On her latest album, Amateur, Molly Nilsson considers how a word that is derived from the Latin for “lover” or “admirer” came to mean a lack of experience or professionalism. “I see ‘amateurism’ as a delighted, even foolish, protest,” says Nilsson in a statement on the album’s Bandcamp page. “Protest against everything. Of what’s expected of someone, or expected of someone to desire or strive for. To be elite, to be expert, to be professional, to be a master, to excel and succeed. Where’s the joy in that?”
I can get behind Nilsson’s thesis on Amateur because I have a non-professional interest— a hobby, if you will— that has become my own protest against hustle culture. Swimming is something that I learned so early in life that I don’t remember not knowing how to do it. As a kid, I spent most of the summer in pools, acting like I was part fish. As an adult, I get out to the gym about once a week and alternate laps of freestyle and breaststroke until my shoulders tire, which, unfortunately, happens much faster now than when I was 10.
Even though I swim regularly, I’m not ambitious about it at all. I have no goals. I’m not training for a competition or planning a side hustle as a water aerobics instructor. I just like moving through water. Plus, it’s one of the few things that I can do that has absolutely nothing to do with work. I am a total amateur and I love it.
Doing something purely because you enjoy it is a radical act in a world where there’s constant pressure to be in pursuit of growth and goals. We learn to focus only on activities that can become achievements, which will enhance our personal brands and maybe lead to our next job or gig or whatever. So, hobbies diminish and passion projects end up on the back-burner as we focus on feeding a system that seems to offer most of us little more than frustration in return. Nilsson does dig into the radical nature of amateurism on the album. You’ll hear this in songs like lead single, “How Much Is the World,” which is a powerful critique of late-stage capitalism. “How much is the world/With all of what you’re giving,” she sings. “How much is it worth/An honest life, worth living.”
Nilsson’s last album, Un-American Activities, was one of my favorite albums of 2024. It’s a very dark collection of songs that dig into the history and legacy of 1930s European fascism and the 1950s U.S. Red Scare. Amateur is no less political, but the approach is much lighter than Un-American Activities, both in terms of the sound and the lyrics.
When you do say, “fuck it, I’m doing this because I want to do it. That’s the reward,” it’s liberating. And what makes Amateur a really compelling statement in favor of reclaiming amateurism as a form of protest is how Nilsson captures the sound of freedom throughout the album. There’s a brightness and levity that connects the songs, even as she plays with genres as seemingly disparate as punk (“Get a Life”) and house (“Classified”), and a sense of jubilation and liberation that shines through even lyrically-heavy songs like “How Much Is the World” and “Fatal Distraction.”
Overall, Amateur is an album that will, or at least should, make you think about what’s important in life and to take the time to do what you actually enjoy.
Amateur by Molly Nilsson is out now.
Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs or listen to the latest Beatique Mix. Follow on Instagram or Bluesky for more updates.
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