JANUARY 2023 EDITION: THE NIGERIAN AFROBEATS ISSUE WITH LIYA

At the gallery where we are interviewing the fourth maiden cover story for Pelumi Magazine, there is a sense of quiet awe when our cover star, Liya, enters the room. She is accompanied by her manager, King Isama, who is respectful but reverent as they chaperone her through her music career and interview. Her reverence is earned; Liya, who is fondly referred to by her fans as "MAMA AFRICA" , is at once regal yet grounded, a global superstar who has managed, against all conventional wisdom, to remain accessible to her core audience. Understanding how she came to bear this honorific, once bestowed on the grand dame, following her exposure to the music market, was our way to understand the woman Liya.

“MAMA AFRICA” is not just a nickname but also the title she have been able to instill into the mind of her audience from far and near.

That conversation was the start of a movement for Liya. It felt right, but she knew that she needed to find her purpose to earn the honour of being called ‘Mama Africa’. It became clear to her that her purpose as a performing artist was to share her experience of Africa and tell its stories through her music.

Pursuing that purpose has made Liya a a voice to look out for in the music industry, not just in Nigeria but across the African continent and beyond. She is known for her vibrant and energetic performances, as well as her powerful voice and her ability to sing in several African languages.

Her music is a fusion of traditional African rhythms and modern pop sounds, with themes of empowerment, self-love, and celebrating African culture. It has taken years and an incredible amount of ambition and consistency to reach these heights of fame'.

Family was everything and more, was about love, companionionship, friendship, was about God, I am from a Muslim Background, so you can imagine an idea of what that is like. I am the first of five children. It was actually fun, it was about being Greatful for the littless things of life, family has and will always be everything to me. I enjoyed being a child, you know, you really don't have responsibilities, you don't have to bother about a lot of things, I mean it's different, I really enjoyed my childhood, you know I get to fight with my peers, get in touch alot of times, so it was fun. 

I think one of the happiest memories was when my mum had my brothers, the twins Hassan and Hussein, oh my God i was the happiest person on Earth. That's like the first thing I can remember right now and days I get to steal from my mom's pocket and get away with it too, days were really good days. I be feeling like a boss, like yes I'm rich, I'm good. Those days like really made me happy. Alot of times, days if I do pretty good in school, like good grades and throughout the holidays, I just get to enjoy myself, because my mom doesn't bother me. 

Relationship with my parents, I mean it was cool, they're both good. My Dad was my saviour, why mum was my disciplinarian. Oh my God, my mummy was a no Nonsense mummy. She gives it to you back to back, she don't have time. She praise you when she has to and she scolds you when she has to. I mean Dad scolds too but you still get to go away with it by being yeah "Daddy Daddy", but my mom, no time for rubbish, no time for bullshit, no time for nonsense. So back then I always pray for my dad to get back from work early, so my mom don't get to scold me when I mess up. In short, my mom and I are super close, it's super amazing , like I never thought we will be this close, because then I thought she hated me and in my head I'm like, I don't think this woman is my mom. Oh, I'm not so sure she's my mom, I just be like ask my dad and Oh God he was heart broken, then he told her and u think she was nice for a while. It's not as if she's not a nice person but in my head, this woman should just let me get away with some stuffs. However, I am glad she did everything she did back then I'm glad cause I felt like all of the lessons that she taught me  actually shapened my life to the person as a singer, personality wise, life wise too, You know I get to know my own self better. 

Uhm, one of the corest of the corest values passed unto me by my parents was you know being Greatful, gratitude is a must. Unlike days when things ain't going smoothly or days that are not so easy we just never feel the nothingness or me personally. I just get to have fun and just chill and just live with it because I know that I always believe that there's a coming, so that's one core value, is gratitude, appreciating and do not unto others as you do not want to be done to you, knowing your own self and we have something like instinct too they passed unto me. Not beating myself too much in some situations. Like some mistakes are bound to happen, just learn from them, you grow through them and bounce back. Don't try to dwell in your mess too much. I mean you can dwell in it, that's how you grow, but you just learn as much you can, learn from and yeah more. You just keep learning alot yeah, but right now that's like what I can remember. 

