Excerpts:
Tell us about your new album?
The album is entitled Naked and it also has two singles. The first single is Pray for Me, featuring The Soweto Gospel Choir and the second one is called Asiko Laye, featuring Olamide.
What inspired the two singles?
Pray for Me is a heavy inspirational song. Some people will think it’s gospel but the motive is to motivate and inspire. We’re talking about the unsure nature of the world. There are times when we leave home and it’s not actually a good time and in our parents’ eyes, we’re always babies even though you are 40 years-old. There are times you take certain decisions and you don’t know what the outcome will be. Anybody can identify with Pray for Me. You know, when you step out of the house in the morning you are in God’s hands. That’s what the song is metaphorically expressing. And Asiko Laye is similar to the first single and it talks about time and season. You wait for your time and enjoy yourself; and while you wait you need to be positive and happy.
How did you bring The Soweto Gospel Choir in for the single?
We have mutual friends. I got their contacts and spoke with them. I sent them two different songs which we actually recorded. They loved both of them but preferred one. Then we went to South Africa and recorded everything. Again, these are guys that have been nominated for the Grammys and have won twice. You expect people like that to be larger than life but they are easy going and I found it quite humbling that the people we look up to are just so simple. The Soweto Choir is passionate about music and are easy going; that’s what made me feature them.
You did something with Asa recently, will she be on the album?
Yes, she will be on the album. Asa and I recorded before she was in Lagos. Coincidentally, she came to Lagos for the grand finale of Nigerian Idols Season 5 so we used that opportunity to go to the studio and wrap up what we had started, and a few weeks after that we finished the song. You’ll be hearing Asa in a way you’ve never heard her before. I also collaborated with Cobhams on the album.
With Olamide in Asiko Laye, are you not deviating from your usual ballad style?
Remember I featured 9ice in Style & Style, Tuface in Carry Dey Go and Flavour in Sisi Eko remix. It’s not that I’ve deviated but it’s all about collaboration. It’s two different worlds coming together and you want to see how it sounds. The basic idea is to have a blend. First, it’s his music (Olamide) that prompted the collaboration. I’m a big fan of his and he brought so much energy into the single.
The kind of music Nigerians sing and dance to is the fast paced one but you still stay glued to your mid tempo kind of music. Is that not worrisome to you?
It’s all the grace of God. You know how the market is. I’ve been around many cities in Nigeria and outside the country but the reaction one gets whether one is performing or not is encouraging. For example, I went to Festac Town, Lagos, when I was doing the Most Underayted Show. I was with my camera crew trying to catch people at the bus stops and get them to sing or dance on the spot. And then I saw these kids playing in front of their home.
As soon as they saw me they started shouting in Yoruba that I was the musician that sang Not the Girl. That reaction alone was good for my music. We love hip hop, Afro pop and all of that but we cannot always listen to that kind of music. We’re all emotional beings. We have to make music that speaks to people’s emotions. Some of us might try to be hard on the outside but we all have those vulnerable moments. If it’s five per cent of the population that loves the music and the style, I’m okay provided they’re paying the bills. You see, in music you must have some stubbornness and stick to your guns and sooner than later, people will accept you for who you are. It’s like Kim Kardashian doing what she likes. cian that sang
How do you feel about her posing nude all over the place?
She didn’t take her clothes off when I brought her. Let’s discuss it in context. Her coming here was to play a certain role which she did so effortlessly. Those that didn’t understand her job description would say that she was here for 45 minutes. Why will somebody come all the way from America to Nigeria for 45 minutes? First of all, she spent about a day here and also granted an exclusive interview with a media platform. Could she have done that within 15 minutes? We didn’t promote her as everybody’s role model when we brought her. We simply said Red Carpet Show with Kim Kardashian. Apart from the fact that she is a stylist by profession, she is famous for a plethora of reasons. She is into cosmetics, has a clothes line and is into perfumes. Now you can tell me whether she’s a role model or not. She could be a role model depending on what you choose to idolize about her. When you say she’s taking off her clothes everywhere, remember that she’s married and has people that give her permission to that. Bringing her here was purely a business decision. If you ask me whether I’m okay with her posing nude, that’s a totally different question.
What happened to the Underrated Show?
We did it and gave a prize of N1million cash to the winner. I think we just moved on to other projects. However, people are clamoring for something like that; hoping we can do something bigger than that in the near future.
Is it right to say Darey is moving from R&B to gospel music because of the collaboration with Soweto Choir?
I recorded the song in December 2014 and I enjoyed listening to it. But I could hear the inner voice choir on it. By February I was in London recording a live performance of the song. They were not in the picture at that point. After returning I felt that something was missing in the song. I reached out to them and then I was in SA recording with them in March. I’ve been a fan of their music and listened to their sound; I wanted to be very strategic.
Other artistes like Timi Dakolo are also favorably disposed to this slow kind of music. Are you guys deliberately trying to create a trend?
In the last couple of years there’s been a surge of organic music and mid-tempo is coming back. Look at Niyola’s Too Bad and Adekunle Gold’s Sade. There are cerebral people out there making heartfelt and emotional music. Much as we love the ginger songs, we must pay attention to other kinds of music. In the late 80s and early 90s, Nigeria was the biggest consumer of reggae music; we are very diverse. We can’t say we have a music industry if we only listen to one kind of music except we want to call it the Afro pop industry.
What inspired Naked?
It’s a metaphorical representation of my emotions. I feel vulnerable and my soul is open. In the album you find one song or the other that speaks for you. I want to make music such that if people cannot find the right words to express their emotions, they could just play my music and connect with themselves. It’s like Not the Girl. Some people have said the track brought them back to their girlfriends. I just imagine how a song that talks about break-up could do that. It’s funny but we react to music in different ways. The Naked album is the representation of those emotions where you remove all your barriers and walls of defense and become vulnerable.
How does it make you feel when people ascribe the title The King of R&B to you in Nigeria?
All these things are titles. Whether you are called king, prince or pauper, it doesn’t really matter. It’s the music that we need to focus on. You could have the title today and tomorrow it could be taken away from you. Nobody’s a champion forever. We’re all in the game together and I think what’s important is the brotherhood and sisterhood among musicians. I don’t care whether you call me king or even up-and-coming singer; for me, it’s just the music.
How is it like being an entertainer and husband?
There are lots of people who are actors, actresses and musicians and they still stay married. You just have to juggle it, put your priority in place and get the job done. It’ stressful but it just has to be done.
The Sun
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