If there’s one thing Nigerian singer Oxlade believes in, it’s the power of Afrobeats as a world-conquering musical movement.
“Afrobeat is beyond the music. Afrobeats is who we are,” he says. “Afrobeats is the trends, the fashion, what we eat. Afrobeats is an identity.”
The Lagos native, born Ikuforiji Olaitan Abdulrahman, has good reason to believe in Afrobeats, considering he’s one of its fastest-rising stars. After a youth marked by tragedy and struggle, in particular the death of his mother at 3 years old, he left university to pursue a musical career in the late 2010s.
Oxlade quickly rose to prominence when his strong falsetto vocals earned him cosigns from Drake and opening performance slots for Davido and WizKid. His EP Oxygene, inspired by his own struggles with asthma, gained acclaim with the smash hit “Away” in 2020. An even bigger success followed with “Ku Lo Sa” in 2022; his performance of the song on A Colors Show, the influential YouTube series where artists give one-take live renditions of their music, currently has over 100 million views.
Now, Oxlade is readying his biggest act yet. He dropped his debut album Oxlade From Africa on September 20 ahead of a North American tour starting October 2 in Winnipeg. The album’s vision of what Afrobeats can be is quite inclusive, with the artist bringing aboard UK rapper Dave, French-speaking Congolese star Fally Ipupa, and Jamaican dancehall icon Popcaan as collaborators. Ugandan music legend turned political dissident Bobi Wine provides a spirited introduction on the album’s opening track.
GRAMMY.com caught up with Oxlade via Zoom ahead of the album’s release to talk about the creative process behind the record, his global ambitions, and how Afrobeats serves as a cultural force on the world stage.
How long have you been making music and when did you decide to start doing it professionally?
I started singing even before I started to talk. So it's more like a muscle memory thing for me. I was born into a musical family. I lost my mom when I was three, and I moved to my grandma's. My grandma happened to be a deaconess in a church, and she enrolled me in the choir. Ever since then, I've been singing. It has always been a part of me, even though I never knew I was gonna use it to impact lives. Even though I never knew I was gonna be Oxlade, I started singing even before I found myself.
Judging by the Barcelona FC jacket you’re wearing, you're clearly a football fan. Do you support any specific teams or players?
I'm a Barca fan. My favorite football player of all time is Neymar. He made me love football again. His game is artistic, not the normal athletic, direct style.
Before I knew the origin of your artist name, I originally thought that you had named yourself after (former Liverpool player) Alexander Oxlade Chamberlain.
Yeah, I get that a lot. Actually, I got it from my grandpa. He lost his best friend the same day I was born, and so he gave me the name in his honor.
The album is called Oxlade from Africa. Why is it from Africa, not from Nigeria or from Lagos?
As much of a Nigerian that I am, I'm equally an African. And Africa is the mother continent of every African country and race, including the likes of Jamaica and most of the Black people you see anywhere on Earth. So I felt like self awareness and identity is one of the most underrated strengths that any African has. I'm on the path of finding myself, but also I'm on the quest of telling people more about myself and where I come from through my music.
Something I encounter a lot when speaking with Afrobeats artists is the idea of Pan Africanism, this desire to sort of unite the whole continent through sound. And it seems like you want to unite sort of everyone of any Black experience.
I feel like we need more unity in Africa. God really blessed our race. And I feel the only missing piece is more love. If we let go of xenophobia, tribalism and personal greed, I feel like Africa could be the most blessed, flourishing continent to ever exist.
Is that why you wanted to work with someone like Bobi Wine, who has become a political leader in his country?
Yeah. I mean, it was just a way to remind the African youth that even though we are artists, we're vessels, and we are also destined to use our platforms and our voices to wake people up. The future is now, the future is tomorrow, the future has to start from now, and having Bobi Wine on there was just like a trigger to remind people of what the struggle of being an African youth feels like, and against all odds, how much we have to triumph. Because when our parents, or when the people that came before us are gone, we're going to be the ones that have to handle the fate of Africa.
Was there a particular moment earlier on in your career where you realized you wanted to become a musician full time? What was that moment like?
