INTERVIEW: Nneka discusses her latest project ‘My Fairy Tales’ & more

Best known in the UK for her 2008 smash ‘Heartbeat’, Nigerian singer/songwriter Nneka was over in the UK promoting her latest project My Fairy Tales. Having been released at the beginning of March, we managed to grab a few words with Nneka to talk about the project, the political nature of her music and loads more…

On My Fairy Tales being a project and not an album…

Nneka: The press, for some reason, consider it an album just because I haven’t released anything in the last four and a half years. I think when you see project, no-one is really interested. It’s a project because it’s the first time I decided to work with different producers, so it sounds different and is more natural. In the last four years I’ve been experimenting with different types of sounds, more afrocentric sounds. There’s a lot of reggae on there and a lot of afro-beats, so more in that African/Caribbean direction, compared to the other stuff that I’ve done.

On the reasons why ‘Book Of Job’ and ‘My Love, My Love’ were chosen as lead singles from the project…

Nneka: ‘My Love, My Love’ was gonna be a single because of the hook and it’s more commercial, in a way. We wanted something before ‘My Love, Love’ and I decided to pick ‘Book Of Job’. It’s about the stories of Job in The Bible and I feel like I’m quite similar to Job, like many people who are going through hard times. But I wanted to start with something more positive because up to now my stuff has been quite dark and obscure, so I wanted to start a bit lighter.

On political references being used throughout the project…

Nneka: If you wanna have an impact or get a message across, the worst way is to stand on a podium and impose your opinion on people or tell people what to do. Music is an easier way to get a point across and is a more tender manner to approach the hearts of the many. You can win the devil over with music, so it’s just a strategy. It sounds sweet talking about it like that, but trust me it works. As long as I believe in it, it works. Also, you wanna have an impact on the world and bring people together, not just blame politicians and give people who are in power the responsibility alone for what is happening in the world. You wanna connect to the people and make them understand that we need to be united. That’s what triggers me in the first place to write music. It’s good to drift away sometimes but this is where we are.

On our favourite track from the project ‘Local Champion’…

Nneka: ‘Local Champion’ is me boasting about myself, although I never like boasting, but in this track I had to do it because my self esteem had been crushed, in a way, before that. I come from Warri, which is in Southern Nigeria and they say we’re touts, we’re uneducated, we don’t know how to express ourselves properly. We’re from an era where there’s so much turmoil and war, the people from Warri are very agitated. But at the same time, when we make war we make love, compared to other Nigerians. So you can imagine, someone from Warri living in Lagos; you have these Lagosians saying “you’re from Warri, no wonder you’re behaving the way you’re behaving” and so on the track, I’m saying “you say this and that about me, but I’m the one hanging on the posters in Lagos”. It’s not my story alone, but do not underestimate a local champion.

On whether she pays attention to chart positions…

Nneka: Anything I do should chart. But I know that from the genre it’s not gonna be played on the major pop radio stations, but it’s an introduction to the next chapter of my life and so it has to be good and interesting. So actually, yeah they should play it! They should invite me onto Letterman again and everything!

On how long it takes to write an album and when her next full length album will be released…

Nneka: It should be this September. They’ve [the label] been telling me though that I might have to drop a single in September and then the album next February, but it’s already ready. My Fairy Tales was written within three weeks. I have material for three albums right now, which I have written in the last four and a half years.

On how she has developed as an artist since her 2004 debut, The Uncomfortable Truth

Nneka: I feel I’ve become more conscious of the world and the way I position myself in the world. Maybe to an extent I’m more concerned and more involved. Musically, I’ve picked up instruments and have been creating and producing by myself. I’ve met a lot of artists who have inspired me and have picked up influences from all over the world through travelling and brought that into my music. As a person, I became a little bit fearful, in terms of whether I’m making the right moves musically or whether I have to travel to dangerous places etc, but I’m working on that because fear is never a good companion. It’s healthy to have fear, but if you allow it to consume you, that ‘s not a good thing. I pray that God gives me more wisdom though.

On how the UK has taken to her music over the years…

Nneka: They gave me an award [MOBO Award for Best African Act 2009] but that’s it. Ok ‘Heartbeat’ made it to the radio and I think ‘Shining Star’ did alright, but otherwise I don’t know what’s up with the UK man. I need to be more present here though and play more shows, which I hope to do this year and push harder.

You can grab your copy of My Fairy Tales on iTunes here and make sure you keep up to date with all the latest from Nneka via Twitter and Facebook.

Matt Tarr
@MattTarrJourno

Matt Tarr

Matt Tarr

Urban Music Editor
With grime and hip hop being major influences on him growing up in South East London, Matt's passion is urban music but over the years he has gathered a hugely diverse taste, ranging from Wiley to The Smiths by way of Machine Head, that has made him a very open minded individual.
Matt Tarr