Pennsylvanian-born Amber Nadine began singing and songwriting in her teens and hasn’t looked back. From piano ballads to upbeat acoustic guitar numbers, Amber presents her stories of life, love and faith with undeniable, evocative emotion in her voice.
Amber’s desire is to honestly share her experiences through song with perspective and heart that leaves listeners feeling hopeful in difficult times.
In the fall of 2020, Amber released her first single, Left Off. A bubbly acoustic pop song about reuniting with a lover at a party. She followed that up with her single Rooftop in February of 2021, which was nominated for Pop/Contemporary Female Song of the Year at the 2021 Josie Music Awards. That fall she released her third single Pretty Things Die Too along with a music video. After parting ways with her producer, rather than looking for a new one she decided to dive into that world on her own which led her to releasing her first self-produced single in May of 2022, Lilac. She took to producing quickly and released her second self-produced single, Fun Drunk on July 29th of 2022. She was also nominated for Best Female Solo Artist at the 2022 Central Pennsylvania Music Awards.
When Amber isn’t busy working on her music she enjoys spending time with her parents, going on hikes with her boyfriend and spoiling her cat, Mooncake.
We caught up with Amber to talk about all things music, inspiration and her single “Snowglobe”
Bridge: Tell our readers about yourself…
Amber: Hello! My name is Amber Nadine and I’m a singer/songwriter from Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. I’m obsessed with the color purple (the actual color, not the movie), Gilmore Girls and anything cute and fuzzy (i.e. cats, guinea pigs, dogs, my boyfriend… he has a lot of gorgeous hair, okay?)
Anyway, my mom says I was born singing and I have no doubts about that. Singing has always been like my favorite thing so it makes sense that I’ve been doing it since the beginning of my existence. When I was a little girl, I used to sing karaoke outside at all of my family’s pool parties. My dad was always encouraging me so he bought me a karaoke machine and built a little stage for me and I used it constantly.
That was just the start of my transformation into an entertainer. I took dance classes and got involved in community theater (for 12 years) and even went down to Atlanta and did a little bit of background acting in films (my favorite time being when my mom and I were dead bodies in a basement where Samuel L. Jackson kicked my foot to see if I was still alive and John Cusack took a gun out of my mom’s hand). While all of that was super fun and I’m glad I did it, music was my true calling.
When I was 12 my cousin gave me the Fearless album by Taylor Swift for Christmas and I instantly was hooked! So hooked that I took guitar lessons for 3 months, then quit. It didn’t quite click for me right away. I practiced off and on for the rest of my school years, but when I graduated high school was when I really picked it back up. My first boyfriend had broken up with me and I couldn’t do anything but cry and write. I think I wrote about 60-100 songs that year… only like five of them were good though. But I quickly learned that writing is my therapy. I haven’t gotten through a hard time since then without writing and now, here I am! It’s been quite the journey and I’ve loved every minute of it!
There was another local artist who was starting to become pretty famous in the area during the time that I began writing. Her name is Olivia Farabaugh. Some of you may know her. When I heard that she was performing locally I was like wait… I can actually do this?? As my job?? I was so excited and to this day I’m so thankful for Olivia because if she hadn’t have been doing her thing I wouldn’t have known that I could do mine!
Olivia was my inspiration for doing live shows locally and making my music more than just a hobby, but Taylor Swift and Hilary Duff have always been my inspiration when it comes to singing and songwriting. I mean who doesn’t wanna “Wake up on a Saturday night” to Hilary’s vocals or scream “maybe we got lost in translation, maybe asked for too much” at the top of their lungs in their car while sobbing because the boy of your dreams doesn’t love you… yes. I’m speaking from experience. I’m good now though I promise!! 🙂
Bridge: You have self-produced two singles already this year! Where did you learn to produce music?
Amber: So, I would definitely say that I am still learning how to produce music, but there is this lovely human by the name of Kris Bradley who has a business called Produce Like A Boss. I just joined her Home Studio Boss online course on Halloween and it is absolutely incredible. Before joining her course I took advantage of a lot of her free stuff like her podcast and YouTube channel. Anything that she didn’t teach on there I would consult Professor Google on, but that became super time consuming and honestly, not quite everyone is as bubbly and enjoyable/inspiring to listen to as Kris is so it wasn’t as fun! That was why I decided to invest in my career further and I’m so glad I did! It’s only been a month and I’ve learned SO much I can barely keep it all in my brain!
Bridge: What is the process like for you when you produce your music?
