I never envisioned the wide spread of my song ‘Maradona’-Niniola

When it comes to delivering mind-blowing and energetic performance; Ekiti state born singer, Niniola Apata sure fits into the list of artists whose creative art is second to none. Niniola who first came to prominence shortly after participating in music reality show, MTN Project Fame; born and raised in Lagos state, Niniola attended Apata Memorial School and the University of Lagos where she studied Biology Education.

Niniola who never attended a musical school nor play any form of musical instrument is sure your delight whom you can pay to watch live at an occasion. With her debut ‘This Is Me’, she spoke with MUTIAT ALLI on the new album, why no female artists is on the album, the role of government in the entertainment industry amongst others.

Enjoy:

So your new album just dropped, how excited are you?

I am super excited, I am very thankful to everybody who has supported me from day one and thankful to God first of all. This is my debut album and I am just very grateful because is the first time am putting out an album, I had like ten songs out already but this is the proper album.  I’m super excited about it.

With ten songs out already; why did it take you so long to come out with an album?

Yes you may say it took me so long to deliver an album but the real fact is that I wanted people to understand the brand name Niniola, because I am known to have done lots of RNB songs but my root generally is Afro-House and when I saw that lots of people have understood my genre of music and how versatile I can be; I discussed with the management that the time is now and here we are.

So, why the title ‘This Is Me’?

Well for me I feel the title ‘This Is Me’ sounds as honest as it can be vocal, on the album I just don’t have only my genre of music which is Afro-House but I also have RNB; so this is me telling you that I can jump on any beat as long as my body and soul connect to it. You will see in the album song like Moyo which is praising God and it’s a folk song as produced by Johnny Drille, there is RNB and equally, I did not leave my turn-up people as well. In essence, the album further tells you about Niniola who loves to sing and dance at the same time.

The Nigerian music has grown over time but yet we have not gotten there; what role do you think stakeholders (Government), artists, producers amongst others need to play in essence to help the industry grow?

First is the issue of piracy which has eaten deep into the system and hindering the growth and development we so desire; the government which is made up of individuals need to intervene. For instance, if someone like you and me would not just pick up an artiste intellectual property (Album) and put it up for free internet download; it will help the artiste and further encourage. Because the entertainment industry, in general, is capital intensive. If the government can join hands in the fight against piracy, this will equally help we the artists to work hard and put in good songs.

Where do you draw the line between commercial music and what is called good music?

There are a lot of classification even when it comes to genres of music, I don’t see it as that. Is just like when you say a black man or white man, life is life, so for me, I just feel good, If I hear the beat, I love it, it strikes my cord and soul, then its good music. That is the more reason why music has no language and the more reason we listen to South African song and we love it and vice-versa

With several songs on your album with local titles, was that deliberate?

For me, I am very comfortable with own skills because I am super comfortable speaking my local dialect and that’s why you see that I can sing in Yoruba, English, Pidgin; and on the album, you hear me sing in Swahili. As a songwriter, I don’t sit down and pick the song title first; so after writing the songs then I come up with a title for it afterwards.

By singing in your local dialect and picking titles for traditional hits, don’t you think you are limiting your audience?

Not at all because I am proud of my language because this same language that has taken me this far in the industry and that is why in South Africa my song ‘ Maradona’ is been heard globally and it’s in Yoruba. The fact that when other countries songs which are not in English gains prominence in the Nigerian market; we embrace it, so in essence, I am proud of my language as it is also a way to sell myself by been very original and my country at the same time.

Your song Maradona has gone global; at the point of recording the song, did you ever envisage it will be widely accepted?

At the point of recording the song, my team including my producer were excited in the studio because from the production stage, we knew it was a good song but we never envision the widespread, but in all we give thanks to God Almighty. I can tell you that whenever I am performing the song, I see how blessed I am with the way the audience relates; with the song, we were able to win a lot of soul to the brand Niniola. It will interest you that when I travelled out of the country, I was amazed to the way people could sing the song from head to toe with excitement.

A lot of people would have thought some of your female colleagues would have featured on the album; any reason for that decision?

Well it’s not deliberate but for me before I think of collaborating with anybody; the music comes first because I don’t just sit and start to think of who is hot now that I want to work with, I believe when you have a good song and deem it fit to have a collaboration; the music and beat will give you a clear shot of who can handle it best. Honestly, on this project, no female came to my mind because I really wanted to sing that why the song I featured Patoranking, you will discover that I started the song myself and then the people I worked with came second. That’s is why the album title says it all.

No female came to mind; don’t you think you make them feel sidelined?

