Amy Rose Allen is an American songwriter, record producer, and singer. She is primarily known as a songwriter for artists such as

Rosé A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact method. ...

Harry Styles Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. His musical career began in 2010 as a solo contestant on the British music competition series ''The X Factor (UK TV series), The X Factor''. Following hi ...

, Halsey,

Shawn Mendes Shawn Peter Raul Mendes (; born August 8, 1998) is a Canadian pop singer. He gained a following in 2013, when he posted song covers on the video sharing platform Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist manager Andrew Gert ...

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American singer, actress and producer. Gomez began her acting career on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004). As a teenager, she rose to prominence for starring a ...

Camila Cabello Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao (; ; born March 3, 1997) is a Cuban-born American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which became one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. While in ...

, and

Pink Sweat$ David Bowden (born February 14, 1992), known professionally as Pink Sweats (stylized as Pink Sweat$), is an American R&B singer and songwriter. He released his first EP ''Volume 1'' in 2018, led by the single "Honesty". His debut album, ''Pin ...

. She was nominated for the first ever Grammy Award for Songwriter of the Year at the

65th Annual Grammy Awards The 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony will be held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 5, 2023. It will recognize the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2021, to September 30 ...

for her work on releases by

King Princess Mikaela Mullaney Straus (born December 19, 1998), known by her stage name King Princess, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician from Brooklyn, New York. She is signed to Mark Ronson's label Zelig Records, an imprint of Columbia Records. ...

, Alexander 23,

Lizzo Melissa Viviane Jefferson (born April 27, 1988), known professionally as Lizzo, is an American singer, rapper, and flutist. Born in Detroit, Michigan, she moved to Houston, Houston, Texas with her family when she was 10 years old. After col ...

Charli XCX Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is an English singer and songwriter. Born in Cambridge and raised in Start Hill, Essex, she began posting songs on Myspace in 2008, which led to her discovery ...

and

Sabrina Carpenter Sabrina Annlynn Carpenter (born May 11, 1999) is an American singer and actress. Carpenter made her acting debut with an appearance in the television crime show ''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' and had a recurring role on Fox Broadcasting ...

Early life and education

Amy Allen grew up in

Windham, Maine Windham is a New England town, town in Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 18,434 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It includes the villages of South Windham, Maine, South Windham and ...

with her parents and two sisters. While in elementary school, Allen played bass in her sister's band Jerks of Grass, and as a teenager, she played folk and bluegrass music at bars and pubs. Allen attended

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

and later graduated from

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. While at Berklee, Allen was taught by singer and producer

Kara DioGuardi Kara Elizabeth DioGuardi (; born December 9, 1970) is an American songwriter, record producer, music publisher, A&R executive, and singer. She writes music primarily in the pop rock genre. DioGuardi has worked with many popular artists; sales o ...

Career

In 2015, Allen was featured in

Teen Vogue ''Teen Vogue'' is an American online publication, formerly in print, launched in January 2003, as a sister publication to ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'', targeted at teenagers. Like ''Vogue'', it included stories about fashion and celebrities. Since ...

, after releasing two solo EPs. Allen began her career by working on a number of solo projects and formed Amy & The Engine, a four-piece

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

group, before relocating to New York for a year. The band released their first single "Last Forever" on February 14, 2015. ''TandeMania'', their debut EP, was released on September 22, 2016. Amy & The Engine announced their EP ''Get Me Outta Here!'' in 2017 and an East Coast tour in the summer of 2017 and a US tour in 2018. Allen described the sound of Get Me Outta Here! as being "a bit darker and heavier than the first". Amy & The Engine released the EP's lead single "Chasing Jenny" in January 2017. Allen relocated to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in November 2017, where she began collaborating with Scott Harris and eventually signed to Artist Publishing Group. Allen subsequently began writing and producing music with other singers, including Glades and JELLO. In 2018, Allen co-wrote Back to You with

, and Without Me with Halsey which reached No. 1 on

Billboard's Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

. In 2019, Allen signed to

Warner Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

, and it was expected that her debut solo album would be released the following year. That same year, Allen collaborated with

on his single Adore You, and collaborated with Halsey once more on the single

Graveyard A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

. Allen also collaborated with

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

Pvris Pvris (pronounced "Paris" and stylized PVRIS) is an American pop rock act formed by multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and producer Lyndsey Gunnulfsen. Over her decade-long career, Gunnulfsen has released three studio LPs: ''White Nois ...

on their 2019 EP,

Hallucinations A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of a real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. Hallucination is a combinatio ...

. She was named as one of

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

's "2019 Hitmakers" for the single " Without Me". In January 2020, Allen was featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 in Music. She has been announced as a panelist for the 2020 ASCAP Experience. On January 22, 2020, it was announced that Allen would be performing at the annual St. Jude Songwriters Showcase to benefit the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, along with

Gretchen Peters Gretchen Peters (born November 14, 1957) is an American singer and songwriter. She was born in New York, where she wrote her first song with her sister at the age of 5. In 1970, her parents broke up, and Peters moved with her mother to Boulder, ...

. On March 9, 2020, the ASCAP Experience event was cancelled due to concerns over the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

named Allen a "2020 Hitmaker" for co-writing Harry Styles’ “Adore You”. Allen signed a recording deal with

in 2019. Over the following two years she released five singles: "Queen of Silver Linings", "Difficult", "Heaven", "What a Time to Be Alive" and "One". Her debut solo EP, ''AWW!'', was released on November 5, 2021 with singles "A Woman's World" and "End of a Dark Age" having been released in the preceding two months.

Style and influences

Allen has cited bands like

The Cranberries The Cranberries were an Irish rock band formed in Limerick, Ireland. Originally named the Cranberry Saw Us, the band were formed in 1989 by lead singer Niall Quinn, guitarist Noel Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler. Quinn was ...

and

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...

as influences on Amy & The Engine. In a 2020 interview with ''Variety'', Allen stated that she prefers to write darker, more serious songs and that she felt the single " Adore You" was her first "feel-good song".

Discography

With Amy & The Engine

Studio albums by Amy & The Engine

* ''Get Me Outta Here!'' (2017) *''TandeMania'' (2016) *''Summer Of '15 Sampler'' (2015)

Singles written by Allen

Albums featuring Allen

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Amy Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Singers from Maine Songwriters from Maine American women songwriters American women singers Record producers from Maine People from Windham, Maine Berklee College of Music alumni 21st-century American women Grammy Award winners