Amber: I have years worth of songs just waiting to be created so I mean the producing end of it kind of always starts with a fully written song. I hear in my head the way I want it to sound it’s just kind of challenging to get it all out that way. Usually for me it helps to start out with a drum track so that I have something to keep me on beat. I absolutely cannot stand recording anything to just a metronome. It’s like nails on a chalkboard for me! So I’ll start with a simple drum track and play over that with my guitar or piano depending on the song and then I sing. Just so that I have a scratch track. I like to get everything recorded and out of the way before I start adding in samples or software instruments. I’m still trying to figure out the exact formula that works for me with track building so it might change the more that I learn, but as of right now, this is my process. 🙂
Bridge: Your single “Snowglobe” just dropped, congratulations! Tell us all about it…
Amber: Thank you so much! Snowglobe is the first Christmas song I’m releasing. Like the other singles, I wrote, recorded and produced Snowglobe on my own and it’s actually the FIRST song I ever recorded in my bedroom. The other two were recorded in my room at my family’s beach house in Fort Myers Beach, Florida. Because of Snowglobe being recorded in a different room, I was having issues figuring out how to sound proof the room. It was at the end of August and about 95 degrees outside while I was recording. We live next to a highway and there’s a lot of traffic noise. So I ended up standing my pillow-top-extremely-heavy-and-awkward queen mattress on it’s side to block out the noise coming from my closed window and I took my SpongeBob comforter (yes, I’m a child at heart and I’m proud of that) and put it around my door and closed it. That solved my noise problem, but created a lack of air flow. I think I almost passed out about 15 times in the process of trying to record the vocals haha! I had to take several breaks and go outside just to breathe. I remember saying to my mom “I’m recording Snowglobe in a literal snow globe, but someone forgot to put air holes in it!” Haha!
Bridge: What makes “Snowglobe” stand out during the Christmas music release season?
Amber: It’s a magical feel-good song that addresses the issue that a lot of us face which is not being in the present moment and being stuck in the ‘cold weather’ year round instead of focusing on the ‘beauty of the snow’. It’s supposed to make you stop and think about what truly matters during the holidays. Not a lot of Christmas songs seem to do that these days.
Bridge: What message do you want your listeners to glean from the single?
Amber: Snowglobe is really just about remembering the true meaning of Christmas which is we’re all here together celebrating another year of good health, happiness and Love. It doesn’t matter what our differences are or what we believe in. Get out of your troubled mindset of “I can’t catch a break” every time something bad happens to you. Start focusing on the Good in your life! It’s there. No matter how small it is. You’re alive, you’re breathing, maybe you have all of your limbs or maybe you don’t. Maybe you have a chronic illness (I’m a lyme disease warrior over here!) And yes sometimes that absolutely sucks, I’ll be the first one to back you up and tell you that your pain and your feelings are ABSOLUTELY real and valid… but don’t live there. Find ONE good thing in your life, every day no matter how small it is. Then find two, then three! Never stop counting your blessings but definitely STOP counting your “curses”. Life is beautiful, if you allow it to be.
What matters is that we care about each other and know that we were put here on this Earth to Love. This song is meant to shatter our negativity and unite us all after too many years of division. That is my Christmas wish for everyone this year.
Bridge: What plans do you have for your music next year?
Amber: Oooo, very good question. I already have an EP pretty much ready for release so you can expect that early in the New Year. It will feature my two singles that I already released this year as well as three unreleased tracks that I’m very excited about. I also plan to continue my producer journey and begin working on my first full length album because I mean, why not? The sky is only the beginning at this point and I have sooooo many songs waiting to be heard! It’s going to be quite magical. I’m also going to raise the bar with my shows a little bit. I still plan to play cover songs, but my originals are going to be more prominent than the covers. I want people to get to know me and my music, up until now it’s just been me singing a lot of my favorite songs which has been great! But it’s time to change it up. I also have a few more surprises planned as well when it comes to my shows, but I think I’m going to keep that a secret a little bit longer 🙂
Bridge: Anything else we need to know?
Amber: Thank you for taking the time to read this. It means a lot to me that someone would take time out of their day to read about me and my little song. Thank you also Bridge Magazine for interviewing me. It’s truly a huge honor.
I want to leave you with one final note which is, the best beauty is not manmade and you are apart of that beauty. You are Loved. So much more than you could ever imagine. Never let yourself doubt that. Oh… and purple is THE primary color. Hehe!
Keep up with the latest on Amber by checking out her website and following her on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
