Omah Lay’s “Moving” Story Behind His New Single, Working With Tyla & Justin Bieber & More | Billboard News
Omah Lay is making waves and an impact in the Afrobeats genre. The singer shares his “Moving” story behind his latest single, working with Tyla and Justin Bieber and how his move to London from Lagos further contributed to the vision. He also talks about his new album, ‘Clarity of Mind,’ what he hopes his fans can take away from the album and more!
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00:00It's great to witness that I could just make music and boom, the world decides what it is and then it becomes a movement.
00:09Hi, I'm Omole and this is Billboard News.
00:14Hey, it's Tetris with Billboard News and I'm hanging out with Omole. How's it going, my man?
00:18I'm good. It's going well. How you doing?
00:20I'm good, man. I gotta tell you, congrats on the new single, Moving.
00:27Tell me about this song and what was the inspiration behind it?
00:30Moving is the second single off of my next project.
00:34It was all inspired by moving to a new place. I actually have not been spending a lot of time in Lagos recently.
00:41I've been spending a lot of time in London, especially making the album.
00:44It's just a new environment, being able to move from one place to another, to be a police detective.
00:50Tell me about the music video for the song. How involved are you in the visuals and what kind of story did you want to tell?
00:54I mean, recently I've been emphasizing on telling the story of my music through the music videos.
01:00For Moving, I am telling the story of how illegal immigrants travel to Europe through the desert, through the Sahara.
01:08There's a thing about Nigerians from Edo traveling, trying to get to Europe illegally and going through the desert.
01:14A lot of them don't make it through and stuff. So yeah, that was just the story.
01:19That was what inspired the video for Moving.
01:21That's incredible. I like that you're able to take your life experience and apply it with something else that's from your region.
01:28I mean, I think it is something. It is the story of the whole world.
01:33Like me, also having a Nigerian passport is very difficult traveling.
01:38I'm just looking for peace. I'm looking for a place to call home.
01:42Of course I have my home, but I'm just looking for that place to feel accepted.
01:48Because home is really bad, where we can't stay at home and enjoy the common things that have been provided by even God, by nature.
01:58Which is like what? Being able to live freely is difficult in Lagos.
02:03I feel like I'm telling the story of the whole world, where everybody's looking for some place to find peace of mind.
02:10Some place to just call home and feel relaxed.
02:11I love that you say story of the world, because I feel like even myself as an ignorant American sometimes,
02:16it feels like something that we're dealing with here, but then you see what's happening in the UK,
02:21you see what's happening across the world, that migrating is a problem everywhere or an issue.
02:26Really, we're just trying to find peace.
02:28Actually, the main inspiration behind the video was my friend, A.K.Z. Goodwill.
02:33He actually went through that route to get to Russia.
02:37The story is just too much and I just thought I should tell the story one way or the other.
02:42So when I made the movie, it just felt like the right song to talk about how people all over the world suffer to find a home.
02:55I'm glad that you were able to take that inspiration and use it in your visuals.
02:59And now this is, as you said, the second single from Clarity of Mind.
03:01So what do you feel like this is leading you into or leading fans into with the entire body of work?
03:07The entire body of work is just about freedom.
03:10I feel like that has been the essence of my music all along.
03:13I mean, freedom in every sense, but mostly in the sense of just finding that space where I just feel free enough to express,
03:22free enough to create without caring about what you think or what he thinks about my art.
03:27That's been mostly about it with my music.
03:31Just freedom, freedom to be a person, freedom to just live life and enjoy what it is.
03:38And now that you kind of have that freedom and you've made the project,
03:41do you feel like this is a new omelette that you're introducing to your fans, different from your debut project?
03:45It is still the same omelette that everybody knows. It's the same me.
03:50Of course, there's always something new.
03:52I'm finding myself and I know that is the same thing for everybody out there listening.
03:57Everybody's discovering who they are every day.
04:00So it's almost new for everybody. Everybody's new every day.
04:04But this is the same me just telling, documenting my story, my life through my music.
04:12And going back in your story a little bit, Boy Alone obviously was an incredibly huge project for you.
