Rising R&B star Dami Oniru zeroes in on a relationship that she wants — despite some doubts about whether or not her feelings are reciprocated — in her pulsing slow jam, "Runnin.'"
In this episode of Global Spin, Oniru dims the lights for a moody, intimate performance of the song. In a dark room decorated by sparse, shadeless lamps, Oniru's performance places the spotlight on her crystalline vocal runs and intricate rhythms.
Based in Lagos, Nigeria, Oniru has been on the music scene since 2016. "Runnin" comes off her seven-song collection from 2019, Bri's Lounge, a project that scaled down her African-inspired influences to focus more heavily on R&B, as she told Culture Custodian upon its release.
"I've always wanted to make purely R&B music, but obviously I'm Nigerian so I had to try and infuse a bit of culture into the project, which you hear on [the song] 'See,'" she explained. "I think the difference is that I played around with sounds more and you can definitely hear the growth between both [Bri's Lounge and its predecessor, Cliche] in just a one-year period."
The singer — whose birth name is Brianna — decided to name her project Bri's Lounge because of its overarching theme of at-home comforts, and her vision for making music you might listen to in pajamas. That intimate, cozy vibe is alive and well in Oniru's performance of "Runnin'," as she sits at the microphone wearing a silky lounge set, letting her vocals fall effortlessly over the song's rhythmic, pulsing melody.
Press play above to enter the cozy, dark world of Oniru's "Runnin'," and keep checking GRAMMY.com for more episodes of Global Spin.
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