Get to Know: Ambré

Photo Credits: Nate Guenther

Ambré has always existed somewhere between different creative worlds. Born and raised in New Orleans, she grew up surrounded by the city's unmistakable musical culture, but her own creative ambitions originally extended far beyond music. Today, she is a Grammy-winning songwriter, producer and artist whose work moves between R&B, soul, blues and alternative sounds without feeling tied to one category.

Her debut album PEYOTE is perhaps the clearest expression of that freedom so far. Built around an “acid-western” concept inspired by New Orleans, psychedelia and the transformative journey associated with peyote, the album brings together heartbreak, healing, vulnerability, desire and self-discovery while creating a world that feels entirely her own.

Long before she was creating albums, music was simply part of everyday life in New Orleans. Some of Ambré's earliest recollections are of second lines at funerals, weddings and birthdays, where live music could transform an ordinary gathering into an emotional celebration.

“We take the party outside,” she explains. Being part of the church choir, school choir and marching band gave her extra opportunities to perform, but despite being surrounded by music, Ambré didn't initially foresee herself developing a career as an artist.

"I wanted to be a director" when she was a teenager. She participated in the film club at her school and intended to go to Vancouver for film school once she graduated. Her upbringing was marked by a drive to create rather than music per se, as she was also drawn to drawing and other artistic endeavours.

After graduating, she embarked on a tour, which altered her original plan and made it difficult for her to pursue her dream of attending film school. Over time, music emerged as a platform for her artistic pursuits. In addition to being self-taught in composition, production, singing, and instruments, Ambré approaches new abilities with the same curiosity that she applied to her other artistic pursuits.

“I just think I can learn anything,” she explains.

Photo Credits: Nate Guenther

Whether it’s learning guitar or figuring out something she couldn’t afford to outsource, her instinct is to research and teach herself what she needs, a mindset she considers one of her biggest gifts.

Growing up in New Orleans has also influenced the way she thinks about creativity. While the city's soul, blues and jazz traditions naturally became part of her musical foundation, Ambré believes the deeper influence is cultural.

New Orleans is a city built around its history, and that has made her someone who naturally wants to dig deeper. Before putting a project into the world, she finds herself researching its references and influences, wanting to understand the context behind what she is creating.

At the same time, travelling has given her a different perspective on home. “Going and travelling in the world and seeing other places makes me appreciate New Orleans a lot more,” she says. That distance has allowed her to recognise what she loves about the city while deciding which parts she wants to carry with her.

That same sense of evolution is apparent when she looks back at her early music. Listening to those releases now, she hears “a young naive little girl.” While she appreciates the experiences that shaped her, she is also conscious of how much she has changed. Even music from a year ago can make her hear things she would approach differently now .

That evolution happened alongside years of songwriting and producing for other artists. Working behind the scenes allowed her to learn different creative processes while developing her own instincts. Her catalogue now includes more than 90 songwriting credits, including work with H.E.R. and Kehlani, as well as a GRAMMY win as a co-writer.

Rather than seeing songwriting for others and her own career as separate paths, Ambré sees them as experiences that developed alongside each other. Writing taught her how to balance taking your time with not sitting on something for too long, while also teaching her how to collaborate and remain open to new energy.

That understanding has become particularly important as she has stepped further into her own identity as an artist. For a long time, Ambré describes herself as being very closed off and to herself. Now, she feels increasingly comfortable standing behind what she likes, what she wants and who she believes she is.

“I feel like I could be in the front because I'm more confident in who I want to be.”

That confidence sits at the centre of PEYOTE, her first full-length album after years of EPs, mixtapes and collaborations.

The project came together during a period when Ambré was navigating changes in both her personal life and career. Rather than simply creating another collection of songs, she asked herself if this were the last album she made, what would she want to say? “I need to say everything I want to say,” she says.

That became the guiding principle for the project. The “acid-western” concept developed from Ambré's interest in Western films and her research into peyote. Learning that the plant can take decades to mature gave her a metaphor for her own journey and the idea of growth over time.

From there, she began connecting the desert setting with New Orleans, imagining a landscape that brought together two seemingly opposite worlds.

“I have an opportunity to kind of make my own movie,” she says.

That cinematic approach also allowed Ambré to experiment with sound. Influences from Pink Floyd, Tame Impala, The Beatles and OutKast shaped her desire to explore alternative textures, while the album's concept gave those ideas a place to live.

Banjo, guitar and blues influences sit alongside R&B and psychedelic elements, creating a project that feels cohesive without being confined to one sound.

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If someone had never heard Ambré before, there are three songs she would use to introduce them: “Mona Lisa,” “The Art of Letting Go” and “Pote” “Mona Lisa” shows the more upbeat, trippy side of the project, while “The Art of Letting Go” leans into its emotional core. “Pote” brings another dimension to her range, with all three existing within the same world while sounding distinctly different.

That emotional range is important because PEYOTE is ultimately rooted in personal experience. Heartbreak, healing, vulnerability and self-discovery run throughout the album, with songwriting becoming one of the ways Ambré processes what she is experiencing.

“I feel like making the album helped me work through all of my feelings,” she says.

One of the biggest lessons she explored was letting go of perfectionism. “The Art of Letting Go” became more than an album title; it reflected the process of releasing her attachment to doing everything perfectly and learning when to let things exist.

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That willingness to let go also extends to collaboration.

Ambré has worked with artists including serpentwithfeet, DESTIN CONRAD and CARI, but for her, creative chemistry is less about status and more about an immediate connection.

Sometimes it is as simple as meeting someone for the first time and instantly understanding their humour, energy or way of thinking.

“I guess it's just you feel the energy,” she says.

She particularly enjoys discovering what other artists have been listening to, learning new techniques and being introduced to new ideas. For her, collaboration creates a sense of community.

There are still artists she hopes to work with, including artists like Steve Lacy.

Away from the studio, Ambré is preparing to bring PEYOTE to the stage, with European dates alongside Khamari next week, including shows in Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne, Berlin and London. 

The run includes Le Trianon, Paradiso, Bürgerhaus Stollwerck, Metropol and Hackney Church, with Paradiso and one of the Hackney Church shows already sold out.

Rather than focusing on the idea of being the centre of attention, she is concentrating on becoming the strongest performer she can be. She has been working on her musicianship and preparing herself to feel freer onstage.

Her goal is to reach a point where she is no longer thinking about every movement or detail, but can simply be present in the performance.

“I’m excited to put on the best show that I've ever put on.”

The remainder of her career is driven by the same yearning for independence. Ambré is not interested in neatly fitting into a single genre. Instead of letting themselves be categorised, the musicians she admires, like as André 3000 and Frank Ocean, have built their careers around following a feeling.

For Ambré, creativity needs room to stretch and move. “If I tried to fit it in one thing, it wouldn't make sense.”

Ultimately, that freedom is also what she hopes to represent. When people look back on her career, she wants to be remembered for excellence and authenticity, but also for being a little bit different. “I really want to kind of represent for the weirdos,” she says.

For an artist who has never taken a single straight road, that might be the ideal description. Ambré, a self-taught musician, Grammy-winning songwriter, and now full-length recording artist, has created her career by pursuing her curiosity wherever it leads. She was once a New Orleans teenager who aspired to be a film director.

Through PEYOTE, Ambré is creating a space for all of those versions of herself to exist at once, while making room for anyone else who has ever felt like they don't quite fit the mould.

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