There’s an exhilarating feeling that comes with discovering a new artist or sound for the very first time. You want to hear the song over again and listen to more music by the artist. That novelty is quite thrilling.
In Nigeria, the epicentre of West Africa’s infectious sound, Afrobeats, its reach rampantly spreads like the population does. The music has almost become the de-facto antidote to the struggles that come with living in a third world country.
Not only is Nigeria one of the biggest consumers of music, it also ticks the box for being a major music-production powerhouse. Young Nigerian artists discover the joy music brings and hatch this passion which evolves into a music career.
One can kickstart an independent music career from the four corners of a bedroom. The respective ease and reach of streaming services and social media presents a unique autonomy to current independent and budding artists.
As the music industry landscape continues to change and evolve, so has the talent that comes from each genre. Each of these artists vary in sound–gritty rap, afro-hop, soulful R&B to rap music –– and are on their way to becoming music’s next big things. They range from SoundCloud sensations to artists getting co-signs from Mr Eazi and international record labels.
Still, the local music scene is very much male-dominated, and it is rare to see women, asides from the big 5 –Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade, Simi, Teni and Niniola –– rise to the top of the charts or break out of this androcentric trend. However, the next generation of African stars have signaled a desire to bring balance and create a new pop narrative.
Through creativity, self-awareness and vulnerability, more young women are rising to the task, breaking the ranks and making the future of Nigerian music an exciting prospect. One of these new exciting acts is 19 year old Chidozie Godsfavour Ugochinyere, professionally known as Fave.
The relative newcomer first tasted limelight when she jumped on a free beat shared by Jinmi Abduls on Twitter. In her freestyle video she effortlessly synced melodies over one of Jinmi’s groovy beats and accidentally became a viral sensation. This moment helped expose Fave to new audiences and fans, including a few entertainment executives enthusiastic about her artistic prowess.
The freestyle was later released as a proper record titled N.B.U (Nobody But You) and recently crossed the 100k mark on Apple Music. A big deal for a fresher doing music in a country where the majority of people haven’t cozied up to paying for content.
To be clear, Fave had already made a statement prior to now. She had two singles out –– ‘M.O.M.M.S’ which got featured on three Ndani TV shows, and ‘DAL’ her 2020 debut.
Fave is undoubtedly poised to join the distinguished group of new-gen Nigerian R&B prodigies trailblazing the music industry. In the calm before this storm, I spent some time with her over the phone during the heat of the pandemic.
MOREBRANCHES: Hello Fave, where does this interview find you? Is there music playing in the background? If so, what is it?
Fave: Hello! I’m currently munching on something and there’s no music playing. Just enjoying the quiet.
What music gets you instantly out of a bad mood or one song you are loving more these days?
Fave: It has to be Beauty by Bez, very nice and catchy song. SBCNCSLY by Black Koffee too. Heard it recently and I haven’t stopped listening to it. Literally the first thing I do when I open my app.
Growing up, was music always a big part of your life? Can you recall your earliest musical memory?
Fave: Yes music has always been a big part of my life, I’ve always been a chorister since 6. That’s the qualifiable age to join the choir in my church back then.
What made you finally decide to embrace your passion for music and put that on display?
Fave: hmm… that’s actually deep. I just finally made the decision, like fuck it. Everyone knew I liked music including my parents. So I guess its something that didn’t stop coming. There are some things we enjoy doing as kids and when we grow up we outgrow them, but that wasn’t music for me. It just happened so. When I found out I could make music in room, I was in school at that time. I heard a beat and I was just like no I want to jump on this. Studios were quite scarce there because I schooled in OAU, Ife. So I hooked up with a mate who had a studio, hit him up like ‘hey how much will it cost for a session’. We concluded on a price and that’s how M.O.M.M.S came about.
I didn’t like that every time I told someone I could sing and when they asked for proof, I had nothing to show for it. But M.O.M.M.S was the beginning of something. I didn’t plan to take it seriously, I just wanted to put it on Soundcloud and Audiomack. Even the producer was like ‘why will you just want to put this song out without a strategy, it’s a really good?‘ and all that. I just wanted a link to send to people. But when it was released, people really loved it and I had to put up on other platforms.
You showed up to the scene as a professional artist about 10 months ago, how has your experience in the Nigerian music industry been so far?
