IN CONVERSATION WITH TAY IWAR

Hailing from Abuja, Nigeria, Alté pioneer Tay Iwar has made his mark on music with his stellar production and vocals that are smooth like honey. Having just dropped his latest EP, Summer Breeze, GUAP speaks to him about his journey in music and his favourite tracks on the record.

Kat: Tell me about your journey – who inspired you to make music, what was playing in your household growing up and how did you get started in music?

I would say my earliest memory of music has to be from my parents and my family. My dad used to play music all day on Sundays, almost religiously and everyone could play an instrument. My mom used to play the piano and everyone got put into – by everyone I mean my family – we got put into classical music school, so my first performance was when I was five years old or something, and these are my earliest memories of music. So I’ve always been in a very musical environment. 

Kat: What is your creative process like when you produce and how does it differ to when you write songs? 

Well, it’s all one process. It’s usually the same. I’m usually producing what I’m writing, especially for my songs. I produce most of my songs so I approach everything with the same mindset. From the beginning of the song I’m already thinking about how the mix is gonna sound in the end. There’s multiple conversations going on in my head. I’m just trying to see it from every angle, so that means every time I start a song it’s probably gonna be a different way. Sometimes I have people sending me loops, sometimes I start with a guitar, sometimes I start with drums. It could be anything. 

Kat: What made you pick ‘Healing’ as the lead single for your latest EP, Summer Breeze?

I think I just wanted people to feel that way. I wanted people to feel like they were healing from stress and for the people that were already feeling that way, I wanted them to have a sound. That’s how I wanted to start. I was saying that’s how I wanted to start off – with some healing first – because that it’s the beginning of the year and that’s a good time to do that. It’s the soundtrack for whoever is healing from stress. 

Kat: What are your favourite lyrics on Summer Breeze and the meaning behind them?

My favourite lyric on there right now would probably be “People like to say things that they don’t mean just to get close to you,” I think it’s self-explanatory. It’s exactly what it is. People like to say things that they don’t mean just to get close to you. That’s a line born out of trust issues. 

Kat: What was it like collaborating with each of the features on Summer Breeze?

Very smooth actually – a lot of these people, I know them personally. Especially something like creatures with Kojey [Radical], it’s supposed to have happened a long time ago, so it was really an easy conversation. We’ve made so many songs together already, but this will be the first one to come out. The others [were] basically the same process. I’ve known Kojey for the longest amongst all the features, but it’s been very natural. TWELVE XXI is my guy from Abuja – he’s an artist from Abuja that I connected with and I’ve been working with for some time. Knucks is also a friend of mine, IDK as well. It’s the same for everyone, we’re all connected and it was a natural process. I heard some of these songs and those were the people that came to mind, it wasn’t premeditated.

Kat: What are your 3 fav tracks on Summer Breeze and can you give us a breakdown of how they came about and what they’re about?

‘Summer Breeze’ is a very special song cause I made that around the same time I made ‘True Love’, so me and Juls were really working together at that time and we made a couple of songs and ‘Summer Breeze’ was the first one. It’s kind of a special song. It sparked an idea of just creating an experience that feels like the calm between all the storm of some and all the Raven. You know, it feels like a Sunset project. So some reasons the first one. 

‘Don’t Lie’ is produced by P2J, another friend of mine. I just love the song. It’s lyrically profound – it’s a profound song. 

‘Undercover Lover’, that’s my third favourite song. I just love the song. It was initially a musical experiment, because the timing- the time signature of the song is on the offbeat and it’s kind of a surprise for any musician right here, it is gonna be a surprise to see where the drop comes in on the beat. And it’s just an excellent song, the bassline that’s Kingsley from The Cavemen – [he] absolutely smashed it. He was playing bass guitar chords, which was absolutely phenomenal and then TWELVE XXI on there as well on the hook and some back end vocals. Just a very well rounded song about a secret lover, something most of us have. 

Kat: How has your sound grown since the release of Gemini?

I’ve become more comfortable in all my skills. I think that’s what has happened, ’cause Gemini was the first time I was able to express my ideas accurately and since then it’s just been a comfort level that has been increasing. I’m very comfortable in expressing my ideas. They come kind of quick to me, I spend more time on perfection now, which is a good thing. The foundation is solid. 

Kat: As a fellow Gemini myself, I wanted to ask you how feel that being a Gemini reflects in your music considering the last project you put out was named after your star sign? It would imply to me that you feel like it impacts your music some way.

Yeah, it does. The reason I named that album Gemini is ’cause I think I was starting to realise who I was and one of the first things that that stood out to me was star signs and astrology and all of that, so first I was like “I’m a Gemini. That’s part of who I am,” – just on the search to self identity and self discovery, this [is] one of the things we find out.The whole two-sided thing, I feel like everyone is two-sided. 

Kat: What are your thoughts on the globalisation of the Afro-sound, whether that’s Alte, Afrobeats or Afropop etc?

The globalisation of the Afro sound is perfect and I think it’s, it’s been inevitable. It’s just beautiful to see it happening right now. People are finally getting in the real opportunities. I’m interested to see what’s next, especially for the music industry within Nigeria. 

Kat: Are there any up and coming Nigerian artists that you’ve been listening to that we should check out?

TWELVE XXI is one of them. There’s this guy, Raytheboffin. Bloody Civilian PsychoYP, Suté Iwar [and] Odumodublvck.

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