We always sensed a New England undertone in the “Please Please Please” lyrics “I beg you don’t embarrass me…” Well, you know how the song goes!
Sabrina Carpenter’s new album Short n Sweet has syrupy New England ties trickling all the way back to Maine. All twelve songs were co-written by Amy Allen a songwriter originally from Windham, Maine a town with a population of just 18,000, outside of Portland. If you listen closely, you’ll even catch background vocals from Amy Allen on “Espresso” and “Coincidence.”
Amy released her newest single “even forever,” this year. Allen’s song “Couldn’t Forget You” from the original motion picture “Paws of Fury” is another favorite from Amy Allen’s singles and EPs.
Allen developed a love for music at a young age, practicing songwriting, vocals, and picking up piano, guitar, and bass. She didn’t realize she could make a career of it until later. Before her path to becoming a chart-topping Grammy-nominated songwriter, Amy Allen found herself a sophomore at Boston College in biochemistry.
Gut instinct redirect Allen who realized biochemistry wasn’t the path for her, barely having time for her creative songwriting outlet. Allen transferred to the prestigious Berklee College of Music to pursue a songwriting degree, and turn her passion into a career.
Allen wrote her first song at age 10, getting inspiration to explore music from her older sister who was in a band. Growing up in Maine, Allen and her sister performed around town. She was able to tap into these skills and expand her knowledge at Berklee under the wing of singer and producer Kara DioGuardi who also mentored Charlie Puth and boasts an extensive songwriting career.
Post-grad, Allen moved to New York and formed her own band, Amy & The Engine, best known for their song “Chasing Jenny.” Despite producing three EPs and garnering coverage in Teen Vogue, Amy still felt there wasn’t enough time to focus on high-quality songwriting, within the balancing act of a band.
In 2017 the band called it quits and Allen moved to sunny Los Angeles, signing with APG and releasing songs written for Selena Gomez (“Back to You”) and Shawn Mendes in her first year. Since then she’s written songs for dozens of top artists including her most recent work co-writing all 12 songs on Sabrina Carpenter’s sixth studio album, Short n Sweet. Among Allen’s many accolades she was also featured in the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 shortlist for music.