Apart from my parents, the people that played a crucial role in my life, oh my God. It's a lot of people, alot of people. My mom, My Dad, I mean first of all I will say God, because without him, I don't think I'll still be here. God, my Mum, My Dad, Mrs Rose from my primary school at a time, Uncle Micheal. I don't know how I still remember them, but they just played some kind of role that is stalked in my heart till now. I got into secondary school, it was good, University when I decided to start singing. 

DJ Bee, he gave like my very first music Experience in studio, we did a song and it came out nice, he's a family friend now, DJ Bee, John Ameh, Albert Dinnie, then I met Davido (Laughs Hard), yeah those are the people I can remember right now, that played crucial role in my life and Daniel Jubilee, shout-out to Daniel Jubilee. That's my childhood friend, that guy has been with me all through, since i was little, when I still never knew what I wanted to do with my life. Mariam, I love you. Crucial roles, yeah. 

Peruzzi, Yeah Peruzzi. Oh my God, Shout-out to Peruzzi, thank God for him, it was through him I met Davido. Yeah I was still on it, just living life.

I studied, first of I finished from the University of Ilorin and I Studied Barchelor of arts in Yoruba. Don't ask me how I did it, it was crazy, it was amazing, it was complex, it was deep, it was fun, I had fun using it. 

I would say I love singing from when I was little, at the age of seven, six seven or thereabout. I am a Muslim, after school hours, I would always go to my Arabic school. They call it Ilekeu. We will do a couple of Muslim classes in Ilekeu. We call it Mahafusa, in Arabic. You know I like the idea of singing in Arabic, then you go home, watch TV, watching alot of arts, watching goals, it was just fun, I see kids on TV singing "Melody Melody Melody, I've got Melody in my Heart" (laughs out really hard). It was really good, I wished I could do this because they were Christians, like is it a taboo to sing as a Muslim, like I don't know how to go about it. But you know I kept on looking the things I could do with music and just behind my house there was a cherubim, I am not sure if it's a cherubim or celestial, but yeah they always wear white garment and put off their shoes, just outside the church. That's all I can remember, but they always sing, oh my God it's always Beautiful, they always have vigils and I just loved it. It just made me feel good. Sometimes I just seat at the backyard of my house and just listen to them, fresh air, listen after Arabic school. After Arabic school, I listen to them. I don't even have a choice. It's a church in Lagos, even if you don't want to hear, you hear them by force. So it was good, was fine. 

Then I started singing in secondary school back then, me and my mom will always sing songs and people will always like compliment us, oh mommy and daughter sounding nice. I never thought too much of it but I liked the idea of simging, you know go on TV, watch the likes of Angelique Kidjo, Asa. "There's Fire on the mountain" and it's started like okay, this is looking good. Then I remembered one day In school, I always score alot of jingles on TV, try to write the lyrics out. Sometimes I missed lyrics, the ads will just come back on TV so I can get my lyrics back. Then I'll score, Sing Sing Sing Sing. So this special day in school, though I was done with my lyrics, Im not sure if I was done with it then but there was a special friend called Mandy. Mandy and I were like cool friends. Then I was trying to ask her about a particular lyrics, after a while we were just humming and singing and she was like you sound nice and I'm like oh yeah, I don't know and she took me to the music teacher in school. 

