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Yemi Alade, a Nigerian singer with 18 million followers on Instagram, is shaking up the afropop scene. Her new album Rebel Queen is set to be released on Friday, featuring prestigious collaborations like Ziggy Marley and Angélique Kidjo.
Yemi Alade is fearless. This thirty-something Nigerian singer dares to do what few of her peers do. “I do a lot of things that most of my colleagues won’t do, like sometimes keeping my natural hair, sometimes appearing without makeup,” she says with a smile during an interview with AFP in Paris.
Her musical style is equally daring, blending diverse influences without hesitation: American R’n’B, Jamaican dancehall, Congolese rumba, Nigerian afrobeat… The result is an eclectic and mixed afropop, where African and other languages coexist freely, from Yoruba to Igbo to Swahili, English and French.
Yemi Alade also likes to choose titles for her albums that become her nicknames. After Mama Africa in 2016, she is about to release Rebel Queen this Friday, an album that promises to be outstanding with prestigious collaborations. Ziggy Marley, Bob Marley’s son, features on the track Peace and Love, and Angélique Kidjo, a regular guest on her albums, is featured on the song African Woman. “She is a role model, I love everything she has to offer, she is phenomenal,” Yemi Alade enthuses about Kidjo.
The Nigerian’s talent also caught the eye of Beyoncé, who contacted her in 2019 to participate in her track My Power. “My team received an email, and they thought it was a scam. But when they showed me the email, I recognized the name of her company, and I said: ‘Respond!’” she recalls. The meeting with Queen B, “a dream come true and a great honor,” finally took place in London. “I am all the more proud because it was her love letter to Africa, a reminder of her roots.”
African music is attracting more and more attention, particularly afrobeat and South African amapiano, as the singer points out. “Nigeria has something special: in the 70s, there was Fela Kuti’s afrobeat, today, we hear a lot about Burna Boy and Wizkid.”
However, nothing predestined Yemi Alade to become a star. Coming from a large family, she grew up all over Nigeria due to her police officer father’s transfers. “As a child, I was part of a choir, then I joined a girl group. We were just having fun, that’s all. Even at university, but honestly, I didn’t want to become an artist.” It was a singing competition that a friend signed her up for that was the turning point. “The minute I won, a light bulb went off in my head: ‘You can make a career out of this.’”
Today, followed by 18 million followers on Instagram, Yemi Alade remains grounded. Far from the glitter, she describes herself as the girl next door, transformed on stage. “I am like that man in his office with his glasses, whom no one notices, and suddenly, he becomes Superman. On stage, I am on fire, and as soon as I’m done with the stage, I become myself again.” A more modest Yemi Alade, in a white shirt and black suit, as she was during the interview with AFP.
Her secret? “I always say that music chose me.” And she intends to continue breaking the mold, as in her upcoming tour, which will stop at the Zénith de Paris on September 21.
With AFP