During the pandemic last year, while we were locked in observing the world from our various screens, Nigerian singer/songwriter DTS and his team dropped the brilliant ‘Heaven’—off his introductory project, now renamed, ‘The Social Experiment’’—launching his career in the music scene. In the months that would follow, DTS would release his second single, Soul Searching, with the newcomer gaining significant recognition.
It is 2021, and DTS is set to release the remix to his first single, Heaven, featuring breakout Nigerian singer and rising star, Buju, alongside a music video that was released today.
I’m trying to change the way people define the word, Heaven. Heaven means a lot of things, so I’m doing a lot with the audio, the visual, and the content in general. People think Heaven only means a place you go to after death. I want them to know it means more. I want to give them the experience it means more.
DTS
The psychedelic video begins with a warning that says, “WAKE UP, YOU’RE DISTRACTED. LIVE YOUR TRUTH. IMAGINE A WORLD MONEY CAN’T CONTROL,” before entrapping the viewer in its fluorescent effects and flashing bisexual lights glory. DTS says in his interview that there is a storyline behind the four characters we see in the visuals which are, DTS, Buju, Lilith, and a Masquerade (Egungun).
DTS plays as himself and a discoverer in this video. “Music is Heaven to me. An escape from the norm. A place where I will spend eternity making tunes and expressing feelings through sonic waves,” and that is also what we see of his character in the video. The character Lilith represents the controversial figure in Jewish folklore who was Adam’s first wife. She refused to lay beneath Adam because she was created equal to him.
When we asked DTS her correlation to the story, he reminded us of the challenge he had held for the promotion of Heaven when it was released in May. In the challenge, DTS had asked his listeners to tell what heaven meant to them. To many women, Heaven is equal to men and disbandment of patriarchy, just as Lilith represents. The Masquerade (Egungun) in Yoruba land represents a channel between the physical and the spiritual world. Buju plays as himself telling his story and meaning of Heaven in his lyrics in the song.
The individual stories do not associate with one another, rather they are intertwined and tell different individual meanings of the word, “Heaven”.
In creating the visuals, I wanted to define my artistry.
HEAVEN is produced by Xtremetheproducer and the music video is directed by Chukwua Nwobi & Ruby Okoro, courtesy of Urban Trybe, a creative conglomerate. Styled by Nezodo Emeka & Cosmas Akhere.
You can watch the video below.
