In our Track by Track feature, artists take listeners through each song on their latest album. Here, Aimée Osbourne brings us into the world of her debut album, Vacare Adamaré.
After a long musical journey, Aimée Osbourne is set to release her debut full-length album, Vacare Adamaré, under the moniker ARO. In advance of the LP’s release this Friday (October 30th), the singer is sharing a full stream exclusively with Consequence of Sound. Moreover, she has provided us with a track by track guide to the album, while also engaging us in a conversation about her music.
Aimée’s path to her debut album is far from traditional. The singer is the daughter of heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne and his equally famous wife, Sharon Osbourne. Unlike her parents and siblings, Aimée avoided the spotlight growing up, purposely choosing not to appear on the popular MTV reality show The Osbournes.
She started writing and recording under the name ARO roughly 10 years ago, releasing a few stand-alone singles along the way. As Aimée tells us in the Q&A below, her family lineage came with certain expectations from music industry personnel, resulting in a number of starts and stops in her music career. While she adores her father and his music, Aimée has taken a different path, embracing an ambient and atmospheric sound in the vein of Portishead, Kate Bush, and others. Her new album is rooted in electronic and synth, with elements of rock and industrial thrown into the mix.
Finally, she has found a label (Make Records) that has given her a welcome home, and she is ready to unveil her 10-song album to the world. Listen to Vacare Adamaré in the player below. The LP is also available to pre-save via various streaming services here, and you can also pre-order the limited edition vinyl from Make Records.
As you’re soaking in the album, check out Aimee’s track-by-track rundown, followed by our own Q&A with the singer.
Vacare Adamaré Track by Track (provided by Aimée Osbourne):
“Shared Something With the Night”:
This song is about how our minds can really play tricks on us when we become fixated on another. When you’re young and don’t fully understand or value who you are, your self-worth becomes entangled and dependent on how another person treats you. That’s never a fun place to be stuck in. I wanted to write a dark kind of lullaby to try and ease some of that torment.
“House of Lies”:
Definitely one of the songs I’m most proud of. I wanted this track to feel hypnotic. It touches on a lot of where I was struggling emotionally at the time. Though I don’t want to get too specific, I will say that in life when we go through incredibly challenging situations, the only real way past it, is through it. That’s when I think the real growth happens.
“Beats of My Heart”:
This is a really fun track. It reminds me of a slightly ’80s goth-synth-wave pop song. It kind of captures the thrill of the chase. I especially love the dance-y breakdown at around 2:52. I feel like people could really get down to this on the dance floor.
“Pisces Lie”:
This is the heaviest song on the album. A song definitely close to my heart. This is also a really fun song to play live. It has an almost tribal chant like element to it. I really wanted it to capture the rage and deep agony only certain kinds of betrayal can ignite.
“Choir Day”:
I call this my “Enigma” song (as in the German band from the ’90s). I feel like this song could have been on the soundtrack for The Craft (1996 version) or Poison Ivy (Drew Barrymore version). I absolutely love how witchy, indulgent and lush it feels, not just lyrically, but the production too. It feels as though if you sing the song enough times with enough candles lit, you could actually cast a spell.
“Shameless Son”:
This track has a real raw and industrial feel to the production. As if the song was recorded in an abandoned warehouse. It really captures a particular kind of rage that can come during grief. I am also fascinated by generational karma and how these toxic cycles just repeat themselves within families with each generation which is where the “shameless son” reference comes from.
“Gold Thread”:
This is a very fun track, a little sassy, sexy, cheeky. It’s about temptation and having a really electric connection with someone that literally feels impossible to stop yourself from indulging in. You know the kind, where all it takes is catching that persons eyes.
“Shark Knight”:
I really adore this track. The song is definitely a bit out there. You can’t quite put your finger on where it belongs genre wise. It touches on the internal dialogue and mayhem that goes on in the female brain when a certain someone comes along and literally shakes up your entire world and even though logic is telling you something different, it feels impossible not to let it happen. This was also my first go at really contributing more than usual to the production, so I am particularly proud of this crazy song.
“Ghost”:
I love this haunting and somewhat minimal track. The lyrics are very vulnerable. It’s pretty clear what the song is about. When you put yourself out there, then the rug is basically pulled from right under you, even though you knew the rug was slippery all along. The things we convince ourselves of when blinded by intense attraction. …
“Tuesday”:
Not a typical song structurally in any way. I still think its very beautiful and raw. Probably one of the most personal songs lyrically I have ever written. It took a lot to get this album out. It felt like an endless battle. This track kind of touches on what that felt like.
Q&A with Consequence of Sound:
On the overall journey of first starting this project to finally releasing an album
It was a lot of stopping and starting. My position is complicated because it can kind of be a magnet for a lot of unnecessary dramas and delays. So, for instance, I not only at the end of the day was able to connect with the right team, but it took me a very long time to get there, because I think a lot of people assumed that it was an easy payday or I wasn’t that serious. So it was just kind of something that they could just easily give a little bit of attention to. But at the end of the day, I think a lot of people unfortunately wanted to use it as some type of an opportunity to basically benefit from my family name, which caused a lot of kind of cross wires.
