Rising Afrobeats star Fireboy DMl talks about how he got interested in making music, his many notable collaborations with the likes of Blaqbonez, Jon Bellion, Jon Batiste, Jax Jones, Madonna and his most well know collaboration Ed Sheeran on his most famous song "Peru," how he feels about the Grammys finally recognizing Afrobeats, how much he loves football, mixing Afrobeats and country music, his love of Noah Kahan and more!
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00:00 She took me out on a date.
00:01 - Oh, I love that.
00:02 - And she just made me feel, let's move on.
00:07 (laughing)
00:09 What up people, my name is Fireboy DML
00:11 and you're watching Billboard News.
00:13 (upbeat music)
00:15 - Hey, what's up?
00:25 It's Tetris with Billboard News
00:26 and I'm excited today 'cause I'm hanging out with Fireboy.
00:29 How's it going, man?
00:30 - I'm good, I'm blessed.
00:31 How you doing, man?
00:31 (upbeat music)
00:34 - Last time I saw you, you were kicking it at the Grammys,
00:48 man, living your best life.
00:49 How was the whole experience for you?
00:51 - It was amazing.
00:51 It was a brand new experience for me.
00:54 It was glamorous seeing all those people,
00:56 all those talents, people that I look up to.
00:58 I saw Lenny Kravitz, I saw Jay-Z.
01:01 Yeah, it was an amazing experience for me.
01:02 - That's super cool.
01:03 And how was it to see Afrobeats being celebrated?
01:05 Because obviously there was the best
01:07 African performance category that was a new category.
01:09 So to see that happening, to see Burnable on stage,
01:12 how was that process?
01:13 - Ah, trust me, man, it was everything.
01:15 It was like a manifestation of everything
01:17 that we've been working for over the years.
01:19 And I was just really honored to witness it.
01:22 It was like, oh, this is where, this is it.
01:27 I'm just really happy for Afrobeats and the genre
01:29 and African music in general.
01:31 'Cause I mean, it's bigger than Afrobeats now.
01:32 - I mean, you're right in the center of it.
01:34 You're kind of like one of the big figureheads,
01:36 I feel like, in Afrobeats.
01:37 And you got some new music outside in Obasema.
01:40 So why did you decide to put these two out as a two-pack?
01:42 - First off, because it's something I haven't done before.
01:46 I honestly was on a whim.
01:48 You know, I was like, it's been quite a year.
01:50 And I was like, you know,
01:51 let me just do something really crazy.
01:52 - So tell me, which song came first?
01:54 What was your creative process like?
01:55 - I had recorded "Outside."
01:57 ♪ Catch me outside tonight ♪
01:59 ♪ I'll cherry all my guys ♪
02:01 Way before, like I think like October, November.
02:03 I recorded Obasema in December.
02:06 ♪ Kishe, boo-boo ♪
02:08 ♪ And I won't spend it on you ♪
02:09 I recorded Obasema and for the next couple of weeks,
02:12 I couldn't make any other thing.
02:13 I couldn't record anything else.
02:14 I was just listening to the song back to back.
02:17 And it made me so happy.
02:19 And prior to that, I was having a gloomy couple of weeks.
02:23 So it was a refreshing feeling for me.
02:25 And I was just happy.
02:26 I was like, you know what?
02:27 My Nigerians deserve to feel the same happiness, you know?
02:30 - And I like that your music makes you happy.
02:32 I think that's a good sign that, you know,
02:33 you enjoy your stuff so obviously your fans would as well.
02:36 And then you did two music videos as well.
02:38 So how involved are you with the creative process
02:40 and what inspired the music videos?
02:41 - Well, I would say Afrobeat.
02:42 We love to show, we love to celebrate.
02:45 So if you're making music that, you know,
02:47 talks about celebration,
02:48 it's only right that you show it too,
02:51 not just making people listen.
02:52 And that's why it's imperative for me as an artist
02:55 to always or mostly shoot videos for my songs, you know,
02:59 because we always like to show off the beauty of our culture,
03:02 our women, our hearts, you know, and stuff like that.
03:06 So yeah, Obasema is actually Twi.
03:08 That's Ghanaian language.
03:09 It means the woman of substance or the perfect lady.
