Nigerian Afropop superstar Yemi Alade’s new album

Nigerian Yemi Alade, one of the most famous African singers in the world, releases a new album with a wide variety of styles.

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Nigerian singer Yemi Alade on stage in Abidjan (Ivory Coast) on May 18, 2024 (SIA KAMBOU / AFP)

At just 35 years old, the Nigerian superstar Yemi Alade has already had a career spanning almost twenty years. With this new album, she intends to take a global tour of the music that makes Africa and the world vibrate, as the continent’s music inspires artists all over the planet. With Afrobeat as a cornerstone, but not only. “Some people don’t respect Afrobeat as an institution, maybe because they don’t understand it.says Yemi Alade. I’m very comfortable with the highlife style, but also with R’n’B because it allows me to tell a story, to be vulnerable by telling what I want. I really feel at home in these two musical styles.”

With her compatriots Burna Boy and Wizkid, she has become a standard-bearer for Nigeria, while at the same time promoting the cultures of all of Africa: in this new album, she performs a duet with Angélique Kidjo and another with Ziggy Marley.

“I have always kept my hair natural, always represented African culture in crafts, costumes, while many of my colleagues have adopted Western customs, even in their musicunderlines Yemi Alade. I have always tried to stay true to our culture, to respect the rhythm.”

“I have always tried to do things differently, not because I wanted to disturb but because it is what drives me.”

Whether she is celebrating her success or singing about the power of women in Africa, Yemi Alade is part of a contemporary musical Africa that is proud and sure of its strength. This latest album is proof of that.


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