Tamari arrives at her first EP with a creative résumé that already includes dance, music production, acting and books. The independent artist from Pittsburg, California, has spent years working across stages, studios and television sets before placing her own music at the centre of the picture. Her debut, Nice to Meet ME, Vol. 1, is a compact four-track introduction with warm R&B and neo-soul at its core. The title carries a little wink and plenty of self-possession. A second volume is already part of the plan.

Tamari grew up in a family where music and performance were familiar territory. Her mother danced with a local group, her grandfather led a band in the Bay Area, and Tamari soon found her own place onstage. Dance gave her an early relationship with live audiences; songwriting and production later gave her control inside the studio. Along the way came a move to Houston, business studies, professional dance work, acting roles and publishing. Each pursuit has remained part of a career built across several creative forms. Talking with Tamari, the ambition arrives quickly, followed by humour and an easy willingness to reflect on how much has changed. She speaks about music with the excitement of a new artist and the practical understanding of someone who has already spent years rehearsing, writing, recording and learning the business around her work. Nice to Meet ME, Vol. 1 places her name and voice before a wider audience for the first time. Here, Tamari introduces herself on her own terms.

Tamari, it’s wonderful to speak with you, and congratulations on the release of your debut EP, Nice to Meet ME, Vol. 1. The four-track project brings together “Intro,” “Smile,” “23” and “Butterfly” around healing, growth and the experience of meeting yourself again after a period of change. What specific realisation made you understand that these songs belonged together as an introduction to the person you had become?

I remember reaching the final stage of developing  the EP and the injection of the story  I wanted to tell through the lyrics.I can laugh now, but back then i spent long hours listening through every recorded track and recordings thing numerous times.Each song offers a perceptive of the  experiences that shaped me but. Also wanted the project to tell a larger story. While listening to what came to be the final arrangement, it clicked.Each track led into the next naturally and reflected what I had envisioned perfectly .It also created a great flow that will eventually become vol.2.

Opening your debut with a track called “Intro” allows you to choose exactly how listeners enter your world before “Smile” begins. What did you want that opening to reveal about you?

I wanted the opening to feel like an intentional introduction.To reveal someone new, and evolved version of myself who had spent he work that was needed to do so.Its inviting listeners into my world and allowing the hear the experiences that helped this chapter of my lie.

Placed between “Smile” and “Butterfly,” “23” is the most precise title in the sequence. What personal meaning does that number carry within the EP?

At 23,i had so many plans for myself. I had a lan on where I thought I would’ve been and where I believed  certain things would happen with g that time of my life. I now try my best from using words like ‘should’ve ’ could’ve ‘ or would’ve ‘ because they often create , shame, guilt or resentment to words yourself. As a big dreamer who’s , optimistically , openminded, and ambitious , that time had become really challenging in ways I had not expected to be. When things didn’t  unfold the according to my plans, I had to really sit back , slow down and get a good understanding of what life was trying to teach me. I had to understand the lessons to get clarity on the “why”. I’m beyond grateful because those things were preparing me for the person I became and still becoming as well as artist. If i could talk to thatgirl id say , ‘girl its okay everything eventually works out when its supposed to ,sometimes even better than expected.

The project presents healing through personal storytelling, which also requires decisions about what becomes public. Which lyric brought you closest to the boundary between honesty and privacy?

HAHAHA, I had to really tell myself “girl pull it back!”. Majority of the lyrics I write come from my journal. From this track list the boundary I was pushing in ‘23’ where I say “I guess I’ll be making tea in the morning while I’m mourning “ or in ‘Butterfly’ where I say “I’m just tryna process what just happens to me”.

Nice to Meet ME, Vol. 1 began with your own experiences, and its release has now placed those songs in front of other people. Which response since the release has surprised you most?

For me the overall response has shocked me. Tat people are pressing play to my suicidal and enjoying what they hear.Even so ,to where they are sharing with their loved ones.

The EP introduces Tamari as she is today, while the roots of that artist reach back to a childhood in which music became central at four. What is the earliest moment when music became an active choice of your own?

There are so many moments but id say one of my favorites was when I was the same age I started writing my own songs. I had also had a friend that was into music as well.I was invited one day to go on a school tour with her, where we’d perform a schools all around our hometown.Growing up during my family gumbo parties, we’d do entertainment and perform.I’d perform everyone and I loved it.So when my friend asked immediately said yes and started making setlist arrangements of the songs I would perform.The stage always felt so good to me ,like another home.In my mind i was given the opportunity to perform and do it every night. Im doing it . I still feel the same way today.

By seventh grade, dance had added movement and performance to that early musical foundation. Where does that training appear most clearly in the way you perform today?

Yes and I am thankful for that early on training. It taught me so much , more than just 8 counts and formations . It helped with stage presence, crowd control and more.I take those notes with me today as I prepare for auditions and shows.

Songwriting arrived at twelve, giving you a way to place your own experiences inside music. What became easier to express through lyrics than through an ordinary conversation?

I think because I grew up very shy and  quiet. I  was using my journal and poems to express what I did not know to someone. I talk a lot through my lyrics about how i am feeling ,navigating challenges or just the things that is hard  to communicate to someone. Also sometimes it just feels better singing or dancing hard feeling out  before having a conversation, even the silly and fun ones.Music has always been a way for me to connect with myself and share these hidden parts of who I am.

Two years later, learning production shifted you from writing songs to shaping every layer of their sound. Which early production decision first gave you a clear sense of artistic ownership?

One of the earliest moment id say was the first time I had a session with my engineer Karishma. I had brought in one of my demos and shared my ideas. We’d work together making deacon son how we can bring the sound or vision to life.Whereas I had experiences that were not the same.I’m very collaborative and I like to work that way in the studio, more so than standing in the booth and the decisions being made for me.

Performance, songwriting and production now meet inside your debut, while the title Vol. 1 leaves room for another chapter. Which part of your artistic identity do you want the next volume to reveal?

I’m so excited for Vol.2 , maybe more ecstatic about it. I am truly grateful for Vol.1 and what that journey is doing for me. But Vol.1 was more so my metamorphosis stage . Finding my vice and sound.I was also 17 years  when I started. Im not that girl anymore.Im ready for the now, to show who I am today. The free, grounded, grown version of myself and artist. Vol.1 was just the beginning , theres so much more to come.

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