03:13 So I went to Ghana,
03:14 picked the most beautiful Ghanaian woman I could find,
03:16 and I shot the video.
03:17 (both laughing)
03:18 - That's an amazing job to have.
03:20 And you got to work with Blackbones on "Outside."
03:22 - Yeah, that's my brother.
03:23 - So tell me about that relationship
03:24 and how you guys came together.
03:25 - I was like, you know what?
03:26 I need to feature someone, a rapper,
03:29 who is not a conventional rapper,
03:31 someone crazy enough to jump on a record
03:35 that nobody would expect them to.
03:37 And Blackbones was the only right answer.
03:39 And we go way back.
03:40 We went to the same uni.
03:41 - Oh, really? - And we've been guys, yeah.
03:43 So like, the connection was seamless.
03:45 I didn't really even have to be in the studio with him
03:47 when he recorded his verse.
03:48 And I knew I was going to do something special.
03:50 - Wow, that's really dope.
03:51 And like, and do you feel like you collaborated
03:53 with him on the verses?
03:54 Are you one of the guys in the studio like,
03:55 this is my song, this is what I want you to do?
03:57 - Oh, definitely.
03:58 When he sent the first cut, I was like,
04:00 okay, you know what?
04:00 Change this, change this, change this.
04:02 Yeah, but it was just one correction
04:04 and yeah, I got it right.
04:05 ♪ Stay flighty, my time complete ♪
04:06 ♪ Yeah, my time is a brand new piece ♪
04:08 ♪ I'm ballin', I'm ballin' ♪
04:10 - You're no stranger to collaborations.
04:11 You've done a lot of huge ones throughout your career.
04:13 So I want to kind of talk through a little bit of those.
04:15 So you worked with John Batiste and John Belion as well.
04:17 So talk about that process
04:19 and what it was like to do this.
04:20 - That one was huge because John Belion
04:23 is someone that I've always looked up to.
04:25 Like when people ask me, who do you look up to?
04:29 I tell them the foundation of my sound
04:31 is Wanda Cole, John Belion and Passenger.
04:35 One thing that strikes me about John Belion and Passenger
04:38 is the honesty in their lyrics.
04:39 They're so unbelievably unfiltered honesty.
04:43 Like they bear it all.
04:46 It made me realize that that was one thing
04:47 that was lacking in the music space at the time
04:51 in the Nigerian Afrobeat music space at the time.
04:53 And I figured that was my way
04:55 of bringing something new to the table.
04:57 John Belion is someone I've always looked up to.
04:59 I always loved his artistry.
05:01 He's one of those artists who don't really care
05:02 about the glitz and glamour of his song.
05:04 - He's so chill.
05:05 - So that alone inspires me.
05:07 So being on a song with him and John Batiste was huge.
05:11 ♪ So take a deep breath, drink water ♪
05:13 ♪ You know that this drink's just now gone low ♪
05:15 For that, I'm grateful to John Batiste
05:17 'cause it was one of my dreams as an artist
05:20 to work with an artist like that.
05:21 - Me and My Guitar with Jax Jones.
05:23 So tell me about that collaboration.
05:25 ♪ It's still me and my guitar ♪
05:27 ♪ I'm still singing for my heart ♪
05:29 - As you said that, it sent chills down my spine
05:31 because when we were shooting the video, it was so cold.
05:34 - Oh really?
05:35 It took you back all the way to the cold?
05:37 - It took me back all the way back to the cold.
05:37 - Where were you guys shooting it?
05:38 - Yeah, we were in London shooting the video.
05:40 It was amazing.
05:41 It was an amazing experience, amazing person.
05:43 The thing is, I'm really grateful
05:44 for the collaborations I've done in my life
05:46 because all the people I've collaborated with
05:48 have turned out to be amazing people.
05:50 Apart from being amazing artists.
05:51 And they all inspired me in their own different ways.
05:55 And Jax Jones is one of those people.
05:56 Really genuine, down to earth, doesn't really care about
06:00 the things that don't really matter.
06:01 He just really cares about the art and that is inspiring.
06:05 That was a fun collaboration, beautiful song.
06:07 You know, there was a story behind the song
06:09 which made me really love the song.
