhood for a lot of Asian kids, but at the end they get burned. For me, it acknowledges the culture and how to break free of the restrictions. Like in the cheongsam dresses that are known to be very restricting. I like that it can read in different ways too. It gets burned into this very white cake…it’s almost like assimilating into this sort of “White world”, and how we perform “White” every day.
KW: Do you find that’s a big thing in Vancouver. That assimilation, act “White” lifestyle; is that something you’ve had to deal with growing up there?
AS: It’s not a conscious thing all the time, at least not often. When I talk to my White friends, I act different than when I’m with my Asian friends, but it’s not me being like “oh I need to turn on my White switch”. It’s a subconscious thing. But it’s really poignant and apparent in theatre, when I’ll go for a role because they’re looking for an Asian woman, otherwise I don’t actually think I’m in the running if they’re not looking for that. So I put on my “westernized” self. It’s the social masking to get work and to survive. It’s tricky and complex.
KW: Do you think it’s improving?
AS: I think we’re working towards something more inclusive, but there’s still a lot of work to do. But I also feel as though it comes from little nobodies like me. If I have a chance to put together my own team, I’m going to use that opportunity to champion others like me, and to not perpetuate the unbalanced systems that we’re all used to.
KW: I know you worked with an all-female lineup for the song, and same the thing with the video for the most part. You’re definitely making an effort to include as many unsung heroes. It sounds like it’s a very intentional thing instead of being a coincidence of your surroundings.
AS: Yeah, definitely intentional. For many other projects, I was the only woman or person of colour, woman of colour, or only 20-something. In those cases, it’s either two things: one, you look around and think “my opinion really doesn’t matter” or “my opinion really matters, and there’s a pressure to perform and prove something”. I wanted to create a space and curate a team where that feeling couldn’t occur for the people who I trust. They’re very skilful, but I wanted a team where tokenism didn’t happen in the extent that I experienced it – I didn’t want to be at the helm of that.
I think it reflects the song itself too. I didn’t want to be singing about conforming to a social norm while the process of it was me conforming to a social norm.
KW: It’s great that people are becoming more conscious of that.
AS: Yeah, that feels really good.
KW: In the second half of the video, when you guys are more “free-spirited”, how much of that is you? It seemed very organic and free.
AS: When I choreographed the movement in the dance sections, I just wanted it to be more loose, but the failure to skateboard or just dancing around, that was just us.
KW: I know you’ve described yourself as “odd” and “quirky”. It’s great when a bit of the artist can come out in the music they make. Is that something you want to move forward with in your musical endeavours?
AS: I think I am a silly person, but the music and art I wanted to make is more weighted. But how do I bring it to be less so “ugh, let’s talk about confronting social norms”, but to say “oh, this is an everyday thing. How do we bring attention to the mundaneness, to steer away from the ‘I feel sorry for them’ or ‘let’s really empower these girls and tell them they’re enough’. That anthemic thing, it’s not that it’s not important, but it’s not my main interest. I just want to highlight that that’s all we know. That’s our experience.
In terms of the silliness, dorkiness, I think I’m pretty insecure. (Laughs) One time, a professor told me that my geekiness and awkwardness works for me and that really let me own that. Before, I was insecure about my geekiness. Now I just embrace it.
KW: I think more people need to embrace that free-spirited side. I also find it to be a good filter. Keeps the so-called haters away and brings in more interesting people in your life.
AS: It’s an important thing to be able to stand by your work and also to stand by how you present it. I think the video has fun little bits, but it’s more serious than my goofy little trailers I make on Instagram. I’ll still kind of present it as “ahh..here it is!” but maybe it’s a lesson on self worth that I still need to figure out. (Laughs)
KW: I’m sure that will come with time.
Speaking of silly, what is the meaning behind the line “Never really got how we went from Muppets to madness”? Is that about growing up?
AS: Definitely about growing up, yes! More specifically that notion of the tantrum. When you’re a kid and you don’t like something, you can point at it and say you don’t like it. When we grow up, we take into account other feelings and perspectives, which is very important, but that specific line is me questioning when we lose that sense of just stating it how it is. I find now, if I don’t like something, I go through a process of thinking “is it worth me voicing this opinion? If yes, how do I voice this without hurting someone else? Then, how do I voice this without coming across as judgemental or rude?”. Good questions to have, but sometimes I just grieve the utter bluntness of a childhood tantrum.
KW: It’s a great sound, I’m very impressed with the new single. Are you starting to plan for what’s next?
AS: I have two more that I recorded that I’ll release as singles. And one of those two might have a video as well, depending on funding. And then, I have an album that I have written and that I’m arranging instrumentation for.
This is all so new and I’m okay with taking things slow. It’s so cool that this is my first thing out, but in my brain there’s more to come.
KW: Have you figured out a song writing process or system?
It changes. This isolation time has been fruitful for it. But I like to write alone. For these first 3 singles coming out, I would draft the arrangements, and then present to my producer Emily Millard and then she’ll give me notes. This first venture into it was a mentorship thing because I didn’t know much. But now moving on to more, I have more of a knowledge on how to do it by myself and then ask for help after.
KW: What was the mentorship program?
It was through Creative B.C. They did a demo grant for under-represented artists and you apply for it with a producer. I applied with Emily; we had sung together and I asked her if she wanted to do it with me. Emily was so supportive of me and also let me learn a lot on my own so that now I feel a lot more confident. She wasn’t super directorial about how the song should be, but just gave notes about the shape of it, and how it comes across and always asked me “what are you saying?” which really helped.
