What truly is Afrobeats or Afropop?
When you strip it of its essence and you’re simply left with its core, what do you find?
Yemi Alade shows us the core in her new album ‘Rebel Queen’, which Deeds Magazine recently reviewed ahead of the release. The “Afropop Queen'' and global music icon created her sixth studio album and tenth project overall to showcase the essence of African feel-good music.
Affectionately known as “Mama Africa”, Yemi's deep-rooted love for her African heritage adds a unique charm to her artistry. The 35-year-old Grammy award and Latin Grammy award-winning Nigerian singer achieved widespread fame after her hit single ‘Johnny’. Since then she has released several albums including ‘King of Queens’, ‘Mama Africa” and ‘Woman of Steel’ and is now set to release her new album ‘Rebel Queen’.
The new 16-track album set to be released on 26 July features amazing line-up of artist collaborations – among them are Angélique Kidjo on ‘African Woman’, Ziggy Marley on ‘Peace and Love’, Innoss'B on ‘Lipeka’, as well as Konshens on ‘Baddie Remix’.
Let’s dive into the behind-the-scenes of this amazing work of art with Yemi.
What was the inspiration behind the title of the album?
‘Rebel Queen’, the album's title, is a victory name for me and my career so far. It's a victory name for my own personal culture, as I continue to rebel against popular opinion of how Afropop is supposed to be; of how I'm supposed to live my life, but as a woman, and even as a public figure.
The album itself is my interpretation of music that I fell in love with when I was way younger. I'm talking about the songs that I used to listen to when my parents would take me to family parties. I'm referring to the foundation of Afrobeats itself. So I decided to make my own rendition of those sounds that I love dearly. And, that's what it's really about.
Are there any people who inspired the tune for this album?
Honestly, this album is inspired by myself. I am my muse on this album. It's my tenth body of work and it's my best work ever to date. I'm honestly just marking a moment in my life where I feel like this is what I want to present to the world.
What do you want people to feel or learn when they listen to it?
First of all, I want everyone to understand that it was very difficult putting together the selection for the album. Because I record music a lot, making that selection in the first place was one of the toughest struggles that I had. Honestly, it took me about a year, and in that same year I continued to record more music and guess what? More music is there making it into the album, so it was like I was creating the problem, while finding a solution at the same time; so I was moving forward and moving backwards at the same time.
It was difficult choosing songs to be on this album because every song is just beautiful. I had to take out some songs that I will still be releasing as singles, but I just want everyone to know that every song was carefully selected for a special reason. And I honestly believe that it's going to resonate with a lot of people out there.
What can you say about your relationship with the artists you collaborated with on this album?
First of all, these artists are a few of my favourite artists in the world. Each and every one of them is unique and special in their own way. From Angelique to Ziggy Marley, KiDi, and Konshens. I mean, I'm just really blessed to have them share their gift with me on the song and in turn, share their gift with the world. Besides that, man, I just can't wait to share with you guys. I feel like a mother that is pregnant. I just want the world to see this baby.
You got your first Grammy through your collaboration with Angelique, and she's on this album. How did you meet?
Interesting. Okay. So, i've always loved her as a musician and before we met someone had introduced me to her via email, actually the person introduced me to her via her brother's email. So the person had emailed Angelique's brother and cc'd me, and I had spoken to him and told him I love Angelique and I just wanted to say “hi” to her.
He forwarded my email to Angelique, and Angelique said “hi, how are you, my darling?” We continued talking like that via email for about two years; once in a while we would say “hi” to each other. You know, I just loved her so much, I didn't want to put her on my WhatsApp; I never asked her for a number. And then, one day, my manager was like, “when are you going to ask this woman for her number?”
I'm like, “I don't know. We communicate by email and it's fine, right?” He said, “you can get closer to her”. And so I asked her for her WhatsApp number. She was more than happy to give it to me. And it turns out that not long after that, she was coming to Lagos, herself and Awilo Longomba. So they came to Lagos and I was also performing at the same show that they were performing at. And that was the first time I met her. And it felt like I had known her for years already.
Has your relationship progressed since then?
It's a blessing, I guess maybe because I stand to be corrected, but maybe because we tap from the same, very similar roots, and that is the African source. We are unapologetically African. And I believe that that is the blanket that envelopes both of us. She's like my music mother, you know. So, like mother, like child.