06:11 Talking about coming from a very small, sleepy town
06:14 in Abelkutau, the States, you know, writing poems
06:17 and just trying to figure out life up until
06:20 when I went to uni and I discovered music
06:22 and my life just changed.
06:23 - You have such an incredible career so far.
06:25 Now I gotta tell you, I'm being honest here.
06:27 The first time I heard you was on one of my favorite artists
06:30 of all time, Madonna.
06:32 - Really?
06:33 - Yeah, dude, the Frozen remix.
06:34 Dude, I was losing it, dude.
06:36 ♪ You delay me playing, wasting time ♪
06:39 ♪ Don't make me wait in line ♪
06:41 - I'm such a massive Madonna fan.
06:43 - When she texted me, I was like--
06:44 - Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
06:46 Did you say when she texted me?
06:46 - Yeah, she sent me a DM on Instagram.
06:49 She just told me, I think she told me
06:50 she was a fan or something and she loved
06:53 the most unlikely song on the album, on my debut album.
06:56 She's so weird and funny.
06:58 I just love her.
06:59 And yeah, that is one of the highlights of my career.
07:02 So definitely, you know, having a song with Madonna
07:05 is really something to be proud of
07:06 because that's the queen of pop, you know.
07:08 - Extremely, and you have to tell me,
07:09 what was one of the funnest stories
07:11 from like working with her?
07:12 - Okay, so I'm not gonna say everything,
07:14 but I went out on a date with Madonna
07:16 and I would say it's probably
07:17 the most memorable date I've been on.
07:19 - Wow, I mean, you can't top going on a date with Madonna.
07:23 That's amazing.
07:24 And like I said, you have just such a great career
07:26 because now I go from talking about Madonna
07:29 to talking about Peru.
07:30 (upbeat music)
07:33 I mean, working with Ed Sheeran, that song was huge.
07:38 So talk to me about like, how did that come together?
07:41 - I told myself, I'm like, God, I want a global hit.
07:44 You know, that was when Essence were really popping.
07:46 I was like, I want a global hit.
07:47 I would love to also contribute to my genre, you know,
07:52 by having a song that cuts across the whole world
07:55 and just changes my life forever.
07:57 And God gave me Peru.
07:59 So the song blew up, amazing record.
08:02 You know when a song blows up
08:03 and it becomes this annoying song
08:05 that you just hear everywhere?
08:07 It became that in Africa, you know, in Nigeria,
08:10 especially in Lagos, I was like, ah.
08:12 - Everywhere you went.
08:13 - So it needed something, it needed something really special.
08:17 And it came in form of that collaboration with Ed Sheeran.
08:19 I was in the studio that day, I remember,
08:21 and I got a call from Mr. Karim,
08:23 who works with my label Empire.
08:26 And he told me, "Yo, guess what?
08:28 "Ed Sheeran is gonna be on your record, man.
08:30 "Check your DMs, I think he has sent you a DM now.
08:32 "He's recorded the verse, everything is ready."
08:34 I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, what?
08:35 You know, but apparently Jamal Edwards, God rest his soul,
08:39 a close friend of Ed Sheeran,
08:40 and a very big part of the culture in the UK,
08:43 sent the song to Ed Sheeran and told him about it.
08:46 Like, yo, I have this amazing song by my brother,
08:48 I think you should get on it, it's amazing.
08:51 They're really close, so he could never say no to Jamal.
08:54 And he also really loved the song.
08:56 And he recorded his verse, he just sent me a DM.
08:59 He sent a voice note, sent a DM to me.
09:02 And after I got the call, I checked my Instagram,
09:05 I was like, he really sent the DM, and I listened to it.
09:07 And I was like, what?
09:09 This verse is fire.
09:10 I'm like, this is crazy. - No notes?
09:11 - No notes!
09:12 No single note.
09:14 He's an amazing person, a genuine person.
09:23 Success has different effects on people.
09:26 You know, success to Ed is different, personal.
09:29 You know, he's so down to earth.
09:31 And it's almost like nothing really faces him.
09:35 You know, no matter how many stadiums he sells out,
09:38 no matter how many records he sells,
09:40 he's still that same person.
09:41 And that was the very first thing I learned from him.
09:45 And I was like, you know what?
09:46 This is a really good thing to apply to your life.