Fave: well I’m probably just scratching the surface. I don’t really know but I have come close to realise that when you adore something, it’s just best to watch it come closer. People aren’t really what they portray themselves to be. I have always been told that the industry was a dangerous place but I didn’t know it was this serious. There’s a relationship network there, so you have to walk on eggshells and not piss anyone so you don’t lose any contacts. Just do your own bits. But meeting new people has been nice anyway. I don’t really know if i’m fully in the music industry yet, I just record my songs and put out and God helps me get the songs to places it should get to. I don’t think I’ve done promotion for any of my songs. No I actually haven’t. People just find it, love it and promote it. I’m really enjoying my twitter fam right now because ‘e be like say they carry my matter for their head.’
Like when N.B.U freestyle came out, because it was already anticipated, people kept on retweeting and gushing over how much they love the song, and till now no promotion. I don’t know but you can’t say I know someone in the industry. I’m really just moving with God and vibes. I can really say much about the industry but the journey has been rough, people say you need to lick ass, act like a moron and all.
Sometimes you know people are just moving with you to get a share of something, it gets boring sometimes and you just want to quit and focus on school. But because music is a passion for me, it’s that one thing in this world that makes me super super super happy. There was a time where I almost quit because I will enter for instagram video challenges but I never won. Fully knowing that the winners were no where near me musically and it just sort of affected my self esteem. Telling people to repost or retweet my songs. It’s embarrassing.
Even when I make mouth that I’m never doing it again, I wake up the next morning and find myself writing. My friends love my music too so they are always encouraging. I will say am not doing and my friends will be like ‘is it not you hmmm, you’ll go back to it’.
Before putting out the freestyle video of you singing on Jinmi Abduls beats, have you had any work relationship with him prior to that?
Fave: No, jinmi Adbuls wasn’t even following me. We weren’t following ourselves I guess. I knew him but there was no relationship before then.
How did you feel when the video was blowing up on the internet?
Fave: It was amazzziiing! You know it’s different when you have planned towards something or you haven’t slept days and nights because of it? You already have the mindset that you want people to be blown away and appreciate the work. It feels nice yeah, but it is completely different when you just wake up one morning and write four lines with no plans, just felt it sounded nice, put it up on social media with hopes that about 30 people like it and share. And when that happens, it turns out that people not only like it, but are obsessed with. Post it on their walls, hype you up, use the song for skits, make their own covers and even ask you for more. It is so refreshing.
My mind was blown honestly because I wasn’t expecting the reception I got I just kept thanking God. I felt like my type of music appeals to many people and makes them happy. N.B.U went to places I didn’t expect, I felt loved and it felt so good can’t lie. It got me recognition from influential music heads, the public ones like Empawa, Adekunle gold and there’s more in the DMs that am not allowed to say. It’s funny because I can say that freestyle video changed my life. Who would expect a one minute video I did in my bedroom to do that. It’s a story I can’t stop talking about, its like that story, my own story!
Let’s talk about your N.B.U as a record on its own, what influenced the music, is there a story behind?
Fave: not really, there is a story but it’s not my story. I like to write about stories that people can relate with. I come up with the lyrics in my head but it doesn’t really mean I have experienced it. You don’t have to before you can sing about it.
I’ve probably never written a song that was born out of a personal feeling at the moment, never let my feelings influence my songwriting I don’t know why. It’s like most times the beat influences what I sing about. That’s how I set the pace for the song. When I hear the beat am like okay, what do I want this music to be entered around. For N.B.U, the first line that came to my head was ‘if I fly away and go hunting will you come with me’, from those words, it was easy to know what the rest of the song would be about. More like a lover asking the other for assurance or reassurance. Will you follow me if I want to do this, am I on my own on this one or will you bail. I guess that’s the story behind.
Do you have plans to push the song even more, let’s say make a video?
Fave: I don’t have plans to push the song, but speaking about a video, I do not have the right answer now.
When do you hope to put out more original new music and full-length album of new songs? Are you currently in the studio working on music?
Fave: No I am not working on any music, I am isolating at home. I deff want to put out more music in the future but I’m not in the studio right now. Still don’t mean because i’m aways working on new music
How did you feel when your songs got featured on NdaniTV’s shows?
Fave: It felt great, I felt good at least my songs were on TV even if I wasn’t. I was happy that people were hearing my songs and hiting me up like ‘yo! I heard your song on Ndani kini kan kini kan’. I got some satisfaction knowing that they identified my sound, they know my song and they were ready to share with the world. It made me happy.
You had a viral concert with Social Block Party a few weeks back, how was the experience? Getting on stage but reaching your fans via the internet?
