The first new music from Willa Ford in over two decades, amanda is both a bold rebirth and a brave reclaiming of a dream nearly destroyed. After joining a longtime friend for a series of informal songwriting sessions in 2023, the Northern California-based artist quickly reconnected with her long-dormant musical passion, tapping into the formidable talent previously shown in co-writing songs like her Top 40 breakout hit “I Wanna Be Bad.” But as she delved deeper into the creative process, Ford suffered her first bout with a type of seizure known as PNES—a phenomenon later found to be triggered by unresolved trauma closely tied to her past experience in music. While working through that trauma and learning to cope with her condition, she dove back into music with an even fiercer sense of purpose, soon arriving at the sublime catharsis of amanda: a triumphant return delivering equal parts pure pop pleasure and daring self-revelation.

“When I first started writing these songs, I didn’t know what I was writing for,” says Ford. “But if I hadn’t unlocked certain things through my music, I don’t know if the seizures would have started—and it’s because of the seizures that so much has finally come to light. It feels remarkable to get to this place after all these years, and to be putting out a record that’s been incredibly healing for me.”

With its title taken from her birth name, amanda marks the first complete manifestation of Ford’s dynamic musicality—an element honed through her classical training as an opera singer, as well as her background in writing alongside luminaries like Grammy-winning hitmaker Diane Warren. “When I first got signed my label had no idea what to do with me, so they just kept sending me into writing rooms,” says Ford, who began singing professionally at age 11 in her home state of Florida and inked a major-label record deal at 18. “I was working with legends at a very young age, and it was a massive education in songwriting.” Although three tracks on amanda feature a 26-piece orchestra recorded at the famed EastWest Studios in Los Angeles, the album mostly came to life at a converted studio inside the barn at Ford’s home in Woodside, where she lives with her husband and children. Executive-produced by Willa and Jonathan Bluth (the close friend who initiated that first round of writing sessions) and made with a close-knit lineup of producers/co-writers, the album matches its raw emotional intimacy with a larger-than-life and dance-ready sound—ultimately spotlighting the extraordinary force of Ford’s voice and vision like never before.

The first song written for amanda, the LP-opening lead single “Burn Burn” makes for a magnetic introduction to Ford’s new musical chapter. “When we started on ‘Burn Burn’ I just wanted to write a fun pop song, but over time the lyrics kept evolving,” she says. “Eventually it became a song about burning all the false stories we tell ourselves and the beliefs that don’t serve us anymore. It’s for every gay person who’s been told to be ashamed for loving who they love, or any woman who’s been shamed for being a working mom—as a society, there are so many lies that we need to burn down.” In a feat of pop alchemy emblematic of the entire album, “Burn Burn” transforms Ford’s inner monologue into a glorious anthem of self-salvation, setting her hypnotic vocals to a hard-hitting backdrop of shimmering textures and darkly throbbing grooves.

One of the most revealing tracks on amanda, “Disassociate” offers an up-close and unflinching look at Ford’s experience with PNES (i.e., psychogenic nonepileptic seizures). “Through working with neuroscientists and neuro-psychs we learned that my brain had blocked out certain traumatic events, and that those events were interconnected with music—so it makes sense that I wanted to stay away from music for so many years,” she says. Propelled by pulse-pounding rhythms and incandescent synth, “Disassociate” viscerally details the sensation of her seizures while channeling an unstoppable determination to keep moving forward (from the second verse: “Out-of-body vertigo/Like a fire without a warning/Can’t fight a demon you don’t know/You got to see the hurt you’re holding”). “The more I learn about what happened to me, the better my chances are of no longer having the seizures,” she explains. “In the meantime, I don’t know if I’ll will have a seizure during a photo shoot, or when I’m up onstage performing—I have no idea when one might happen next, but I do know that I’ll never let fear get in the way of music for me again.”

As the spellbinding centerpiece to amanda, the extravagantly composed “Carousel” fully showcases the immense depth of Ford’s sonic vocabulary and musical imagination. Recorded at EastWest with award-winning arranger/composer/producer Vincent Ott, the gorgeously shapeshifting track surfaced as she revisited the symphonic pop of Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys (an essential touchstone since childhood), bringing lavish strings and wildly alternating tempos to a tender reflection on the adventure of being alive. “It’s about the ride of life and all the highs and lows—sometimes you get dizzy and fall off, but then you pick yourself back up again,” says Ford. “The ride never stops going up and down, and the whole idea is to just keep getting back on that horse.”

Another sonically audacious moment, “Safe With Me” takes the form of an all-vocal and strangely enchanting track arranged by Ford, who also co-produced the song with Gustav Afsahi. Meanwhile, on “Love4Life,” she shares a euphoric ode to her husband, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Ryan Nece. “When I had a two-hour seizure and I was so scared, the only thing holding me through it was my husband’s eyes locking in on mine and telling me, ‘It will be okay, I’m here,’” she says. “I wrote ‘Love4Life’ for him, and all the gratitude I feel for the life we’ve built together.” And on “Tombstone,” amanda closes out with a soul-baring piano ballad. “The day I wrote ‘Tombstone,’ I was dealing with something intense related to the trauma and I felt really afraid,” she recalls. “I sat down at the piano with Vincent, and the first words that came out were ‘You can put it on my tombstone when you lay me to rest.’ That’s a really heavy lyric—but what I meant was that if tomorrow it was all over, I’d feel at peace knowing that I made it through something that could have ruined me.”

Spanning from the fantastically warped doo-wop of “Hammer” to the futuristic dance-pop of “Flex,” amanda reveals an artist with no limit to her self-expression—a monumental achievement for a multihyphenate talent who’s acted in a number of major films (including a role in the iconic Friday the 13th franchise) and founded the renowned interior-design firm WFord Interiors. For Ford, one of the most rewarding aspects of her musical reawakening lies in setting an example for her children. “My nine-year-old son is watching his mom choose to do the thing she loves most, which feels pretty special,” says Ford, who also has an infant daughter. “Ever since I became a mother I’ve felt a greater need to make a positive impact, and this album has shown me that pop music can be a medium for saying something that leaves the world in a more loving place.” With that in mind, she also aims to use her music as a vessel for helping those who share her struggle with trauma-related health issues. “A lot of people with PNES get misdiagnosed with epilepsy and put on medication that only makes it worse,” she points out. “I feel so fortunate to have found the right care, and now I feel like I owe it to others to build awareness of functional neurological disorders.”

Looking back on her journey toward amanda, Ford notes that her desire to lift up others played a key role in the album’s creation. “In the past when people asked why I wasn’t working on new music, I always felt like I didn’t have anything to say that could contribute something positive to the world,” she says. “Now I know that I wasn’t meant to put out a record until now, because I finally have something important to say.” To that end, Ford hopes that amanda might provide listeners with a powerful outlet on multiple levels. “Whatever this music makes you feel, go ahead and feel it—let it out of your body,” she says. “I’ve learned that you never know what you’re harboring inside, so I hope that my songs can help unlock those little pieces for people, and inspire them to talk to others about what they’re feeling. If my music can help anyone to open up to the people in their lives, and maybe come away feeling more loved, that would mean everything to me.”