On Sunday, new stunning photos of Davido taken by TY Bello flooded the internet as the new SONY signee covered ThisDay Style magazine.
Read the full transcript of his interview below, where he talked about his new EP, his label acts and expectations for the future…
Question: How long ago did you start working on your Son of Mercy EP?
‘I’ve been working on it for a while now, let’s say from about last year. Some of the songs were meant to be on my sophomore album, which was supposed to be released last year.’
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Q: Was it quite a prolonged process? Or did it come together quite quickly?
‘The recording process wasn’t necessarily prolonged or difficult. For me it was more about the time, effort and other inputs we infused to make sure the sound was right, seeing that I am no longer making music just for Africa alone.’
Q: I have been curious about the origin of the title actually? How did you come up with it?
‘God has blessed me so much and has been so merciful to me within a short period of time in my career so I coined the title from my experience from God’s mercies.’
Q: When you go into the studio, where does the inspiration come from? Do you have firm ideas already, or is it an organic process once in there?
‘I get my inspiration from a lot of places, experiences and people around me. So basically, I will say it’s an organic process. Regardless of this though, my music producers also have an influence on this process.’
Q: While recording, do you cut yourself off from other people’s music?
‘No. I always focus on my own music, simply because I want mine to be different from what every other artiste is doing.’
Q: When it comes to the subject matter of a record, is that you speaking or do you assume a character?
‘It’s definitely me. All the time, just me. I focus on things that happen in my everyday life, and so there are no characters involved.’
Q: Tell me about the Sony record deal? That was a really huge feat right?
‘It was really huge I tell you. You know, it’s a good look for me as an artiste and for African music. It gives me the leverage to able to break into other music markets internationally. It came at a perfect time considering the fact that Afrobeat is gaining recognition worldwide. My Sony music team is very excited to be working with me on this project.’
READ: Davido drops new EP ‘Son of Mercy’ ahead of schedule
Q: When you were growing up, was music an important part of your life?
‘Yes, it definitely was. Growing up, my mother threw lots of parties at home and so we had lots of good music to listen to. Music has been a very integral part of my life growing up. I started doing music from about age 13.’
Q: Who did you look up to in terms of artists at the time and why?
‘I looked up to the likes of Usher Raymond, D’banj and Chris Brown. Their music is beyond amazing and they have impeccable talent that intrigues me to want to be like them as an artiste.’
Q: Now you’re becoming one of those who will make history musically, do you watch out for new talents who obviously see you as a mentor?
‘Yes I do watch out for talented newcomers. As a matter of fact, to support and nurture them musically, I signed a couple of artistes to my new record label, DMW (Davido Music Worldwide). We have Dremo, Mayorkun, Danagog, Ichaba and recently, Dammy Krane. These guys all look up to me as their mentor.
Dremo and Mayorkun have top charting songs and are currently making waves in the music industry. Danagog also has been on for a while and he has some good music out there. We are currently working on new materials for Ichaba and Dammy Krane. My team and I are putting in a lot of work to push their career musically.
Q: There’s no current affair bigger than the President at the moment. How do you think he’s getting on now he’s into his second year as president?
‘I believe the country is going through a lot of reforms at the moment. I certainly don’t believe that two years is enough time to fix Nigeria considering all we have being through. All President Buhari needs is a lot of time, dedication and most importantly, support from the people and God willing he will succeed in making Nigeria great again.’
Q: As an artist, do you believe it’s right to use your voice to represent the people and be outspoken on certain subjects that you believe in?
‘Definitely, I do believe so. I love to speak to people through my music on certain subjects that I believe in. There are a lot of young people out there that look up to me, so I try my best to use my music to speak to them positively.’
You have been involved in a few social media dramas? how do you cope with the backlash?
‘Most fans forget sometimes that we as artistes are humans like them as well. The backlash doesn’t come off as a surprise, it comes with the fame. People will always criticise you, it happened in the bible as well. So it really doesn’t bother me, seeing that it is what I signed up for as a public figure.’