09:48 - That song ended up, obviously,
09:50 bringing you to the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time.
09:52 So do you feel like for you,
09:53 that was also a pivotal point in your career
09:56 where things started to change?
09:57 - Yeah, definitely.
09:58 But most importantly, it was huge for the culture,
10:02 you know, for African music, for my country, for my people.
10:05 It was one of the, I could probably say,
10:07 it's one of the songs that really put Afrobeats on the map,
10:10 put Afrobeats out there.
10:12 And I'm just honored to be a vessel.
10:14 - Man, that's an amazing thing to have done
10:16 for your country, I'm sure, and for the movement.
10:18 So let's kind of go backwards and talk about,
10:21 you know, "Fireboy" from the beginning.
10:22 A young kid in Nigeria,
10:23 tell me when you kind of knew music
10:25 was going to be your thing.
10:26 ♪ What if I said, said ♪
10:27 ♪ Make we not be friends, make you be my best ♪
10:29 - I've always known I could sing.
10:31 I mean, I had a short stint in the choir.
10:33 My mom forced me to sing in the choir
10:34 because she thought it was cool.
10:36 (laughs)
10:37 A blesser.
10:38 And I remember my first introduction to art
10:42 was through writing poetry.
10:44 I've always been that loner, nerd,
10:48 with my glasses, just writing poems.
10:51 There was this platform back in the day called Poet Freak,
10:54 where you could just upload your poems
10:56 and people could comment and, you know, we could relate.
10:58 I became quite a celebrity on there.
11:00 - Oh.
11:01 - And I was like 11, 12 years old.
11:03 It felt good.
11:04 You know, it helped me with my self-esteem.
11:06 It helped me with my confidence.
11:08 And it made me realize that, okay, I had something going,
11:10 but I still felt empty.
11:13 I felt lost.
11:14 I felt confused
11:15 'cause I didn't really know what I wanted to do.
11:16 When my dad asked me what I wanted to study in uni,
11:19 I was like, "Well, I'm good with words, so maybe law?"
11:23 - Really?
11:24 - You know, because it's cool.
11:25 And then I ended up studying English,
11:27 which turned out to really do me a lot of good.
11:30 So I went to uni lost and confused.
11:33 Most of my peers who went to uni
11:35 didn't know what they wanted to do with their lives.
11:37 I did not know what I wanted to do with my life at the time.
11:39 And then it took that independence and that solitude,
11:42 'cause I was alone, just me, four hours away from home,
11:46 no dad, no mom, no siblings,
11:48 just me living life for myself.
11:50 I had to figure something out.
11:51 So my first year in school, I focused in school.
11:54 I had first class, good grades, serious students.
11:58 I continued my nerdy lifestyle,
12:00 but I was hanging out with the cool kids in school.
12:03 And the cool kids in school were the dancers, the musicians.
12:06 So I always followed them to the studio.
12:08 You know, sometimes rap.
12:09 Oh, I used to be a rapper.
12:10 - Oh, man. - Dark times, man.
12:12 - Dark times. - Dark times.
12:14 And then before I knew it, I made my first song.
12:16 No, just jokes.
12:18 It was just bands, just jokes.
12:19 And then I remember going back to my dorm room
12:21 that night, listening to the song.
12:23 I'm like, "I really made this, wow."
12:25 And that was it.
12:28 I was like, "Yo, this is it.
12:30 "This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.
12:31 "No, no, no, this is it."
12:33 I was so sure.
12:34 It's that conviction that I felt in my bed that night
12:37 that carried me all the way through to this very moment.
12:41 I left school, went to Lagos,
12:43 and that was where the real journey began
12:45 because it was a whole different ballgame.
12:47 From being that young boy in school,
12:49 making music and chilling and everything,
12:51 to facing real life in Lagos.
12:54 That was another face entirely.
12:55 And I went through a whole lot of crazy stuff.
12:58 Learning process.
12:59 I learned to be self-sustainable as an artist
13:02 and make sure that I worked on finding my sound
13:05 as opposed to looking for people to help me
13:08 and begging for shows and all that.
13:10 And I'm glad it all worked out.
13:12 Olamide discovered me,
13:14 discovered that I was almost the finished, complete package
13:18 and helped me to become the star that I am today.