I just knew I was never going to work a nine to five (laughs). Like, in as much as I could work for someone, I want to work on my own terms. I want to work while creating my own future, my own art. I didn't know I was going to be this big or go this deep into music, but I knew I was going to be a star. I started off as a dancer, and then I started acting, and then music just came along. Music had always been there, but I really didn't know what exact talent I was going to use to actually push my stardom. But I feel like music eventually won, because I think that's the most natural thing that comes to me.
Is there a co-sign from another artist, or anyone really, that excited you more than anything other? Who's the most important supporter?
Every single human being that streams my music is my biggest co-sign. I would say Drake, but I mean, a woman somewhere in Congo taking out her hard earned money to stream my music is my biggest supporter, or the woman somewhere in the South of France using my songs to serenade her husband for their wedding anniversary. I feel like every single person that ever invested in my music should be regarded as my biggest co-sign ever.
What’s the biggest career milestone of yours so far? What is something that you are really proud to have accomplished
My biggest career milestone is the fact that I never stopped, that I'm still here, that I'm still trying to achieve my goals, regardless of all the obstacles, regardless of where I come from. Trust me, being a Nigerian alone is an obstacle, because we’re making it against all odds. We're doing this in hardship, in poverty, and we're still excelling. So being able to achieve my dream alone is my biggest milestone.
Were there any particular obstacles in the making of this album that you had to surpass?
Obstacles have to happen for you to value every success that you achieve, so from the paperwork down to me having to go re-record the entire album in London, down to selection problems, down to me having to let go of some personal, sentimental songs that didn’t fit the theme of the album, down to having sleepless nights, always having to push the album date, thousands of Zoom meetings – it's a long list. That's why I'm so grateful that this album exists.
What would you say the theme of the album is overall?
Royalty, African excellence, and Black is the new cool. Being Black is a flex. Afrobeat is beyond the music. Afrobeats is who we are. Afrobeats is a Twitter banter. Afrobeats is the trends, the fashion, what we eat. Afrobeats is an identity. So I understand when people try to carve a niche for themselves, but what I don't like is when it’s at the expense of Afrobeats, discrediting what we're fighting for, which is an identity. You wouldn't see Kendrick Lamar, no matter how many triple or quadruple entendres he might put on a record, try to downplay hip hop, because that's the identity they're trying to represent. So I feel like this album is just an embodiment of all of that, authenticity, originality.
In terms of what you put into the lyrical content or the sound of the album, how do you think that identity manifests on Oxlade from Africa?
I sang about my struggle. I sang about love, I sang about gratitude. I sang about prophesying greatness into one's life. Everything I am in real life was transferred into melodies, and that is why I feel like that is authentic enough to be labeled Oxlade from Africa and an African album, because I'm African, and I'm literally singing my experiences into music.
And those personal songs that you had to leave off, why exactly weren’t they right for this project? And are you going to try and put them out at some point?
Definitely, they're gonna fit into the project they were made for. Some of them were probably extremely pop records, and they defied the theme and sound that I was trying to create for this album. Some of them could be techno music. Some of them could be different types of genres that didn't fit the theme of the album, not because the songs were not good enough. So definitely, those songs are gonna find an album that benefits them.
Who would you love to collaborate with the most?
Dead or alive? Michael Jackson is a no brainer, because I feel like he's the greatest to ever do it. He made Black boys mainstream. I don't know if you understand what that means, like he’s the first Black pop artist to be televised on MTV. You know, all those types of milestones made boys like us, at home in Africa, believe that anything is possible. Another person I would like to work with is probably Drake. Him, Kendrick, Lauryn Hill, and the list goes on and on. There's Chronixx from Jamaica. I just love spiritual, ethereal musicians
What's one thing that people might not know about you?
I'm asthmatic. People don't know that. That's why I dropped my first ever project, an EP called Oxygene. People didn't realize it was me raising awareness for asthma patients around the world, to tell them they’re not alone and that music would be the air you need to heal you from asthma. I'm also a cat guy, I have two cats.
Does your asthma ever give you difficulties when performing?
Oddly enough it never has. I feel like the pressure and the intensity that comes with climbing the stage turns all sickness into hype. Like you're about to get onstage, nothing is messing you.