Music  

Logos Olori… Taking off with DMW

By Chinonso Ihekire

17 February 2024   |   3:12 am

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on WhatsApp Share on Telegram

The soothing trumpets in the song, Olori, which opens up the self-titled debut EP from Davido Music Worldwide newcomer Logos Olori are airy and promising, much like the musician.

The soothing trumpets in the song, Olori, which opens up the self-titled debut EP from Davido Music Worldwide newcomer Logos Olori are airy and promising, much like the musician.
The EP continues with the Davido-assisted Easy On Me, continuing his memoirs of love with the percussion-driven duet. The Amapiano filler in Push It lifts the pace of the record, and before you reach the closing track, it becomes glaring why Olori reigns as one of the most vibrant new voices in the Afrobeats scene.
Born Olamilekan Emeka Taiwo, Logos Olori’s rise to the top began over a decade ago, in the bustling Lagos suburbs of Ajegunle where he saved up money as a teenager to record music with his friends. It was one of these songs that put him on the radar of ace producer Jay Pizzle who mentored and recorded Olori for several years. Olori’s unmissable vocal range and writing skill kept getting noticed by everyone else, especially Olamide whose co-sign pushed him towards bigger opportunities.
Olori’s grit and networking further propelled his career, as thanks to his friend Magicsticks, who’s best known for his work on Asake’s Mr Money With The Vibe, he earned writing credits on Davido’s Grammy-nominated hit, Unavailable, as well as a guest feature on Picasso off the Timeless album. The fated meet-up with Davido led to the DMW boss taking a liking to Olori’s distinct pop vocals and songwriting, and he signed the artiste, alongside another emerging pop diva Morravey, last year.
With Olori, Logos Olori’s seven-track debut, it’s a full-circle moment for the young singer who’s had to hustle his way to the limelight. A fine introduction to the music scene, with promise of more improved catalogues, Olori is a breezy listen, toasting to DMW’s effort in expanding the artiste’s sonic development.
In today’s Guardian Music, the young superstar delves deeper into the body of work, detailing his inspirations and creative process; his restless childhood of dreams chasing; getting to meet Davido; and being a science nerd, among others.

Congratulations on your new project. How does it feel for you?
It’s amazing, the reception was crazy and I was overwhelmed. When we dropped it everyone said this is an amazing project. All the work paid off. We thank God.

How long have you been working on this project?
To be honest, I’m always working, so, it’s not like I would say how long I have been working on this project, because I have been on it for as long as I have been in DMW. We have been recording songs, just basically working and working. I compiled like three different projects that I submitted to the Label, and we selected this one. I would say it has been since around when I signed, about a year and some months now.

Why did you go for that title?
I wanted to self title the EP because it is an expression of myself. I wanted the music to be an expression of who Olori is to the people. If you listen to the EP, you will get that I’m trying to show different aspects of the personality that I am. Telling different stories, the EP just shows that this is Olori and this is the kind of music he makes. I just make music whenever it comes to me, in whatever way the beat comes. I just flow with it, and that’s what the EP says. If you listen to the EP, you have RnB and Pop, you have Amapiano.

Tell us about the making of the tracks, especially the one with Davido
The track with Davido, Easy on me, is amazing work. I got a beat pack from Mercury shout to Beats by Mercury. I got a beat pack from him and that particular beat was among the beat pack. When I heard the beat, I was astounded so I wrote the song and we recorded. I was even done with the EP when I recorded that song. I fought to convince my label to allow the song to be on the EP. I was even sending short messages to everyone that this song has to be on the EP. Then I played it for baddest (Davido) in the studio and he said, “Yo, I’m jumping on this one, I like this one.”
And that’s how it happened, because I wanted the song to be on the EP so I knew if I added baddest on the song, it would be on the EP. Another song I have fond memories with is Murder. I was at home with my producer Magicsticks and he was downstairs. I was listening to the song’s beat, which I heard from upstairs. It was just in my head and I went to the studio downstairs and started freestyling. We recorded Murder within 15 minutes. Most times the music is organic; we get to the studio when we hear something, maybe we were discussing something or maybe I’m home and watching TV and I hear a sound I can interpolate and build into something new. We just create music from life basically, from my experience.

Do you have a favourite track on the EP?
For now, it’s Easy on me.

Tell us why it is your favourite
I love the melody on Easy on me. It’s happy music. I love the beats especially, and then the flow. One thing about creatives is that we tend to like the last song we added to our project. It’s biased but I’m just going to go with it.