We moved from my old house to my new school so I'm still very new in that school when I was in SS2. You can imagine how odd everything was, I didn't know how to feel, my old friends every old memories, it was weird starting afresh cause I'm not used to it, like I've never moved from one place to another place and the people you grew up with were alot of memories. Everybody just went their separate ways, so I was still trying to blend in when I started talking to Mandy, I think that was what made me and Mandy close and she introduced me to the music teacher, she's like "oh she can sing" and the teacher was like "oh I should sing" and I'm like I don't know what was going on, I did the little I could do and she was like "Oh you can actually sing" , so he just told me to keep singing. I wasn't in art class though, so I couldn't do alot with their practices because during school hours I was in commercial. I wanted to be a Banker (Laughs Hard) I just said I wanted to be a Banker. Oh very funny how you have like a lot of dreams growing up and everything keeps switching and you find yourself, you keep diverting and its just interesting. So I couldn't do alot with their music classes. 

So it was like during their end of the end party, they were doing some dance rehearsals I joined them, it was fun, it was good, before you know it school was over. Time to get into University, and I still love to sing. I got into the university, i did a little program before getting into the university of Ilorin then I saw students like me going into studios like their lives depended on it. So that really inspired me because I had no idea i could do music as a career, trust me I was really inspired like okay this it it. I could do this, so it all started from there. It was scary at time, I really couldn't face the crowd, but then the more you do it, the better you get, then after university, I did my NYSC, then I knew I wanted to sing so bad, then I dropped my Song "Be My Vibe" in 2020. Three months after I dropped Be My Vibe, I met David. That was how it happened loool. 

Was there any trigger for me? Really, I can't say if there was, i think if there was a trigger it started with from all the music I used to hear growing up, so conciously I didn't even know it was triggering me. I just think for you to have a trigger for music,you must have something like a super power, it comes from the inside , work on it, improve , establish it, grow , make mistakes , grow from it, leran, consistency too, the more you do it, the better you get at it. 

I can't say there's a trigger per say, yeah there's a trigger because from the background of drummers In those days and u think it had alot to do with I wanted to sing too, then u see a couple of female on TV, female singers and I want to be like them, if they can actually do it, I could definitely do this, then I got into University,got inspired by alot of people, guys, girls really. 

Omo, it was competition for me back then in those days.. So the first competition, I was so nervous. In my head I was like I would get myself wrong, I went with my friend. Shout-out to Zion. We didn't even have transport fare (laughs hard) that very day, we were in Ilorin, I was in 100 level I guess we didn't even have transport fare to take us to the auditions. When we got there, we got there with everybody trying to prepare. 

The audition happened In a restaurant, a very popular restaurant in Ilorin, so I took my song book, just in case I want to forget, so I was just there, practising like my life depended on it, it actually depended on It back then, I just wanted to prove myself because I am my only music trainer, I get better singing from listening to people like Asa, Angelique Kidjo, Beyoncé, Ariana Grande, I try to do what they do, if I can do it. At the auditions, I was scared as fuck. Then people started trooping in, then it was my name to sing they used to call me Sulze at a time, like from Suliyat. "So Sulze, Give it up for Sulze" that became the only thing I heard next (Laughs), I stood up, tried to sing, then the next thing the crowd was overwhelming, I couldn't stand the crowd, then the guy hosting the auditions Interjected "Oh yeah, Give it up for Sulze" then people started clapping, the whole thing ended well. I felt good , I really felt proud of myself that I did it cause trust me I almost went back to my house. Then the other Auditions I went for were like school auditions. I was almost full of tears, but it went well. Some not so well but I got better. 

Why I didn't just stick with Sulze? Funny enough, there was no reason, I just felt like I grew out of Sulze and at a time I felt it was like hard for people to pronounce, I don't know if it was hard, but actually it was. Friends started calling me Liya. Then they are like your stage name can actually be Liya. Sulze, I don't know if I changed it per say. I mean people are used to what they call me now (laughs). I mean some people still call me Sulze but not alot of people. A friend actually gave me Sulze, Zion gave me Sulze, the same guy you trekked the first Audition place with. When they started calling me Sulze, Sulze, Sulze, oh God, Bless him. 