I don’t think so because when it comes to music, it’s not about feelings. Even Seyi shay and I did a song together she featured me on that song and also this is not the end of the world, it’s just the beginning; there are projects coming up.

Is there a central theme that cuts across all the songs on the album?

Yes, that why I said that from the album title ‘This Is Me’, which mean as pure and undiluted that can be each track because I have my playground which is singing it and songwriting it the way I like, the way I feel is the best possible way to just dish it out to people and everything is pure, there is Moyo, Oyin because you will discover that not holding anything back so it’s just Niniola. Even if you listen to Moyo or Oyin as an R&B track you can still identify Niniola so it just a way of showing Niniola’s versatility in the different genre of music.

 Having been around in the industry; what is your impression about it generally?

It’s just made me realized that there is a lot to the music industry that people see it on the outside. Before I came in, I always thought that I can sing, I have talent, just enter and sing and everybody will look at you dance, but when I came in I realize that wasn’t it and thank God that Project Fame gave me my prize money and in my mind I was like did they really give me this money? Because have heard stories about when people go for competition and they will be like they did give them the prize money for what they worked for. But they gave me and I invested that money in my Career.

Are you saying that without that money then, you would not have gone this far?

You can’t do anything without money sir (Laugh) because I remember I dropped a song in March which was my debut single (Ibadi) and I did not have money to shoot the video until December and that was not really good because people had already embraced the audio well. At the end of the day, money is key because you cannot tell the crew stories.

When you say you invested in your career, what aspect did you invest on?

It was total package including my voice; presently I still study songwriting online because I make sure I keep improving on my art; if I had been told I could grow and begin to write my songs all alone, I won’t believe until during the days in Project Fame when you have to sing other artistes cover songs and then it got to a point when you have to perform your own personal composition and that was when I got that cross road and I was like Nini, you have to do this. So I wrote a song titled’ Itura’ and on the show, producer were not comfortable as the insisted the song was too deep but I liked it and needed someone to speak for me and Cobhams Asuquo stood for me and said the writer has the liberty to tell a story the way he/she wants it and deep inside me I applauded myself for job well done

A lot of people has tagged Instagram sensation ‘Teniola’ to you; are you related?

Oh yes!!  She is my sister, my baby sister for that matter.

When her song trended, how did you feel about it?

I felt very good because I remember we use to sing together on the stairs and I remember I will pull her and scream Teni oya o, Aunty Nini Nursery and Primary school which comprises of Teni, Nini and Teju, I will sing and they will chorus it; sometimes also we have our heads out of the window and be singing aloud.

There is this full energy whenever Niniola is on stage, is it with clear eyes?

First, it is usually with clear eyes; if I drink, my body system will knock out because I have a very light head; so in a nutshell, I don’t drink nor smoke. The energy comes naturally especially when I see that my audience connects so well with the music. A lot of people know I love to dance and shake body; it’s Oyinbo that calls it twerking but in Nigeria its gbon gbon

With an album to your name presently; would you say you have arrived in the industry?

Arrive Ke!!!For me it’s still a Journey because I need to conquer the world; I just believe the album is just one of the many projects I just delivered as currently I still work in the industry been that I am signed to a publishing songwriting company called Kobalt and most times I need to send in new materials that can be peach to companies for video games and top acts. Also am still working on doing collaborations with artists from Nigeria and outside the country too.

At the end of the day, what does this album stand for you?

Excellent, excellent has been in my life, God and everybody that supported because I didn’t let anybody down you how u sit down in the studio do something and people end up loving it.

How long did it take you to complete the album?

I started recording last year and finished this year

So why the delay?

I thought I was going to drop an album last year but for some unforeseen circumstance I could not pull through and the fact that I was conscious of not releasing outdated songs on the album; so I kept recording more songs and dropped some too until it was now time for me release an album.

Why did you drop those songs?

All the songs have potentials so it was a great task to narrow down to just 13 songs because my team and I didn’t want to bore anybody, we just wanted it to be a buffet kind of album where you are served with several choices. Also, we were so conscious not to put out songs that sound same.

 With artistes rushing out to release songs; how conscious are you when it comes to your lyrical choices?

When am in the studio I make sure there is no pressure or what so ever, or oh I did this can, I outdo myself or can I outdo that person? Am just there I relax in the music and in that time and whatever comes out I pray to God to make sure that it make a lot of sense. I am super conscious of my lyrics even though when most of the time we are eager to release a hit song.

So what’s your hope for this album?

With the album, I just hope that many people as possible can listen to it because I didn’t write the song for myself sitting down in the studio, I did it for people to listen to it and enjoy it and I equally hope the album stand the test of time.