Maine native Amy Allen, who has been writing hit songs for others, released her debut solo album on Friday. Photo by Caity Krone

After years of writing hits for other singers, Maine’s Amy Allen released her debut solo album Friday.

The self-titled “Amy Allen” features 12 songs written and performed by Allen and was produced over the last few years, while Allen continued to write hits for others.

This spring and summer, two songs she co-wrote with singer Sabrina Carpenter, “Espresso” and “Please, Please, Please,” made the Billboard Top 10. Earlier this year, Justin Timberlake released a song Allen had helped write called “Selfish.” She was nominated for the 2023 Songwriter of the Year Grammy for the many hits she’s worked on.

Allen is a 2010 graduate of Waynflete School in Portland who grew up in South Portland and Windham. She played on her own and in a band before moving to Los Angeles around 2017 to work as a songwriter and, within a year and a half, had co-written radio hits for Selena Gomez and Halsey.

 

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In announcing her new album on Instagram Friday, Allen thanked her parents and her sisters for “believing in me from the moment I started writing songs in my bedroom / making very bad noise, and continuing to believe in me thru chasing this wild dream and career of mine.” She also thanked her manager and the collaborators who produced, played on, mixed and mastered her album.

Allen wrote that she’d “been wanting to write this collection of songs” since she started playing guitar at the age of 9. And she hoped listeners might connect emotionally with it.

“To anyone who’s listened to my songs in the past or is maybe listening now – I hope these songs make u feel seen/happy/devastated or really just any kind of emotion, and thank u for giving me a stream lol xx.”