reviews & press coverage
Nashville Voyager Magazine
“I believe so wholeheartedly that uniqueness and variety should be embraced and celebrated. The industry loves to create boxes around artists; categorization plays such a huge role in music… and while I see that as helpful in some instances, I also love when artists expand outside the box and help to pave the way for new styles and trends. Just because we’ve always done something a certain way doesn’t mean that’s the only way to do it. I love hybrid styles and daring choices in voices and music in general.”
Buzz Music
A song like this is vulnerable and confident simultaneously because the lyrics and the emotions are deeply relevant to my real life. The melody in “Slow Dance” compliments the lyrics in a beautiful way, so telling the song’s story naturally has highs and lows built into it. I love the way the chorus lifts off with big, sweeping notes. It feels so good to let them soar – a cathartic release of big emotion.
Front Porch Music
I think that when you’ve put that much time into a relationship, you have to honour it. Sometimes people are in your life for just a part of your life. They’re meant to teach you something. We can mourn the change or the ending of something. But we also have to celebrate what was good.
Just because love doesn’t last forever, doesn’t mean it wasn’t special or important.
Coast 2 Coast CJNB
Slow Dance
Country artist Amanda Kind’s latest single “Slow Dance” is all about taking your time falling in love and really getting to know someone. In a world starved for connection, this soaring pop-country anthem is for anyone who craves that old-school record store romance.
Amanda’s distinctly soulful country sound drives “Slow Dance” recalling the emotional energy of classic songs like Patsy Cline’s Crazy or Etta James At Last, but with a modern edge. It’s a track about human connection, meant to be blasted in the car speakers or at home while dancing with that special someone in the kitchen.
Gas Mask Magazine
Delivered to us on sultry, powerful vocals, “Slow Dance” manages to impress with not only its story and lyricism, but its musicality. Kind’s country twang and soulful voice goes down like whisky, and is further elevated by the warm instrumentals. All musical components blend together seamlessly to provide a very personal, enchanting listening experience.
CMAO Feature
Both energetic and emotional, Amanda Kind’s distinctly soulful brand of country showcases her powerhouse vocals, down-to-earth personality, and fierce but fun stage presence – think Janis Joplin meets Patsy Cline. One minute she’s got the crowd dancing and singing along to an upbeat rock anthem, and the next she’s got them recalling their own heartbreak with a stirring ballad.
Canadian Beats
Slow Dance
Amanda’s distinctly soulful country sound drives “Slow Dance,” recalling the emotional energy of classic songs like Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” or Etta James’ “At Last,” but with a modern edge. It’s a track about human connection, meant to be blasted in the car speakers or at home while dancing in the kitchen.
“I think my music is for people who love big voices and big feelings – soaring vocals with compelling story-oriented lyrics and memorable melodies. I want people to lose themselves in the song and just belt it out with me.”
Amanda Kind Delivers Breakup Anthem of the Year
Kind’s voice absolutely soars on the track as she sings about love had and love lost. It tells the story of a hopeful couple who thought they found forever together, only to find themselves with just the memories of the time they spent together.
“This song is for all those people haunted by the memory of what their love once was, or what they hoped it would be.”
Music City Memo
Sometimes love doesn’t win. Canadian singer-songwriter Amanda Kind’s new single “Love Used To Live Here” is a pop-country breakup anthem for anyone who has loved and lost. With wistful lyrics, pulsing energy, and soaring vocals, the song tells the story of a home created by a hopeful couple who thought they had found ‘forever’ only for one person to be left with empty frames and vivid memories of the life the pair once shared together.
Starlight Sessions
Before COVID-19 hit, I was run ragged doing 16-hour days on a regular basis. I would say that I was in a fog of busyness. I love my work as a voice coach for other artists but I had let my own artistry take a backseat and I was secretly missing it so much. My hectic schedule was disrupted when the pandemic hit.
Kitchener Today
In her new single, Kitchener-based Amanda Kind explores different concepts of grief in an emotional alt-pop ballad.
The song, titled ‘Easier,’ was released in July, and is about “grieving people who leave your life but are still living out there in the world, which is a strange pain because you’re grieving someone who’s left your life but you know that they’re out there happier without you,” Kind said.
Canadian Beats
Love Used To Live Here
Ontario-based singer-songwriter, Amanda Kind is back from an almost decade-long hiatus with the release of her alt-pop single, “easier”, which came out on July 9. On top of this, she will also be releasing a country duet, “We’re Okay” with Stratford singer James Downham comes out on Friday, July 23.
