Tag: Yemi Alade

Yemi Alade, the popular Nigerian singer, has reflected on the difficulties she encountered in her early years as an emerging female artist striving to break into the industry.

The Johnny crooner revealed that s*xual harassment was the major challenge she confronted, recalling how music executives often harassed her during meetings and studio sessions while she was still a teenager.

Speaking in a recent episode of the Swift Conversations podcast, Alade said, “In those beginning days, all I thought I needed was just my talent because that’s what I have. I didn’t have a bank account full of money I could use to sponsor myself.

“I just had a talent and a zeal, and a promise that I made to myself and a promise I believed God made to me. So, I always tried to show up. I was told that I needed to work harder and so I worked harder, and it wasn’t enough. There were doors I needed to walk up to and when I walked up to the doors, they didn’t want my talent, they wanted something else.

“Many times from business meetings to studio sessions to even winning certain awards and you meet maybe the managing director or any other executive and they are trying to rub your thighs under the table. And I was just a teen. My grand pa is rubbing my legs and I can’t speak because I’m in shock.

The singer said she became successful in the music industry after she realised that she “needed to stop walking through the doors and start breaking down the walls.”

Nigerian singer Yemi Alade has given a shoutout to herself.

Yemi Alade, the Nigerian Afrobeats singer, has revealed that lying about her age once drove her into depression.

The singer, in an interview with Media Personality Chude Jideonwo, said she had been telling people she was 22 for three years.

The ‘Knack Am’ crooner said she fell into depression when she realised she was 25 years old because her mind could not take the reality of her age.

According to Yemi Alade, she faced mental challenges for three years due to not knowing her actual age.

She said, “There was a time someone asked me my age, and I kept saying for three years I was 22. Then I realised I was 25 years old.

“I took out my phone and I did the mathematics. I was depressed for a few days. My mind wasn’t taken into process.

“It was mental, for three years I didn’t know my right age.”

Yemi Alade, the popular Nigerian singer, is set to record and perform the theme song for the upcoming Lion Forge Entertainment’s Nigerian superhero animation ‘Iyanu’.

The singer announced this in a video message posted on the serial’s YouTube channel on Saturday.

She said: “Hello, everyone, my name is Yemi Alade. I’ve fantastic news for you today. I just want to share with you right now that I’ve been asked to sing the theme song for the incredible animated series ‘Iyanu’.

“Enjoy my song ‘Iyanu’ right now. This is a love message from me to you and I really hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.”

Steeped in Nigerian culture and mythology, ‘Iyanu’ is an adaptation of the popular graphic novel Iyanu: Child of Wonder by Nigerian creator and filmmaker Roye Okupe.

The main title theme song is a collaboration between Yemi Alade, Lion Forge Entertainment, Alcon Sleeping Giant, and Femi Agunbiade, the lead composer for the series.

‘Iyanu’ is scheduled to debut in the U.S. and across Africa in 2025. U.S. audiences can catch the series on Cartoon Network and Max, while it will be available in 44 African countries via Showmax.

The star-studded cast includes Serah Johnson as Iyanu, Adesua Etomi-Wellington, Stella Damasus, Blossom Chukwujekwu, and Shaffy Bello.

Yemi Alade has previously worked on Beyoncé’s ‘Lion King: The Gift’ album which was a theme album for the eponymous animated movie.

The popular Nigerian singer, Yemi Alade, has opened up on why she named her forthcoming album ‘Rebel Queen’.

At a press briefing in Lagos on Friday, the songstress said the body of work is a combination of “my thoughts, melodies and truck load of nostalgia”.

Alade also said she made the album because she got tired of the “monotony in genre and style” of Afrobeats music.

“I am a true rebel in words and in action. So many albums tend to have monotony in genre and style and it bores me easily most times. This album is a blend of what my playlist consists of right now; the new and old pop music that cuts across generations and boundaries. I am generally known as someone who has always charted her own course and walked the path less travelled,” she said.

“Rebel Queen has something new, old and borrowed. I want to emphasise to you that every song is unique and a capsule of my thoughts and melodies and truck load of nostalgia.”

She further disclosed that the 16-track album theme includes feminity, liberation anf consciousness.

“It’s a 16 track album that takes you through sounds of Africa on different tempos and rhythms with features from a few of your favorite artistes from different parts of the world. The album covers feminity, style, dance, motivation, liberation and consciousness,” she added.

‘Rebel Queen’ is Alade’s sixth studio album. Her other projects include ‘King of Queen’, ‘Mama Africa’, ‘Black Magic’, ‘Woman of Steel’ and ‘Empress’.

Since Alade gained fame with the release of ‘Johnny’ in 2014, the songstress has established herself as a household name in the music industry.

Alade enjoys delivering her songs in English, Yoruba, and French languages.