Exclusive Interview With Nonso Amadi

Nonso Amadi can do no wrong in our eyes. Every song he releases either solo or featuring on someone else’s track is an absolute dream. His music lingers long in your mind but is never too in your face. His velvet vocals float over tantalising Afrobeats and R&B with smooth execution. Amadi’s latest release is the potent ‘No Crime’ with a music video unveiled last month.

The song is about being so head over heels in love with a girl he feels numb,
“Now I am in love again, and it feels like novocaine”

His love for her is no crime,
“If you give me some loving
No crime, no crime, no crime
Follow me to Abuja
No crime, no crime, no crime
Make it look official
No crime, no crime, no crime
Tell your friends that you love me
No crime, no crime, no crime”

We caught up with the Nigerian born, Canadian based singer-songwriter and producer to find out more.

Tell me about your new single ‘No Crime’
‘No Crime’ is about a crush I had on a girl a while back and she wasn’t really feeling it as much. So I’m saying to her if she let me have a chance it would be no crime at all.

Who or what is inspiring you musically at the moment?
Right now I’m feeding the energy around me here in Lagos, everyone is working crazy, loads of shows around, music fans are super excited to see their faves and they are turning out in numbers. I think that’s very good energy to feed off.

What drove you to the RnB and Afrobeats genres when you started making music?
I think I’m just influenced by the music I listened to as a child as well as what I’m listening to right now. There are two different kinds of music and that conflict within me is what’s making me produce a blend of the two.

Have you spotted any differences in how the music industry operates in Nigeria, the UK, US, and Canada?
All very different markets indeed. Nigerian market is full of blossoming music with the potential to take over the world but lacking a proper structure. UK & US & Canada are a little similar in the sense that they have good structure, royalty payments for artists via AirPlay and publishing. The UK & US have their key artists who seem to represent for a particular area of the country and build momentum from those areas to national stardom. The key difference between the UK & US for me would be the size of the market. The US seems to have a greater global appeal and this could be because of a number of factors, but I believe mainly due to the fact that there are more accepted/thriving genres in that market than in the UK. Canada is still a growing scene with very few big artists and seems to be a little dependent on the US market.

Who were your musical influences while growing up?
I listened to a lot of western music growing up like Usher, Craig David, Lauryn Hill. We also had some amazing Nigerian artists at the time that did slower tempo music in contrast to what we have right now such as Styl Plus, Tuface, P-Square, Paul Play, Asa to name a few.

What movie or TV series would you love for ‘No Crime’ to be played in?
(Lol) Any movie with a desperate guy chasing after a girl would do just fine.

What would people be surprised to learn about you?
A few things actually. Firstly that I produce, mix & master almost all my songs. Second would be that I don’t like onion in my food. Lastly, I hate flying a lot, I find it very inconvenient no matter what class it is.

You have collaborated with many artists over the years – is there anyone you haven’t worked with but would love to?
Yeah. I would love to collaborate with Burna Boy & Wizkid. I think they’re both amazing artists.

If you weren’t in music what else do you think you would be doing?
I think I’ll be doing a 9-5 engineering job somewhere. I’m sure I would have been dreading it.

Most memorable moments of 2018?
So many memorable moments. I can’t count my blessings enough. I’m looking forward to an even more amazing 2019.

Your favourite up and coming artist is?
I wouldn’t really call them up and coming because they are somewhat established in their own way, with a core fan base. So for me, they would be; Tay Iwar & Santi.

What’s next?
I’m currently working on a short project for 2019. It’s going to be a 5 track EP that everyone can vibe to. It should be out in the first quarter of next year. Be sure to be on the lookout for this.

Stream ‘No Crime‘.