Ever since Aramide broke out in 2015 with the folk-RnB fusion, Iwo Nikan, the young musician has not stopped belting out music that sets her apart. The award-winning chanteuse, born Aramide Sarumoh, has joined the section of evergreen voices in Nigerian music annals, crafting a legacy as one of the cornerstones of the Nigerian music scene.
Following her 2021 comeback album, Bittersweet, the mother-of-one snoozed from the mainstream airwaves, taking the time out to re-invent her sound and develop her talent-discovery event, Acoustics and Covers With Aramide.
Aramide, who’s also been behind the female-focused concert initiative, Songversations With Aramide, tells The Guardian Music, that her love for stagecraft has continued to inspire her to develop the scene for the Nigerian music industry.
Now, with a new extended playlist (EP) dubbed, Hear Me Out, the 39-year-old songbird unfurls out a new artistic experience to her sonics, bending her RnB mastery to fit more universal pop-leaning programming. With songs like Pretty Girl Bop, the millennial singer bravely explores youthful cadences and tempos championing confidence for all femme-folk in her lyricism.
Aramide unpacks her comeback, detailing her experiences behind the hiatus; her creative processes; life as a show organiser; as well as her vision to remain evergreen in the Nigerian music scene, among others. 

What essentially are you trying to say that you’re asking us to Hear You Out?
So, what I’m trying to say in the project, Hear Me Out, with my music is about the break. I don’t know if you’re familiar with my music. I haven’t released a project in almost three or four years. And so this is me saying, hey guys, I know that I haven’t said anything new.

Well, so this is an opportunity to actually Hear Me Out on what I’ve been doing here. Hear why I have been away, like I just want to speak my truth out. I just want to talk to people in the best way that I know how to understand and that’s through music. That’s what Hear Me Out is all about.

What happened that you went off-scene for a few years? 
When you listen to the project, this new one you’ll understand why. One of the things is, I was trying to evolve as an artist, I was trying to look for a new sound that people could relate to in these times that we are in. For me, that was like the major thing I’ve been working on. It’s just that I just feel like I was not at the place where I felt like this is good enough to be in a project or anything. You know, because if it’s just by recording and just putting out music, I don’t think any artist has had an issue, but I wanted to make sure that when you hear from me, you’re hearing something completely different. And something that will not make you be like, Okay, this is Aramide, like something that does not sound like I’m lost, and something that my fans and people that love my music can be very proud of. I think that everyone will be excited about this project when they hear it.

What prompted you to reconsider your sound?
Okay, you know, everybody reacts to feedback differently. You can put out music and you will know that it’s okay. You can tell when people are not really vibing to this or even you yourself, you can tell that maybe it’s time to switch it up. By the time I put up Bitter Sweet. I knew that I was already at a place where I felt it was time to switch it up. It was time to do something different. As an artist, the only constant thing is change. And we have to constantly evolve with the times that we find ourselves and the times that we are in. So, for me, it was just a matter of evolving. I don’t want to come up with something that seems that people have heard before or something that makes me feel like oh I have not evolved and all that. Soundwise, I have evolved. Vocal-wise, I have evolved and then I think, about writing music in general. I have evolved in a lot of things that have happened to me, and I put them down in my music. So, yeah, I think you just can tell, like every human being has instincts you can tell, maybe apart from getting feedback and all of that.

Walk us through the creative process you explored on this project. How did you feel when you found your new sound?
Okay, in my quest to look for a new sound and evolving, I didn’t really know the kind of sound I wanted to do at the time. I just knew that would be whatever I was going to do. I always have it at the back of my mind that anything I do must stand out; it must be evergreen. It must be on record that 10 years from now, people can still vibe to it. Like people still feel my record. So, for me, it’s not just about what’s trending. It’s about what will stick and how long will this take for? For me, it’s always about longevity. For instance, a song like Pretty Girl, which wasn’t even the initial title. We had a lot of titles before we eventually landed on that title. We wanted to create a song that was like a braggy type of song for girls, that, you know, there is nobody like you. You don’t have to fit into a particular box or even if you fit into a particular box, you can do whatever you want. So, that’s how Pretty Girl Bop actually came up. We were like, let’s just create a song that the ladies are going to love, a song that makes them feel empowered, a song that makes them feel happy. A song that every time they listen to, they feel like, I’m that girl, you know. So, for me that was the idea behind that song and it’s like see you wear make up, you don’t wear makeup, you can still go to the club. You wear wigs or not, you can still be unapologetically yourself, you know. For me, that’s the song. It’s just an empowering song, and I hope that’s how people see it because if I were to listen to your record like that, that’s how I would feel.


