Don't Embarrass Me Motherfucker: An Interview With Amy Allen

Dig Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet? She co-wrote every song.

Amy Allen (Photo by David O’Donohue)

Amy Allen doesn’t necessarily need an introduction; anyone who listens to Top 40 radio in 2024 is almost certainly familiar with her songwriting even if they don’t know it. Tate McRae’s inescapable “Greedy” ring a bell? Maybe Halsey’s Hot 100-topping “Without Me?” Allen’s contributed to event albums by Lizzo, Olivia Rodrigo, and Harry Styles, the latter of which netted her Grammy for Album of the Year. She was also up for Songwriter of the Year.

But in some kind of Bernie Taupin capacity Allen’s scaling her greatest heights alongside Sabrina Carpenter, who tops the Billboard 200 albums chart this very minute with the just-released Short n’ Sweet in the third-best opening sales week of 2024. She also holds down spots 2-4 on the Hot 100 with the consecutive smashes (in ascending order) “Espresso,” the number-one “Please Please Please,” and now the irresistible “Taste,” which boasts the best music video of 2024.

Not only does Allen have some fingerprints on those three skyrockets and 2023’s Styles-ish hit “Feather,” but she cowrote every single tune on the most hotly anticipated pop album of the summer. Carpenter sold out every date on her imminent arena tour on the strength of just two of those Allen-assisted songs when nothing from her previous five albums ever reached the top 20.

And because she’s not busy enough, Allen’s own self-titled solo debut album drops today, proudly low-key in the shadow of her own co-smash. The first single “Darkside” sways like bedroom pop tweaked for campfires and Amy Allen leans into a more introverted side of her usual hook mountains — “Even Forever” has more in common with the NYU-seasoned Maggie Rogers than the titans she normally works with. Somehow the “Espresso” svengali found the time to answer questions via email for RIOTRIOT, occasional emojis and all caps hers.

You’re about to put out your first full-length solo album, and it’s more folk-influenced and downcast than the pop collaborations you’re most known for…plus it leads off with “Darkside.” Did the music you’re working on with others shape the sound you wanted under your own name? Like, was this a conscious opportunity to do things you don’t normally get to do?

Making this album was so cathartic for me because I got to spend a lot more going  back to how I first started writing songs, which was writing poems in my bedroom and then bringing them to life with chords and melody. I also got to draw from my earliest influences like Dolly, Petty, Cocteau Twins, Carole King, and not worry about if the song sounded pop-radio accessible, etc.