Ones2Watch Home

Photo by by Beatriz Silvestre

In a world where having any impact is pressed to attention-seeking drama or divisive snippets, it's a welcome relief to listen to music that was clearly based upon depth of expression: multilingual, multi-genre, but rooted in old school hip-hop storytelling. Malammore left into our inbox with a cohesive adventure pack of songs that felt like lights in the sky. On his debut Aurora, the Portuguese singer and producer jumps into identity, ideas and spirituality over a dose of intoxicatingly rhythmic songs. Wanting to know more, we spun up some questions to dig in: 

OnesToWatch: Who is Malammore?  

Malammore: Malammore is my view of the world and of what I experience in its rawest form, without losing the beauty of poetry.

What is Aurora all about? 

Aurora, like the last song on the album, is used as a personification of hope, something that is becoming increasingly rare.

We dig your throwback sound, how’d that come about?   

Much of it is based on my influences and tastes, from fado and flamenco to rap. The new generation of rap or trap ends up having a style that I'm not interested in doing, but that I end up consuming. But I think there should be an extra interest in certain characteristic sounds, whether from your region, ancestry, or history, by the new generations. 

 Any collaborations or features? Who produced the album? 

Yes, I am privileged to have Bruno Gama with me on guitars, Portuguese guitar, and acoustic guitar, which adds a lot of authenticity to my music. The album is produced by No Icon, Rodrigo Marques, with whom I had the privilege of creating this album daily in the studio.

How do you decide what language to rap in? Or when to mix it up? 

I'm not an artist who is very fond of foreign words in music, but despite that, I use them as an homage or reference to someone, such as Brel, Martin Luther King, and Scorsese.

What is your goal for your debut? 

This is my first album, I don't want to set too many expectations, I want this project to give credibility to my work and make people think. 

Besides this excellent album, what else should we be on the lookout for? 

There will be a period of absorption of the album and then I will continue. There are collaborations I would like to do, and we'll see what 2026 has to bring.

What is inspiring you right now outside of music? 

Besides music, I am an actor. It is my first art form and the one I am most passionate about. Writing and music came later. Art and the way it is inevitably present in our lives fascinates me. There is a huge power in art. Another thing that impresses me, but for the worst reasons, and has huge power is politics. We live by rules that we cannot oppose and that we conform to, trivializing the evil in our lives.

Musically, who is new but making all the right moves? Who are your current OnesToWatch? 

I really like Mick Jenkins, author of conscious, intellectually evolved rap, almost as if he were reciting a poem instead of singing it. He has a calm and reflective style that everyone should listen to.