04:16Is there anything that you feel like you learned in the Boy Alone era that you're applying to your life now?
04:21Of course, there's a lot I learned through making that project.
04:24I actually grew up making that project.
04:26I feel like I found my purpose making Boy Alone.
04:30I feel like I also just learned to throw away shame and embrace who exactly I am.
04:41I feel like I learned how to be free making Boy Alone.
04:46With that album being such a huge moment, obviously you had such a glow in your career during that time period.
04:52What was it like to live through that time?
04:54Was it like, oh, I knew this was coming or this project felt special to you that you kind of felt that energy?
05:00What it was living through that time was just finding a way to actually believe who I am.
05:07Just like look at people in the face and see the doubt and still believe that, oh, he doubts me.
05:11But I am still the greatest, you know what I mean?
05:14My personality was shaking.
05:16I didn't know what to believe.
05:18Living through that time was a bit of what for me?
05:21It was very complicated because I was just looking for evidences to believe that I am great.
05:29You know what I mean?
05:31I mean, I feel like everybody goes through that a bit of like imposter syndrome as well.
05:34That's what it's called, right?
05:36Am I really this person?
05:38Yeah.
05:39Do I deserve these things?
05:41But I finally made it out of Boy Alone, out of the Boy Alone era.
05:45And then there's something I just needed to add, I need to address.
05:48I have always just left the fans, my fans and the listeners, because I know there are listeners and there are fans.
05:58I have my fans and I have the listeners who just listen.
06:01I can't lie about that.
06:03But I've always left my fans and the listeners to decide who I am.
06:09Through what they listen from the lyrics.
06:12And so every time I look at them in the eyes, I see them thinking that I am just a sad boy who is depressed.
06:20And looking for what?
06:22Happiness and stuff.
06:24Yes, I am.
06:26But just because I have given you music for this long.
06:31Music that have made you feel like this.
06:34Don't expect that from me every day.
06:36It's a new day.
06:37Every day is a new person.
06:39The same person, but a new day.
06:41I need you guys to be open-minded and just enjoy whatever comes, knowing that it is Omale and it's a new day.
06:50Well, I mean, some people have literally referred to your music as Afro-depression.
06:53I love it.
06:55And I do think, I'm like, that is a cool way to describe, you know, your sound.
06:59I definitely love it.
07:01But do you feel like there's a pressure from that?
07:03There's definitely no pressure.
07:04I love that I started a new movement.
07:07Like, my music started something new that I didn't even have to come out to tell people that my music is Afro-depression.
07:14They made it up. My fans made it up.
07:16They listened to the music and it told them the whole thing.
07:19Like, I didn't have to come and explain as much as everybody do when they come out and begin to explain this, that, that, that, that.
07:25The fans decided, my fans decided what it was just by listening to the music.
07:30It was self-explanatory.
07:31It's great to witness that I could just make music and boom, and the world decides what it is.
07:38And then it becomes a movement.
07:40The artists coming from Nigeria right now, not just Nigeria, Afrobeats in general,
07:45it's everybody taking a bit of my stuff, the stuff that I started.
07:50It's everybody trying to copy something.
07:53That's, that's, what do you call that?
07:55I mean, I feel like that's inspirational.
07:57It's inspirational.
07:58Like, they're inspired by you and that's a good thing.
07:59It's a new movement.
08:01It's something, something I'm very grateful to be the leader of.
08:09How is it to perform that kind of music live?
08:11Like, when you're going through like more personal issues, Afro-depression if you will,
08:15and then you have to get on stage and then convey that to an audience.
08:18They love it. My fans love it.
08:20Is it difficult for you?
08:22No, it's not. It's beautiful to see that my story,
08:25hundreds of thousands of millions of people are dancing to my stories.
08:30They understand it.
08:32Like, I don't come out to say this is what it is.
08:34I just make music and they all understand and dance to it.
08:38It's not difficult. It's very beautiful to see.
08:41I mean, it's got to be beautiful for them to probably come up to you.
08:44Yeah, of course, standing on the stage and just seeing the whole world
08:47dance to this thing that I made, it's amazing.
