Amani Bin Shikhan
Freelance writer and researcher
Toronto-based. Culture writer and researcher with a focus on music, movement, tradition, and memory — when they coincide, especially. Contact: a.binshikhan at gmail dot com.
PROJECTS
Healthline
Life Balms — Vol. 2: Arabelle Sicardi and The Beauty of Ruins
Interview with Arabelle Sicardi for my Life Balms series on Healthline In it, they name the terror and power of beauty, asserting selfhood, and what comes of the ruins.
Noisey
Faiza Makes R&B About the Audacity of Being a Black Girl
The artist's debut EP 'Audacity' tells stories of infatuation and money-making while melding new-age R&B with the genre’s traditional sensibilities.
Noisey
The Weeknd Breaks Up With Himself on 'My Dear Melancholy,'
An essay looking at The Weeknd’s new album, My Dear Melancholy, and the role it plays in his pop transformation.
Healthline
Life Balms — Vol. 1: Hannah Giorgis on Cooking and What It Means to Be Beautiful
Interview with The Ringer’s special projects editor Hannah Giorgis for my Life Balms series on Healthline. In it, she talks healing through food, desirability and work, and the glory of Fenty Beauty.
Healthline
Life Balms — A Series of Survival
Welcome to Life Balms, an interview series about the routines that keep us thriving, motivated, and well. Every year is different, that much is certain. But in the wake of a particularly difficult one — personally, professionally, politically — recentering is vital to be able to move forward. “Life Balms,” then, are the things that help us get through the lows: the routines, the regimens, and the practices that drown out the white noise and prioritize the best versions of self.
CBC
BASHY Magazine gives some much-needed gravitas to how the media sees Jamaican culture
Profile of Toronto’s Sharine Taylor ahead of the release of her Jamaica-centered quarterly publication, BASHY Magazine.
Teen Vogue
What It Means to Lose a Grammy
In this op-ed, Amani Bin Shikhan discusses how the Grammys 2018 continued to lose touch with current pop culture trends, especially those spearheaded by black women.
Vogue.com
5 Women on Staying Connected to Their Heritage Through Food
Interviewed by Martine Thompson about food memories, lineage and tradition.
FASHION Magazine
Meet House of Aama, The Mother-Daughter Duo Weaving History Into Fashion
The brand’s latest collection is an ode to Black Americans in the Postbellum South.
Noisey
The Woes and Wiles of Cold Specks
A profile on singer-songwriter Cold Specks and her new album, FOOL'S PARADISE.
fader
Sean Leon is the shapeshifting Toronto artist you need to watch
Among the unending clamor of new artists emerging from the city is the rapper and director Sean Leon, whose artistic range and clear-eyed vision sets him apart.
Noisey
What’s Drake to Do When Toronto Isn’t Enough?
"Toronto’s problems always have been and always will be greater than the one who stunned it out of its stupor."
Noisey
Adria Kain Wants You To Exhale on New EP 'DECOMPRESSED'
Q&A with Toronto-based singer-songwriter Adria Kain on the release of her new EP, DE{COM}PRESSED.
video.vice.com
How Desus & Mero Stay Motivated on Their Rise to Stardom
Part three of three Daily Vice interview segments with Desus and Mero, hosts of Viceland talk show by the same name.