18 Songs in 15 Minutes with Amanda Sum

Amanda Sum is a performer and creator who dances between music and theatre. Her latest EP, does it make me naive if i’ve never been part of something where i’ve meant more to them than they did to me?, was released in June 2024, accompanied by a short film featuring 13 directors, which is due later this year. Her 2022 music video Different Than Before garnered a JUNO nomination and won the SXSW Music Video Jury Award.

As Theatre Replacement’s COLLIDER Artist, Amanda created New Age Attitudes: Live in Concert, which premiered in 2023 and will continue to tour in 2025. Amanda is currently working on her next full-length record, and is developing its accompanying experimental theatre show.

We talked to Amanda about her new project and writing really short songs in a suite. Download the lyrics to follow along, and be sure to check out the tout suite on Bandcamp.

We talked about:

• Our songwriting challenge for 2024 to write a holiday song. Please send us your answers to the challenge by November 18!
• How Amanda’s EP evolved from a medley of songs into a suite
• Saying more (or enough) with less: “Just because it’s 15 seconds doesn’t mean it’s not a song.”
• How this kind of idea lets you throw out traditional song structures
• Considerations Amanda took for also performing the entire suite live
• How recording this project almost broke Amanda’s brain
• The challenges of digitally distributing this kind of project