13:20 ♪ I know the best for your love now ♪
13:24 - I'm sure a lot of the poetry writing
13:26 that you were doing since you were a kid
13:27 turned easily into songwriting.
13:29 - Exactly.
13:30 You know, it helped me to infuse poetry into my writing.
13:33 You know, when I realized I needed to be more honest,
13:37 I needed to emphasize on the lyrics,
13:38 on the writing, on songwriting when it comes to Afrobeat.
13:40 I realized that Afrobeat was lacking a lot.
13:43 And not lyricism,
13:44 because we've always had really good writers, you know,
13:46 but there was something lacking.
13:47 There was some honesty and depth
13:49 that was lacking at the time.
13:51 And I figured I need to take advantage of it.
13:53 And it was, you know, my journey through poetry
13:56 that helped me navigate those waters.
13:58 - And then once, you know,
13:59 through discovering music in uni,
14:01 actually becoming discovered
14:02 and a part of the music industry,
14:03 what's something that like shocked you at first
14:05 when you were like, wait,
14:06 I didn't know if I signed up for this.
14:08 This is a little bit more difficult, maybe.
14:09 - I went through a lot of crazy stuff, you know,
14:11 like every upcoming artist,
14:13 you always go through a lot of stuff.
14:14 There was a show I attended,
14:16 I went to perform and nobody even knew I was on stage.
14:19 There was no stage.
14:20 Nobody even spared me a second glance.
14:23 Nobody was even, everybody was just dancing.
14:25 It was like the DJ was just mixing,
14:27 transitioning songs into songs.
14:29 I felt invisible.
14:31 And I went back to the car that night with my friend,
14:34 crying.
14:35 And I told myself, never again.
14:38 I would never ask for something
14:41 until I feel like I deserve it.
14:42 So I went back to the studio,
14:43 made sure that I had enough songs,
14:46 made sure that I could,
14:48 I was proficient enough to enter any studio in the world
14:50 and make any song.
14:51 And I rejected a couple of deals.
14:53 I rejected, I won't mention names,
14:55 a couple of really big artists came to me.
14:57 I was like, "I'd love to sign you."
14:58 I'm like, "Nah, I don't want this."
15:00 But when Olamide came,
15:01 I knew that, yeah, this is the right decision.
15:03 And that process really helped me
15:05 in making a couple of decisions
15:06 that really helped me, you know, going forward.
15:09 - What do you do in your free time
15:10 that like really brings you like center?
15:13 - I've always loved solitude, you know.
15:15 And when I became famous,
15:18 solitude became sort of a luxury.
15:20 So it made me now even understand the importance
15:23 of really being in your zone.
15:25 I also love football a lot.
15:28 What Americans call soccer, by the way.
15:30 (both laughing)
15:31 - Listen, I watched Ted Lasso
15:33 and it got me used to saying football now.
15:35 - Yeah, I love football.
15:36 I play football.
15:36 In fact, if it wasn't for music,
15:39 probably might've pursued something.
15:40 - Okay.
15:41 Listen, I was varsity in high school.
15:43 What position were you?
15:43 - I played eight just behind the striker.
15:46 I play football, I talk football, I watch football,
15:49 I breathe, live football.
15:51 So every Sunday I go with my guys to the pitch,
15:53 play football, spread it out.
15:55 I'm not a fan of going to the gym.
15:56 So that's how I stay fit.
15:58 - Well, I mean, we were talking earlier about Afro beats
16:00 and kind of like what the genre has become.
16:02 It's like of the world, it's bigger now.
16:05 And I feel like you also incorporate a lot of genres
16:08 into your music.
16:09 So how was it to kind of like
16:10 be under the Afro beats umbrella,
16:12 but also pull from all these different genres?
16:14 - The truth is that it's not a new thing.
16:16 That's how it's always been.
16:18 And I will start from the very genesis.
16:20 At the core of it, Nigerians have a skill.
16:24 It's almost like we are born with it.
16:26 It's adaptability.
16:28 No matter what you throw at us, we will adapt.
16:31 No matter where we find ourselves,
16:33 we will take whatever we can find and adapt.
16:36 Fela, the godfather of Afro beat,
16:38 took his own essence, his own culture,
16:40 and mixed it with jazz,
16:42 and made what we know as Afro beat at the time.
