- Words Notion Staff
London Reggaeton artist, Amber Donoso, chats with Sebastian Downing, founder of ForeverGood, about their collaborative clothing line.
Throughout Amber Donoso’s career, her goal has always been to forge a brand new path which stays true to her Latin background.
Donoso spent much of her childhood travelling back and forth between the UK and Chile, and she’s used that bicontinental life to fuel her love for music and songwriting. She has blended musical influences from both sides of her identity, grounded above all in South American rhythms and the sounds of reggaeton.
In Miami’s Rebel 11 Studios, Donoso worked with top sound engineers and producers who have collaborated with the likes of Bad Bunny and Justin Timberlake. The exciting results of that hard work have been seen in a collection of singles which have introduced the world to a truly gifted new artist, including “Cheer You Up”, and this year’s “Candela”.
Now, Donoso has taken her bold ethos beyond music, collaborating with ForeverGood founder Sebastian Downing on a brand new clothing line. With an event introducing their work set to be held in December, we sat down with Donoso and Downing to find out everything about this intriguing new creative collaboration.
Seb, you’re the founder of the agency. What is ForeverGood, and how do you support up-and-coming creatives?
Seb: ForeverGood is a brand and all-inclusive classic car showroom/garage located in London Bridge. We fund and support creatives through our space and network of like-minded creatives and industry leaders, from classic car enthusiasts all the way to musicians. Our main aim is to put people who would never usually connect into the same room and engage through ForeverGood formats of events, clothing, and general loitering!
What is the concept of ForeverGood?
Seb: The concept, in my eyes, is based on the need for minorities, especially women to be able to be seen in and around cars as more than a token accessory. Since the pandemic, we have seen a real shift from the usual heteronormative views of women in general, but the car industry as a whole still has not taken a lot of forward steps and you still find minorities in every sense marginalized and forced to fit certain companies outdated rhetoric. Considering the incredible work that has been done with veterans and other marginalized groups it is still very rare to see a woman or person of colour represented in this industry in any way shape or form and even more so if you are young and the representation of classic cars especially encompasses those problems more than ever.
Amber Donoso: I wanted to showcase through the images the beauty of women and cars. I think we still associate cars with being a ‘male’ sport or hobby. As an artist, I think it’s important to inspire and provoke thoughts to your followers. The more ways you can do this the better. I feel I lyrically do this in my songs, but I also wanted to showcase this through images. Seb provided the beautiful cars and space, which I styled, did hair and make up and creative direction for the shoot. It was important for me to use a photographer who could really capture what I was looking for. Rachel Sherlock who I worked with many times was perfect for this. She very much stands for female empowerment as well as being unbelievably talented. She is an absolute dream to work with.
How did this partnership come about?
Amber: I met Sebastian on the set of my music video for “Diosa Sensual”. I loved how easy-going and easy he was to work with. His energy was electric, infectious and very kind. As soon as he started telling me about ForeverGood and what it stands for I was automatically sold and wanted to collaborate.
What made you decide to work together?
Amber: I love what ForeverGood stands for, and how inclusive it is, which comes down to how Seb himself is. He wants to celebrate people who are authentically themselves and wants to help share people’s message and art. I mean… If you look at the cars which are presented in the space where all the events and photoshoots take place, you’d have to be silly to not want to work with them! They’ve got the most iconic and old school cars. I don’t drive personally, but I’ve always had a love of beautiful cars. I find them fascinating and timeless.
Seb: What made me want to work with Amber? Honestly… the ease of it all. Her kindness fills the room, and we just click. Her work ethic and ability to make me feel comfortable doing stuff that I would never have dreamed of, like sitting with my top off, draped in fabric, for her latest single’s music video. More importantly, she opened me up to a totally new world of music that I would never have ever come across which is always refreshing.
What activity will you be teaming up on?
Seb: We have collaborated on a photoshoot, also we have teamed up to create some wonderful ribbed-vests and have a few events lined up for winter, the first being on 3rd December at ForeverGood (54 Druid St, London SE1 2EZ).
What is your goal for the ForeverGood brand for the next year, and beyond?
Seb: I honestly would love to do some work with an automotive company and design a range or advise on how to be more inclusive and connect classic cars to a younger audience. We have just acquired a truck stop next to a racetrack in Norfolk called the Avanti Grill so we will be looking at throwing a very different sort of music festival this coming summer in tandem with a more interesting collection of clothes.
How does the collaboration tie in with your other current projects?
Amber: I recently released my single “Diosa Sensual” and wanted to follow that up with something still very much in line with what I do, but with a light twist. My latest single “Aventura” is the perfect combination between Reggaeton and UK music. The song came about really organically as I was shooting a music video clip in a studio and both producers Daecolm and Biggs were arriving for their studio session. They asked me if I would be interested in staying and working with them, which I was honoured to. The song came about within a couple of hours and the vibe was amazing in the studio. I was also joined by my guitarist Javier Orobio at the time who also features in the track production-wise. I’m really excited to share this project with the world and really hope it’s received with open arms. It was made with a lot of love!
How can people keep up to date with you both?
Amber: Seb and I have projects lined up together which I’m really excited for. We are currently working on a the merch collaboration together – as previously mentioned by Seb.
I am also performing at ForeverGood for the first time on the 3rd of December. This will be a show to remember and everyone is invited to come join. Check both my socials (@amberdonoso) and ForeverGood’s (@forevergoodldn) for more details! I’ll see you there!