I mean, not everyone that I worked with was like that at all, but the ones that were, it definitely caused a lot of delays. And then also just not really being able to find the right record company to help me put it out, because again, they had their I guess, ideas of the direction and the sound. It’s not the norm, it’s definitely quite atmospheric. The song structures are not typical. For a of people, I think that don’t really understand my inspirations and what I was trying to do, it was, in their mind, I would assume, a bit risky.
On the influences growing up that drew her to her musical style
Well, growing up, my dad was always playing music in the house and I came from a very musical background obviously. And that was always what we kind of lived our lives around. So I was lucky to be exposed to so many different types of music, but the music that I responded to was really the more avant-garde atmospheric things like Talking Heads, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky — the list goes on. Definitely, ’90s trip-hop was a big influence for me. So that world just really pulled me in. I think ’cause I always felt a little bit more different and introverted in a lot of ways. And I feel like those types of artists kind of lean more towards that type of person.
On the opening track “Shared Something with the Night”, which leans a little more rock than most of the album
As much as I do love rock music, as well, I’d always been more apprehensive to lead with that. The team that I work with really felt that that was a great song that kind of covers a lot of different genres, in a way, but it still has that kind of rock element that you mentioned. So I think it was a great way to introduce people that wouldn’t necessarily usually know about some of my influences. So it was kind of like a more of a wider range introduction song for everyone that was interested to kind of feel like they could relate to certain elements of it, sonically, as opposed to one of my other tracks, which is much more specific.
On the industrial and techno elements of songs like “Pisces Lie” and “Shameless Son”
There’s a lot of industrial type music and lot of techno that I actually really love, as well. Growing up, I’d also kind of been drawn to a lot of those types of heavier industrial acts. I feel like there’s elements of like an industrial techno which is also not that far off from heavy metal. So it’s kind of interesting. There’s like a certain point sonically where those two can kind of meet and I’ve always found that really interesting. The industrial element was definitely intentional.
On the cinematic quality to her music
I would get those kinds of feelings when I listened to a Kate Bush album or some of the earlier Goldfrapp albums. It would kind of transport you to another world. And I remember growing up, I felt like I was always on an airplane, we all traveled so much all the time, and I would kind of get my little Walkman out and be listening to all of those types of albums that I just mentioned. And you would just kind of feel like you could create these little vignettes in your mind of what you kind of visually imagined these songs being connected to, and just that sense of the creativity that those kinds of cinematic songs would ignite. I just found it so inspiring. It really drew me in creatively. So I really wanted to try and have that quality for people when they were listening to my music as well. So that was definitely a very crucial part of the motivation of the completed album.
On plans to tour behind the album once it’s safe to do so
I think just feeling that connection from an audience is something that no livestream can replicate, even though everyone’s doing the best they can. This is obviously going to be a very memorable point in everyone’s lives, but I think for me, creating a live performance where people are actually there and also creating a very atmospheric live show that can further transport people into this kind of world that I’ve created sonically, I’m really looking forward to. I come from a family of very talented showmanship, and so I’ve kind of grown up around seeing all of those things involved and I’ve always been so inspired to kind of be able to create my own version of that. So, I’m very much looking forward to that.
On her decision to stay away from the spotlight of her famous family
In regards to why I didn’t didn’t really want to do the whole spotlight thing, I always from a very young age knew what I wanted to do and knew what I was really drawn to. And it just wasn’t in alignment with the flip side of what can come with coming from a well-known family name like that. And I really more than anything wanted to be respected and taken seriously in the music world. And I kind of felt that maybe in a lot of ways it was making my life much harder, but I really wanted to feel like I had earned that and done that myself without, I guess in a way, taking the easy way. And also I had very specific standards and boundaries and morals when it comes to my personal life, because I’ve seen firsthand what letting those slip can do to your day-to-day life and your family and your children and all of those kinds of things. And that’s just not something that I was willing to set myself up for.
On preparing the treatment for the upcoming biopic on Ozzy and Sharon, and what she wants people to take away from their relationship
I think just the power and the impact of boundless love and endurance and perseverance, and just believing in yourself and supporting each other. I think there are really incredible inspirational parts of that. And also, they obviously have been through a lot of ups and downs, so I think there’s just so much to learn from them and to be inspired by. They both came from incredibly different backgrounds, but essentially wanted the same things. It’s just amazing how we even meet people that we spend our lives with or a significant amount of time with, and just all the different little things in our lives that lead us to those people. I think that’s a really interesting concept as well. So definitely emphasis on how they met and the actual blossoming of their union.
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On her personal experience during the pandemic and what she turns to for inspiration
I think it’s just been really interesting to see how people have really come together. I think for me, the last thing that I wanted to do was throw some type of pity party and just be indulgent and negative and toxic, and just kind of schlep around in my pajamas at home, waiting for it all to be over. I just have used this time to really try and be as diligent and disciplined and introspective as I can. And also just being as supportive as I can, ’cause a lot of people are really struggling and it could always be worse. In retrospect, I think people will look back at this being a time where everyone basically got time to kind of reevaluate what’s important. So, I’m really trying to keep on that path with the lessons and the positivity and the growth from it all.