How did you come up on Davido’s radar?
Shout out to Magicsticks. It was through Davido’s project Timeless. Magicsticks had placements on the album; he was supposed to submit three songs and he needed a songwriter. And Magicsticks has been my blood (close pal) for like a decade. He called me and asked me to work on a song with him. Shout out to Rage as well; they were both producing the Unavailable beat for Davido, so they called me to the studio. We started telling Davido that we have to get the song on the album. We went to meet Davido at the studio. On the third day of recording, when we were done, Magicsticks was telling me to tell Davido that I could sing; because I wrote all the songs that they gave to Davido. “You have to tell him that you sing, you are not just a songwriter,” and I said okay. When Davido was done recording, I just gathered my mind and said, “Baba, I dey sing sef, me sef I be artiste o.”
Then he asked me to play my songs. I had an EP I had recorded with Magicsticks and Rage when I came back, because I was not even in Nigeria for some time. So, I played the EP for Davido and he asked why the music was not out yet. I told him that I needed a platform to push the music, and he said “Don’t worry, I got you”, and the rest was history.

How did you get into music?
Music was always something around me in my life and ever since I was a child I always wrote songs. I used to write songs when I was a child, even in my church. I used to write poems for the children choir so it has always been a part of me. There was a time when I finished secondary school; I said I needed to do this particular music. I gathered money with my friends, I remember it was N5,000. I was born in Okokomaiko and later on we moved to Ajegunle. Back in Ajegunle, there was a producer we knew that stayed around. We went there and paid him the money we saved and we recorded my first song ever in Ajegunle then. The song blew up in the neighbourhood. There was this guy called Jay Pizzle. He produced Shake Body for Skales. Jay Pizze heard the song around the neighbourhood and he took interest in me. He took me to a proper studio and I was with Jay Pizzle for almost seven years. I was just a studio rat, living in the studio everyday. Making music has always been part of my background, but my first official music video was in 2017, when I gathered small money. But 2020 was when I did a song that Olamide reposted, and he even kept posting me for two weeks. That was actually my first major co-sign to the industry.

How did you meet Magicsticks who eventually delivered you to Davido?
I have known about Magicsticks for years. I met Magicsticks in Ikorodu, back at the Lagos State Polytechnic. We were doing music in Ikorodu, in his hostel – myself, Magicsticks and the producer Rage that made the beat for Davido’s Unavailable. We were just doing music in school. Just normal kids doing music that was how it started basically. Rage was even a rapper then before he became a producer along the way. It has just been hustle and grind.

You said you left Nigeria for sometimes. Why?
It was actually Rage and I that left Nigeria. I actually left Nigeria to shoot a music video with one guy, his name is J Spenser. He is the owner of that song with Bella Shmurda. He wanted to do a song with me, titled “Influencer baby”. We had that song and I had to go to Dubai to shoot the video with him, because he lives in Dubai. That is how I went to Dubai, but after that music video I stayed back because I still had time left. Rage and I stayed back for a year and five months before we returned to Nigeria. We returned because we got tired in Dubai. We were trying to do music in Dubai but it wasn’t working out because the system wasn’t working for us. We got tired and we had to go home and do our music. It was a red alert. We felt like we were wasting our lives there. When we got back to Lagos, we met Davido. It was just like destiny that we met Davido and did ‘Unavailable’ and now it’s worldwide. It was like destiny just called us home basically.

Who are some of the voices you listened to growing up?
When I was really young I was a fan of Michael Jackson. I used to dance. I used to dress up like him and go to shows and dance. Then my dad used to play Fuji music at home steadily, alongside those Yoruba Christian music. I loved their melodies. I don’t really recall their names, but I know it influenced my sound a lot. Then I started getting influenced by Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Tuface, and Timaya. So, it’s like I got influenced by the pioneers of Afrobeats. I would say my biggest influence in music is Michael Jackson. I really loved Michael Jackson from his performance and I still think he is the greatest artiste and performer ever.

What do you want people to experience from Logos Olori?
I want people to experience real art; I want to touch people’s emotions with my music. I want to tell stories with my music. I want people to remember me for being a great performer and a great artiste, not just like an artiste per say. I want to write things that people would say, and they will forget who wrote it ever, they would say it like it’s a normal thing and not remember who wrote it. Those are the kind of things I want to do, and it’s just a starting point.

Tell us three fun facts about Logos Olori.
One is that I can’t cook; I used to know how to cook before but I forgot. Second is that I am kind of a geek, even if I’m an artiste I am also a lover of science. I’m a sucker for science. I like mathematical concepts. I like physics. I read a lot. And I watch a lot of science stuff. I read a lot of things that you would never expect and that’s the other aspect of me. Third, my last fun fact: I’m single.