Fave: It was really great, I felt like I was actually there. The MC guy, Livewire has a way of hyping and helping you connect. He is very lively and made me feel like it was really happening. The whole experience was really nice and people kept asking me to sing more songs but the network kept messing up.. I enjoyed it for real
Who are some of your favourite artists, who inspires you and your sound? What musicians would you absolutely love to work with in the future?
Fave: My favourite artist that continues to inspire me is Teni. I love her music but it doesn’t inspire me. I love her as a person, as an individual. She speaks to me and I’ve been following her since before Fargin. I always loved watching her freestyle video at that time because she was so original and happy. She enjoyed what she was doing, without thinking about what people will say. She’s just very jovial and lives a kind of life –– ‘state and shame unto you all power belongs to Jesus’ that type of thing. I just see her stuff and am happy. She may not have said it but she just gives that type of do what you like and be happy vibes. I don’t think there’s any artiste in the world I admire as I admire teni when it comes to personality
Which musicians inspire my music, I will say Adele, Sia, Shaggy and Lana and Lorde. There’s a bunch of them but that’s top top. Always been listening to them from like let’s say 10. Adele most especially influenced my sound a lot. My favourite artists are Wande coal, Duncan mighty, Santi and Billie Ellis. I will love to work with Santi, Burna Boy, Kida Kudz and some British artists I rate dearly.
Tell us about your creative process. How do you create, are there any rituals per se? Do you write first then create the melody? Or you write to the melody?
Fave: My creative process okay, sometime I’m just on my own and lines come to me so I grab a note and put down melodies. I also get my phone and record because I’m really forgetful. But that’s different, if I get a beat in my mail, I record immediately I listen to the beat cos I have a recording app on my phone so when I’m done, I go back and play and try to restructure a few things to make it make sense. The is a process I haven’t done in a while though. I kinda outgrew that process. I started writing and singing while the beat is playing and rinse and repeat. So I do both simultaneously, its like a two way process. Its even faster and easier for me.
What do you hope fans take away from your music?
Fave: hmm thinking about it, I really don’t know how to answer this question. I just want people to relate and resonate with all of my music. I also want my fans to be able to identify my sound anywhere, because the originality and style. For them to also understand music is what I love to do and its my life and you listen to it with the same passion with which its born.
We will love to know more about your other interests.
Fave: Music is my life, like from 1 to 10, music comes like 9 times. What will come next will be painting, not like i’m that good or I’ve a plain brush canvass and all. While people use their toes to paint and all that put your legs in kitchen sink, I just grab my paper and pencil and or some draw with a design app I use. I do it in my spare time I probably should take it more seriously.
I’m a law student in school so that should probably be my interest but it is not. I’m just doing that because I need to go to school. The rest are songwriting and going to the studio. I want to be able to make beats and all, all my interests encompass music so that’s just really it for me.
In terms of your artistry, do you think you approach this year is any different than you did last year?
Fave: I do not know but I will say yes. I wasn’t really doing freestyles last year. I haven’t really told people the but I never really enjoyed putting this out. When I started music my aunts will be like ‘upload your covers and puton instagram, tag Davido and mayorkun’ and all of that. I will sit down and try recording and then I start feeling anxious.
I also had issues showing my face cos I felt I looked scary while singing. Those were the major issues. I also realised I enjoyed singing my own lyrics rather than do covers because its my own zone. When I grew out of that, it was now the whole face problem but that’s over now. I realised I couldn’t record all the songs at once so I just converted some to freestyles and put it out. Now I know more producers than before so we’re always vibing and becauseI’im always delivering, I have so many songs in my archives. I enjoy freestyling and I don’t think am stopping soon. It’s really stressful cos for every freestyle I put out, I do like 20 videos lol. I don’t message people no more to retweet, I just focus on my originality and delivery.
Close your eyes and picture what your career looks like in 5 years from now. What do you see?
Fave: (**excited**) I see success. I see growth honestly. I definitely don’t see my self at this stage that am at in another five years. I see myself doing so much bigger, many collaborations and of course, on the big stage.
Any inspirational quote or mantra you live by especially in tough times like this that you will like to share with your fans?
Fave: I’ve one yes! Tough times never last only tough people do. I know its from a meme video but its just always coming to my head. It’s real, like seasons come and go, and you’ve to be solid to withstand it, you’re not shafts so you shouldn’t be easily blown away, don’t let anything that comes influence your stance and never give up because things are hard. It’s my philosophy
There’s another one, just be you and do you, its the best advice. The reward of your hardwork will always find you.