Oh, that’s amazing. You have been working on Acoustics and Covers With Aramide. Tell us more about it. 
Acoustic and Covers with Aramide came out when I was still in that figuring-out stage, where I still wanted to perform and I still wanted to do music. I still wanted to put my name out there and be relevant. So, basically what we do is that it’s a platform where established artists, and upcoming artists can come and perform. The music covers anything that makes you happy, or anything that works, as long as you’re good. But the catch there is that you cannot come and perform the track. You have to perform it with either a band, maybe one instrument, maybe keyboard, drums or a guitar, You know, it’s just an opportunity for artists here to do their music or acoustic or to slow it down. You don’t even have to sleep at night depending on whatever you intend to do with one single instrument or multiple instruments. So most of the time, I can tell you that we’ve had a lot of artists. We’ve had over 100 artists perform on our stage. And one thing is that most of those artists, some of them are the type of artists that you don’t expect to see perform their music in a certain type of way, but oh come on, then they understand the rules and all of that.

They follow it and it’s just how we set up the show. And since this is our second year since I started, it has been like that and you know, the plan is to grow it to be bigger, and better and all of that so I will say that. A lot of my music was even inspired by some of the sounds I heard from the show. And you know, just being in a space where there are a lot of artists you know, you can see that people have dreams, they’re fighting for their dreams. I know when I first came to Lagos there was a place called Bogobiri, in Lagos. Those were like the places I first got my first opportunities to perform and you know, I don’t think that this exists anymore. So it was in a bid to try and recreate that stuff that I was like, okay, let’s let me try and do this and see what happens. And then initially it was just trial and then it kept going. I kept getting encouragement from different people and different artists and we are here now and we’re still doing

So, which would you prefer: performing music or creating it?
I think I like every part of it, because at the end of the day, whatever music that you produce, or your rights, or your record, the end game is to perform it to people. Yeah, it’s not just for you to learn. You know, I love the entire process of creating, taking it down to the stage for people to talk. I mean to perform it on stage because you want people to feel the same emotions that you are feeling. And the thing about performing music is that you have different opportunities to convey emotions in different ways.

Are you working with other younger artistes?
As for collaborations, definitely. I guess collaborations make us big, it helps us spread the word more. I am definitely interested in collaborations for now. I don’t really know who because I feel like the industry is a bit different. I don’t really know who but for instance, on this project, I worked with a very young producer called Wondah, and that was my first time working with him. I didn’t work with people that I had worked with in the past and people knew. I was working with different people but the one that actually stuck, I worked with an agency producer and we arrived at the amazing projects that we’re about to put out. For me, that was the first step into collaboration. And I hope to work with Kemuel. Well, I think that’s the only artist that comes to mind right now. Yeah.

You mentioned that the industry has changed. Let’s understand it from your perspective. 
I think for good, we don’t really have gatekeepers anymore. People will tell you that you have to do a certain thing before your music can get to a certain point. Right now, if you just have music, you can just put it on any platform and do whatever you want to do from there. You know, in terms of promoting it and getting it out there. You know, I think that’s a positive. I also feel like if there is anything I would like to see just work or happen differently it may be a lot more artist development, compared to the past.  I think in the past there was a lot more artist development where people had to go through a certain learning process to get to where they were. So every step was like a feat; every step was  like “I did this thing!” But now it just feels like as long as you’ve blown that’s just it. I may be wrong, but that’s just my perspective. I wish the artists will take more time to develop themselves for the future, it’s not just about now.

As a millennial and musician are you active on social media? 
Social media is like your CV right now, your resume. So whatever you do, you have to be very intentional about it. I think that anybody that is serious in 2024, will take social media seriously. So definitely I take it seriously.

So, what is next after this project? 
Okay, so after this EP, I’m hoping that there is another project that is coming in and definitely the Acoustics and Covers show still continues. But like I said earlier, bigger and better. And you know, the more creative, the more interesting. And I am also trying to do more live events and just dabbling into other things that we did around the creative industry and see what happens from there. Anyway, we are not taking any long breaks. No more long breaks for now, yeah.

That’s great. For people who want to join the Acoustic and Covers, how do they reach out?
So, if you want to be a part of Acoustics and Covers, we have an Instagram page for it. You can just send the DM and then we’ll respond to you and tell you what to do from there.

What would you say is now your vision for your career?
Okay, my present vision is to be able to stay as relevant as I can at every given point in time. This is even something I have started doing- mentorship, being able to, you know, share my expertise with the younger ones and in the entertainment industry in general, which is something that I have been doing already. And also the goal every time I put on music is longevity. I want you to perform and do music for a very long time. You know, so I’m not looking for instant gratification. If it comes I will grab it, and my focus is longevity and to keep doing what I’m doing till whenever, you know, I get tired. Hopefully, I won’t get tired.