16:46 And he passed it down.
16:47 This is apart from the Fuji, Juju, which is our own stuff.
16:52 Like that's our own stuff.
16:54 But like I'm talking Afro beat, you know.
16:56 So that's the same thing that we do.
16:58 We take our own culture and mix it with pop.
17:01 We have people like Ruga mixing it with dancehall.
17:03 We have people like CK mixing it with R&B.
17:06 We have Rema doing literally Afro pop.
17:09 We have Burna who calls music Afro fusion.
17:11 ♪ It's been too long ♪
17:15 ♪ My time is through ♪
17:17 He's so talented, he can literally do anything.
17:19 That's how it's always been.
17:20 So me, I'm like that too.
17:22 I have R&B records, I have pop records,
17:24 I have dancehall, I have reggae.
17:27 I feel like I've done almost everything.
17:29 - Well that's what I was gonna ask you.
17:30 Is there a genre that you feel like you haven't touched on
17:33 that you like haven't thought about?
17:34 - Probably jazz.
17:35 Maybe I was too young to really tap into it.
17:37 But it's interesting.
17:39 But right now I'm looking at doing Afro beats and country.
17:43 I'm curious to see.
17:46 I've been dabbling a bit.
17:48 When I come up with something, everybody will know.
17:50 - Oh my God, well now you have me thinking
17:52 who would be a good country collaborator for Fireboy.
17:55 You got anybody in mind?
17:56 - There's this new artist that I really got into, Noah Cahan.
18:00 I really love his music.
18:01 I feel like that's one artist I've been really getting
18:04 to his stuff lately.
18:06 We mix everything together,
18:07 but from my own point of view, I would say I make pop,
18:10 I make R&B, but when I make these songs,
18:12 I always make sure to put my own essence into it.
18:15 You can always tell that this person is not American.
18:18 This person is not, this person is,
18:20 it's gotta be from somewhere.
18:21 Where is this person from?
18:21 Why did he say this?
18:22 What does this mean?
18:24 You know, I use my Yoruba language.
18:25 And in Yoruba, we are very dramatic.
18:27 It's a very dramatic tribe.
18:28 We have a lot of exclamations.
18:30 Yay, ah, oh, ooh, you know, stuff like that.
18:33 When you think about how you can combine those things,
18:36 it comes out really nice.
18:37 And that's one really exciting thing
18:39 about Afro beats right now.
18:41 - It's 2024.
18:42 You just kicked off the year with a two-pack of new music.
18:45 What can we expect from you this year?
18:47 - I'm excited to share with the fans
18:49 that I am releasing my album this year,
18:52 and I'm finishing up the album here in LA.
18:55 You know, got an apartment with a pool
18:57 and a beautiful view.
18:58 - Okay.
18:59 - You know, beautiful women in the pool.
19:02 I just want to be in an environment
19:04 that reeks of happiness and peace of mind
19:08 and comfort and peace.
19:10 And that's what I want the album to sound like.
19:12 And that's why it's taking this much time,
19:14 because I know the fans are really impatient and all that,
19:17 but it's going to be worth it.
19:19 The album is dropping this year.
19:20 I'm going to be touring a lot.
19:21 I'm going to be doing a lot of stuff that I never really,
19:24 I used to overthink a couple of years ago.
19:27 I'm going to be going into that.
19:28 I'm also going into the movie industry.
19:31 - Okay.
19:32 - Yeah, I'm going to be acting.
19:33 - All right, man.
19:34 Come on in, dude.
19:35 - My people have always said I'm a dramatic young man.
19:38 I mean, I know being dramatic does not equate
19:39 to knowing how to act, but I do know how to act.
19:42 And yeah, I mean, for my music videos,
19:44 I've acted in a couple of music videos.
19:46 I'm like, you know what?
19:47 I can't let this gift to waste, you know?
19:49 So I'm curious and I'm, you know,
19:50 I'm curious to see where it leads me.
19:52 - Well, dude, we can't wait for the new music,
19:53 the new album.
19:54 Welcome to LA and thanks for dropping by Billboard, bro.
19:57 - Thank you, my bro.
19:57 Thanks for having me.
19:58 (upbeat music)
20:01 (whooshing)