I would say my craft is unique, it is me, for every song you hear from me is me. I can call it Soulful, it's basically me, it's relatable music, anybody can relate to. Trust me if you can't relate to one, you cannot relate to the other one. I make Beautiful music, I just want to talk to people through my Music. 

Biggest sacrifice I've had to make, I can't remember, sincerely but I feel like for everyday you decide you still want to do music is a sacrifice, I don't know because it's more than just music now. It's tricky, it's crazy, it takes a strong person, especially for females in business, you have to be mentally ready, you have to be emotionally ready, you have to be psychologically ready. You just have to be ready, trust me it's crazy, it's tough, so for Everytime you try to stay on in this music thing, is a sacrifice. 

Hmmmm, my experience in the Record label had been amazing, it's been great You know, I've learnt alot of lessons. We learn everyday. You get to know your own self more and how to react to people, with people, you just have to know your own self better and what works for you. You just have to start learning from people's mistakes, imperfections and from their perfections, it has been fun. 

It opened alot of doors for me, like alot of people I feel I would have sent messages to, like few years ago, that wouldn't look at me twice. Now, that they see I'm affliated to Davido, they say Hello. Even people that they don't like you, they just say Hello. You know everybody wants to, I don't know it's just the shades of the industry, good, bad, nice, not nice, but I mind my business alot, so I haven't gotten to like Experience the bad side, or may be I have but I don't count it as bad enough. Why because, I don't try to dwell in crazy stuffs too much.

Wow, How I made David was really funny, this very day like the other days. Note! i just dropped a Single titled "My Vibe", so I was trying to promote it with my former manager, so we went out to a lounge with our friends, like just chill and so after chilling we went to her house all drunk and cool. We were just having fun. I think it was on a Friday, then from my House B-Red had a party, so we went to B-red's party, so from there, the same night Peruzzi also had his party, we went to Peruzzi's party, from Peruzzi's party we went to Peruzzi's car and she's like oh, she's affiliated to everybody, oh yeah so Liya is a bad ass and Peruzzi was like oh play her song, let me hear it and she played "MELO", he liked "MELO". He was just driving, we had no idea where he was going, because that's the first time I'll be meeting Peruzzi. Then we arrived at his club, David was In the Club, then all of a sudden, I saw Peruzzi whispering something into David's ears and David told them to play my song and right there they made music in front of him and he was like "I Hear Say you Bad" and I'm like "I'm Trying" because it was really noisy in the Club and he was like "Make Dem go play her song Ginger" and they played my song and immediately and he said fuck, I want to sign you right there and the next day, first lady started, he posted me everywhere.

Challenging moments, I'm sure I must have experienced a challenging moment but may be I see it as a lesson or a face I have to go through. I can't remember right now, may be days when I'm just stalked. Writing songs and recording and I don't want to go anywhere, I just want to be home, may be these kind of days are challenging till like days when you just try to do things you love to do, days like that and days I just wanna push myself to do what I have to do or get out of the whole thing. I can say those days a little bit challenging it not but that's what I can remember like right now. 

Working with Established Brands, it's been a plus for me, it has added to my, of course good for my brand, good for rebranding , it's making sense, it's going well, I don't exactly have a deal with PUMA (Laughs) but we're planning on working it out like big big, so yeah normal stuff now, the normal stuffs they do your brand, they add value to you, as a person and it's a whole vibe. 

Uhhh, my mentors, oh Lord, I love Angelique Kidjo, I will love to work with her, I love Asa, will love to work with her too, I love Simi, but by the help of God I've been able to work with her, I love Peruzzi, he's an OG, yeah I'll love to work with Davido someday, Burnaboy will love to work with him too, he's amazing yeah. 

My new single, Izzzzzzzzzzzzz Going, Kdreams started the whole vibe, I don't know, I felt like God just spoke to him one midnight, then he reached out, then he was like Liya, look at this nice Vibe Izzzzzzzzzzzzz Going, then we like finished it up really and did the whole vibe, but it was all Kdreams idea, from the onset, a big shout-out to Kdreams. 