Broadway World
Canadian singer-songwriter Amanda Kind’s new single ends with a namesake question: “Does it get easier?”
It’s a musing we’ve all wrestled with amidst the throes of heartbreak, and the new song – “easier,” stylized in the humble lowercase tradition of e.e. cummings – explores the more complex query of how to grieve the loss of someone who’s still living.
Coast 2 Coast
Love Used To Live Here
James Downham is a country artist hailing from Statford, ON. Downham first burst onto the scene with his first single, Don’t Talk to Girls” in 2016 after winning Season 2 of The Shot. He’s also released a string of singles to radio as part of Durham County Band.
Amanda Kind is a pop artist from Waterloo, ON. “We’re Okay” is her first foray into country music.
Entertainment Network Live
Amanda Kind was featured on the “Talent of the Day” series on Entertainment Network Live. Read the interview on The Native Society.
Tinnitist
“Amanda Kind wrestles with the grief of heartbreak in her tender single and lyric video Easier. Based on a personal experience she describes as “the intersection of grief and rejection,” Kind experienced a difficult breakup that wasn’t her choice. “Knowing that someone you love(d) is out there in the world, happier without you, is a complicated pain,” she shares. “I kept thinking, ‘does it get easier?’ That question turned into a refrain.”
Read the blog feature on Tinnitist
Cash Box Radio
“Born in British Columbia, and based in Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario, Amanda Kind is a multi-talented singer and songwriter with a wide range and a powerful voice; she is known as much for her own work as she is as one of the area’s most in-demand vocal coaches.”
Read the blog feature on Cash Box Canada.
BK On The Scene
“With a lyric video and cover art that make use of ocean imagery, Amanda belts her alt-pop ballad out with a bold, full-bodied confidence over elegant piano and strings. Listeners feel the engulfing pain, riding the waves of courage needed to move forward, before being enveloped in the searing heartache all over again; Amanda Kind’s voice soars above the choppy waters, the horizon always in sight, until she finds resolve.”
Read the blog feature on BK On The Scene.
VENTS Magazine
“All in all, the whole CD (hello heartache) is brilliantly delivered with a richly woven Alternative-Rock texture with songs that have serious pop-ish staying power. This music will remind you of Ingrid Michaelson, Colbie Caillat, Erin McCarley, and Anna Nalick. To be honest, I can’t say enough about Kind’s appeal and overall signature sound.”
Indie Artist Alliance
“(hello heartache) has all the trademarks of Pop Rock popular in the late nineties – back when it sounded good. It will also appeal to both advanced and novice listeners alike. Whatever kind of listening level you’re on – some will identify with things while others will not. Like a three-layered cake, Kind is one artist that has a lot of depth and has so much to offer. Whether it’s musically, lyrically, inspirationally, emotionally, spiritually – if you feel like music is taking us in the wrong direction, then rest assured Amanda Kind is taking us back in the right direction…”
Target Audience
“In this overly saturated genre, Amanda Kind manages to stand out from other indie-alt artists. Her answer to mundane music is to deliver something special with a breath of fresh air, signature sound and a powerful message to call her own. Kind’s strength is her passion and ability to write a powerful piece of music via solid musicianship and thought-provoking melodies that speaks to the heart. One would be wise to keep an eye on her over the years to come.”
Waterloo Chronicle
“The songs are a diverse mix of driving rock tunes and mysterious ballads with catchy hooks and tongue-in-cheek lyrics that appeal to Top-40 and Alternative Rock lovers alike.”
Indie Music Digest
“From start to finish, “Hello Heartache” from Amanda Kind is an impressive catalogue of music. The music is very passionate, melodic, and comes from a happy yet defiant perspective. Note for note, song for song there isn’t really a weak piece in this entire catalogue. The strong suit of Kind is her infectious voice and overall persona – which you can’t help but fall in love with.”
Echo Weekly
“Pop music comes in many shapes and forms, and ‘Hello Heartache’ is a record to stop all the stereotypes.”
theatre reviews
Waterloo Region Record
“The star of the show is undoubtedly the multi-talented Amanda Kind as the witch. She is funny, sings beautifully; really a scene-stealer.”
Review of Into The Woods
Registry Theatre
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Waterloo Region Record
“One of the best voices on stage is Amanda Kind as the school teacher Miss Stacy. Kind has tremendous presence on stage and a voice to match. She is one of those performers you want to keep watching.”
Review of Anne of Green Gables
Centre In The Square
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Vancouver Sun
“Kind has a great big nuanced voice that touches the soul with its fragility and hits like a dynamic boom.”
Concert Review