Wicked Animal

Amandla Stenberg is a talented musician and actress known for her roles in Everything, Everything, The Hunger Games and Bodies Bodies Bodies. She was included in Time's list of Most Influential Teens in both 2015 and 2016, and has received several accolades, including a Teen Choice Award, an NAACP Image Award, and nominations for four Black Reel Awards and a Critics' Choice Award. She is also set to star in the next highly anticipated Star Wars series.

In addition to acting, Stenberg has been globally praised for her crusade towards improving society and sparking thoughtful conversation, using social media as a platform to spread social awareness and knowledge.

Off the screen she plays the drums, violin and guitar and has several critically acclaimed musical releases leading up to her song “Wicked Animal,” which is featured in the Jacqueline Castel directed film My Animal, written by Jae Matthews from Boy Harsher, which Stenberg also stars in alongside Bobbi Salvör Menuez. Stenberg wrote, produced and plays everything on the track which perfectly encapsulates the film’s seductive, fever dream of desire, isolation and self-actualization.

Amandla Stenberg says of the track:

I wrote this track from the bathroom of a hotel in a tiny town situated between mountains of snow in northern Ontario during the filming of our movie "My Animal". Sometimes my costar Bobbi and I wandered up and down the icy block that made up downtown, but most of the time we found solace from the cold in our room together, singing on handheld karaoke mics. This song came from that place of deep isolation and playfulness. It was inspired by the themes of the movie and the alchemy of the set our director Jacqueline Castel created. Bobbi is a werewolf struggling with the decision to give into their dark, feral, powerful nature. It had me thinking about what parts of ourselves we meet when we placate our most taboo desires. There is a danger to hedonism, but a power as well.

Bobbi wrote a poem about our characters that they spoke aloud for the bridge. My dear friend Juice Jackal came on for some additional production once we all came home from our fantastic frozen fever dream. It was recorded on my iPhone mic, which I actually really love the sound of. I love writing music when I'm on set-- the spirit of the film always takes on a lifeblood of its own and injects itself into everything you touch.