Uhm, very good question. With Afrobeats, I really do feel like, Afrobeats has really dominated, Afrobeats is Everywhere, winning awards, the recognition is out of this world and trust me I feel like in five to fifteen years, I feel like we've just seen a tip of the iceberg, it's about to extra super blow, like In a way that we've not like expect, I think it's going to be mad, we're doing really great, I'm so proud of all the ogees, the people coming up too, it's beautiful to watch trust me. 

I think my greatest achievement had been daring myself to drop ALARI and you know I felt it was a new fresh sound, it's a sound people are not used to, they know the sound but they are not used to it, it's a mixture of my uniqueness, old, modern, traditional, it's just amazing, so I just dared myself In that sense, like I want to go with this one, I want to do it in my dialect, in my Yoruba, most of it was all intentional, I just wanted the people to have a taste of me, my source, my origin, where it all started from, my indigene name from my ancestors, from my Grandma, from deep within, people are yet to experience that with me really. 

And I am super glad I did, the reception was super amazing, that's my greatest achivement, it was me dropping ALARI, it was me being vulnerable, like okay I don't give a fuck, I give a fuck too, I don't give too much fuck, you guys are going to hear this one. The reception was amazing. Till date people still like asking me on stuff about how they listen, how life-changing it could be and trust me, thats how I want people to feel when they listen to my music, I want people to feel like they are not alone, I don't want people to feel vulnerable, uptight or stressing over a thing. I want them to feel like people go through what they go through too. 

I would love to tour the whole world preaching the Gospel of my music, put more music out there, open like my own clothing line, that's always been like my dream, fashion line, I actually want to do alot of stuff, I want to go into food too, you know agriculture. I have a lot of stuff I have in mind like I want to do, so help me God, Amen. 

Uhmmm, opportunities. I feel like the structure, I feel like with a better structure, people will thrive in their various genres of music, structure, a better structure, really I feel like with a better structure, you can do alot.

Trust me, I feel there are no rules to these things  and like what I always tell to myself in days I can't really handle it myself, like life is not fair, get used to it. The earlier you get used to it, the better, don't expect too much and don't expect less, just be on the fence, that's what I kinda do so I don't like my own heart broken to stupor. Label Owners Reposting artist covers on their pages is not a bad thing at all. The Industry Hazards, if you don't go through them today, you go through it tomorrow, they don't actually need to post your stuffs on their pages before you go through the crazy Industry Hazards, it's normal. The earlier you get used to it, the better. It's going to happen, it's inevitable, you are going to go through it one way or the other, you just have to be mentally strong, emotionally strong, psychologically strong, because trust me this industry is not for the soft-hearted, you have a tough skin because people be always crazy. So label owners reposting their covers is a plus for them, it just help them build their own brand too and get ready for what's next and what's about to come. To just handle things better. 

Oh my God, thank you so much for having me, I actually enjoyed the questions. I enjoyed myself, of course I'll come back. Thank you so much, it was fun, it was actually good. Thank you so much for honoring me, God Bless you, More Wisdom, More Knowledge, More Money, More sound-mind, More Everything to you and your team and of course I'll come back and by them I'll like have more stories to tell and it will be more interesting.

Shout-out to God, shout-out to my Mom, My Dad. Shout-out to Mariam, Ganiyat, Hassan,Hussein, My siblings, shout-out to my loved ones, my friends, shout-out to Isama, Dambo, shout-out to otuh, Itah, shout-out to Tracy, shout-out to ogedegbe, Shout-out to Daniel ubonu, Shout-out to Davido, Shout-out to Peruzzi, Shout-out to Daniel Jubilee my guy, Shout-out to everybody, shout-out to my fans too. Thank you so much for all the love and support, thank you guys for keeping me here and I am thanking you guys for what is about to come, i mean, what is on the way. Love you