Was there anything about your creative process while creating this album that surprised you? Something unusual, or maybe something unique?
Every song has a story and I think, let me choose two songs that were quite surprising. Every time I listen to it, I shake my head.
One is ‘Peace and Love’, which is a song that features Ziggy Marley. That song in particular surprised me because it was a freestyle from beginning to end. I don't know where it came from. It was the last song I recorded at a music camp. So I had taken my team and my producer to Ghana. We had set up at a nice place and we were recording music for a week. And that was the last instrumental I put my vocals on before we left Ghana. And we had recorded over 25 songs already.
And that beat was just playing and I was in the corridor walking out of my room just going towards the living room. I just said, you know what, record me right now. I just kept going and going and going. I had so much we even took some out, you know. But It came from a very happy place. I could see the picture of what I was singing so clearly. I was feeling nostalgic and thinking of the time when I was a kid growing up and there'll be kids in the streets playing football, laughing, clapping, some crying.
You know, just that picture, that moment, I tried to put it in a song at the same time. I just always say that I feel like a vessel. Musicians are vessels, you know.The idea of music is magical. It comes through us, but it's not exactly from us. And that song surprised me.
The other song that surprised me is the song called ‘I'm Sorry’. Because I didn't expect to say the things I said in the song, but everything that I said was just perfect and I stand by it.
‘Karibu’ was my favourite. What was the inspiration behind it?
Yo, that song was produced by Selebobo. We hadn't linked up in a while. So we linked up in Atlanta and we met several times and we were always talking about going to the studio. And I had played him the whole album and he was like, the album is finished now. What's the need? I said, no, no, no, you are missing from the album and he started making the instrumental. He made the instrumental all night and then the next day he returned after, you know, going back home to refresh. He returned the next day and we made the music you know, we made a party banger.
Of all the songs, ‘Bop’ is the one that stands out the most. Why is it so different?
That is a very good observation. And if you have an opportunity to watch me on stage, I literally take my audience to different continents and through different genres. From R&B to Jazz to Salsa to Highlife to Afrobeats back to Makuta and then I take you to Dancehall and Raga and Reggae. So like I'm that one person that would never want to keep my listeners bored. I want you to stay curious. I want you to, you know, take the same pace as I am taking.
‘Bop’ is a raga-influenced dancehall song. It's a song of emancipation, it's a song for champions, really. And to know me as an artist is to know that raga and reggae and dancehall is one of my strengths and one of my favorites. So like most of my core fans they know for sure that there's no way I'm going to release an album without something from that side.
So you don’t feel like you've been constricted to the afro genre?
You know what's crazy? That thing you call Afro and the idea of Afrobeats, It's not just the type of instrumental, it's actually the culture. The culture is the way you pronounce your words, the inspiration behind your melodies, those are the things that are actually Afro. So with that in mind, you can even sing an opera with that same Afro whatever. So in all, I know I'm trying to say that, My Afro influence is who I am.
It is exactly who I am. It does not limit me in any way. I don't feel like it's a limitation. I think I feel very excited when I hear new infusions with Afrobeats because I'm like, wow, where did this come from. This is another take on what we already have. I don't think there is any constriction or limitation or whatever. To take away the Afrobeat will be to take away the accent, to take away the melodies, to take away the style. It's no longer Afrobeat.
Tell us about the listening parties to promote the release?
July has been such an eventful month in between events because I had some shows in New Jersey and in London, and Paris, I think. In a beautiful village in Paris called Carcassonne. It's a very historical village. And in between that, we planned and executed listening parties in central Paris, in central London, and also in central New York, Soho, Manhattan and we will be having one in Lagos too.
To have done this, to set this up for listeners in the same month has been a blessing and I wouldn't say it's been easy. But it's been a blessing to connect directly with people who love my music, people who are music enthusiasts, some people who don't even know my music but they decided that they love the sound. Some people that don't even know Afrobeat at all were also in attendance and it reconnected and resonated with them.
And for Lagos, I'm hoping to wrap it up with a big bang so the album can finally be out.
Evidently, Yemi’s journey that she has travelled to get to ‘Rebel Queen’ is a testament to her authenticity, bold spirit and global domination. Her sixth studio album, ‘Rebel Queen’ drops on 26 July and will be available for streaming and download on all major music streaming platforms.
