Nigerian Afrobeats star Oxlade is making massive strides in the UK music scene [@OXLADEOFFICIAL]

Nigerian Afrobeats star Oxlade is one of the fast rising artists out of the continent. The Lagos born singer/songwriter has been blowing up with singles such as his viral 2022 COLORS performance of his hit single Ku Lo Sa which has amassed over 180 million streams on Spotify alone. We sat down in the run up to his biggest show in the UK to date at the Christine and The Queen’s Meltdown Festival to discuss his latest single Ovami featuring Nigerian Highlife singer/songwriter Flavour, his forthcoming album Oxlade From Africa and his growing UK fan base. 

Bambo: I know your UK supporters would love to know a little bit more about your story and how you’ve gotten to where you are now. Tell me a little bit about your childhood. 

Oxlade: I was born in April 1997 – my mum passed when I was 3 years old after giving birth to my brother. Eventually, my brother and I moved to my grandma’s and from there we were always in the church because my grandma was a Deaconess. She would always just take us to church anytime she was going. After her church services and during her meetings, I would crawl to the drum section and start disturbing their meetings. That’s how she knew that I really wanted to do music. Besides that, I come from a musically inclined family. I went to Santa Maria College for secondary school and then went to Lagos State University. After all the schooling, I checked myself and decided that nothing else made me happier than doing music and I decided to chase my dreams! That’s why I’m here. 

Bambo: Cool! You’ve already worked with some UK artists such as AdeJosh on Good Love in 2020, Dolapo and Miss Banks on Interest in 2021, and more recently, you worked with Stormzy on his single Hide and Seek. Are there any other UK artists you see yourself working with in the future? 

Oxlade: I see myself working with Dave, Central Cee, Wretch 32, and every UK artist that drops good music. It’s a long list and it’s just a matter of time. 

Bambo: Central Cee is a popular choice at the moment and I can see him working with some Afrobeats Artists soon. How did you discover your sound? 

Oxlade: I discovered my sound from the church- singing all the hymns, singing all the praise and worship songs, and scoring all the famous gospel songs. I never even knew I was going to make money off it, I was just doing it for the love of it and just because my grandma always forced us to go to the church. Me discovering my sound was like a rollercoaster of me soaking myself into different people’s discographies, like Chronixx, Michael Jackson, Wande Coal, Popcaan, and Fela Kuti- it’s a long list of people that I grew up listening to. Soaking all those people growing up formulated the kind of sound I’m producing right now. 

Bambo: Lovely! We are going to talk a little bit about your first project Oxygene, which came out in 2020. For anyone who hasn’t listened to it, what would you say this project is about? 

Oxlade: It is an introduction to the Oxlade sound. It is me just trying to explore myself, trying to show you guys that I could actually sing. It was me just channelling all the hustle, all the rejection, all the pain and all the joy I had felt over the years. That was the genesis of everything. That was the confidence booster. That was the beginning of all the greatness. 

Bambo; We’re going to talk about Ku Lo Sa, which currently has over 67 million views on the COLORS YouTube channel. How did you feel when the song started blowing up in the way that it did? 

Oxlade: I was battling a mental breakdown. People switched up on me and I was going through a tough time. I had just come back from rehab and I just checked social media. People were telling me, “Oh, your music is booming, your music is doing bits!” I didn’t understand it because that was the point where I felt like everything was meant to just go sideways but, that was the moment God decided to show up in my life and show off on me! As of February last year, I was at my lowest and I was expecting it to get worse. I lost a bunch of endorsement deals and everything was going down for me. Me coming back from rehab to see that beautiful ascension of greatness in my life happen was like a miracle. God showed me that He did exist and that He has got a plan for me.

Bambo: Amazing! I hope you’re feeling better now and you’re in a much better space. We’re going to move on to talking about the remix with Camilla Cabello. Why did you think she was the perfect fit for this remix? 

Oxlade: The African song, I feel, always needs that extra push from the outside world. I understand the fans for trying to gate keep that record but, there was another market I was trying to break into. She’s half Latino and half American- it wouldn’t be bad for her fan base to have a feel of her version existing. Thanks to God, it has 23 million streams on Spotify, and it’s doing bits for me and my life. Every remix is for the greater good of the song. I mean, it’s Camilla Cabello, and she’s one of my favourite artists. She was the sole and only target and, I was grateful to God that I could accomplish that goal. 

Bambo: Definitely! We’re going to talk about your new song featuring Flavour called Ovami. How did this collaboration come about? 

Oxlade: That song is three years old. I’ve been hoping, praying and wishing to God to get Flavour on that song for the past three years. Having him on the song is like a dream come true for me. Flavour is the third artist I have ever put a song out with in my life. Ovami was an accomplishment. I feel so fulfilled because I could have a Flavour feature in my catalogue alone. That’s a legend. That’s a man that everybody respects and having him rate my music made me feel like I was doing it right. 

Bambo: Nice! Ovami is a single from your forthcoming album Oxlade from Africa. Could you tell me a little bit about the sounds that we should expect and are there any exclusive features? 

Oxlade: My album is meant to be the best album that ever came out of the Afrobeats genre and this is not even from a perspective of ego and pride. It’s just facts. I’ve put in a lot of hard work and so has my team. All I can say is, it has a lot of African, international and Caribbean legends- I have to keep the details exclusive for now.

Bambo: You are performing at the Christine and the Queen’s Meltdown Festival show at the Southbank Centre today! How did this opportunity even come about for you? 

Oxlade: Honestly, the label and I got the offer and they backed it. It feels great because of the pedigree of that event and what it means to me and the African race. I think there are only two Nigerians on that lineup – Yemi Alade and I. Having people appreciate African music to the extent of trying to pay for my performance is a dream come true for me. It’s something I’ve always envisioned. I’ll be performing my third single from the album called Intoxicated and I’ll be glad to perform it for the first time at the event. The UK has a special place for my music. They were the first set of people to tap into my songs way before I went mainstream with songs like Wait for You by Melvitto featuring myself. I also connected with Skengdo and AM with Brixton Boy and I did songs with AdeJosh. The UK has always been like a major and integral part of my journey. I performed in the UK for the first time in 2019 at the O2. Wizkid gave me the opportunity and the platform to perform. This song that’s coming out after Ovami is me just giving back to the UK.

Bambo: You’ve done a lot of remarkable things in your career. You’ve worked with Stormzy, you have writing credits on Tiwa Savage’s Dangerous Love and you were brought out by Usher at the Global Citizen Festival. How would you define all of the success that you’ve gained over the last couple of years? 

Oxlade: It’s all from God. It’s just the grace of God in my life because, trust me, you’re outlining my high moments but, there are a lot of low moments I had to go through to get to this place. It’s just God’s plan, God’s timing and God’s vision for me, that is manifesting. I’m just a normal boy living my dreams, doing everything that God wants me to do and I’m going to leave it that way. 

Bambo: Amazing! What else should we expect from you this year? 

Oxlade: This year is dedicated to the album. Touring the world- I have been for the past two years but, probably my tour. A clothing line, probably starring in a movie- I don’t know! There’s no boundary and there are no limits. Greatness entails! 

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