08:51And then do you have fans that come up to you and tell you their stories
08:54and say, this song means this to me because of that?
08:56That's my favourite part of making music.
08:58That's my favourite part of being an artist.
09:00Just hearing people tell me how much my lyrics mean to them
09:02and how my music changed their life
09:04and how they were going through this and that
09:06and then my music held them through.
09:08That's better than any plaque that I can ever receive.
09:11Yeah, that's really dope, man.
09:13You've been working with some really cool people.
09:15You know, Justin Bieber, Tyla.
09:17How has it been to see like her glow up?
09:19Obviously, Tyla's killing it.
09:21Yeah, I mean, she's amazing. She's amazing.
09:22I mean, I can't stop from, I mean, where she started from.
09:26Yeah, I'm very happy for her.
09:28The tension with Justin Bieber, how did that come about?
09:30That was also a moment of my life that I just can never forget.
09:33Justin has been my guide since when up to today.
09:36We still like to talk.
09:38Is there anybody you can tease with us that's going to be on Clarity of Mind?
09:40Nobody.
09:42Nobody.
09:44I just want to check. I have to ask. I have to do my job.
09:46And then let's talk a little bit about your moving around, man.
09:48So you went from Nigeria to London.
09:50So has that had an effect on your music at all?
09:52Being in London.
09:54I have just been spending a lot of time in London recently.
09:56But yeah, the energy in general is amazing.
10:00The London energy.
10:02I went to London because I wanted to create.
10:06Just staying in Lagos is like doing the same thing over and over again.
10:11You definitely need to like just wake up and see a bunch of new people
10:16to be able to do a bunch of new stuff.
10:18You know what I mean?
10:20So yeah, I've just been spending more time in London
10:22because I made this whole album on the road.
10:25And mostly in London, the Bay of Lagos.
10:29Well, you talk about discovering new things,
10:32but I know you also need your Nigerian culture.
10:34So what have you found in London?
10:36Have you found a good spot?
10:38Like, do you got to go to Nigerian food place?
10:40Kviva. Uber Eats.
10:42He's like Uber Eats again.
10:44Kviva in London.
10:46Those are my favorite.
10:48Everything I eat is from them.
10:53Well, lastly, as Clarity of Mind is coming out,
10:56you know, obviously Afrobeats has become this huge, huge movement.
11:00How is it to be a part of the movement?
11:02And what do you think of where it is right now?
11:04I don't think that I'm very happy with what the pioneers of Afrobeats are doing right now.
11:09What we, the pioneers of Afrobeats, are doing right now.
11:12I'm very happy with the global success of Afrobeats.
11:15But we, the front guys of Afrobeats,
11:19we're just washing the whole thing down by just chasing the bag
11:23and just looking for the next quick fix.
11:25And which is like, what?
11:27Yeah, it's now I'm a piano.
11:29I'm a piano in Afrobeats clubs and Afrobeats shows and stuff.
11:35More than Afrobeats itself.
11:37I can't remember the last time I heard a very proper Afrobeats song
11:42by an Afrobeats artist.
11:44It's been like, what, one year now?
11:45You say that and that even just made me want to ask you,
11:48how do you feel when other cultures are also participating in Afrobeats?
11:51I've seen K-pop groups even now doing Afrobeats.
11:54No, I definitely love, that's Afrobeats to the world, isn't it?
11:56That's what Afrobeats to the world is.
11:58Just export the sound so much where everybody can jump on it and enjoy it.
12:03But we that are from Nigeria, specifically from the Afrobeats hub,
12:11we that are from the Fela Kuti, the high life, Sadebe,
12:16the cool people that started this whole Afrobeats thing,
12:20we are being lost by the people that are dancing to it.
12:28I think what is mostly stuck in our heads when we're making this music
12:33is the festival and the white people jumping around
12:37and enjoying the Afrobeats.
12:40I think that's what is stuck in our head, which is basically the bag.
12:43I'm included.
12:46And then we care so little about the art,
12:49we care so little about Afrobeats,
12:52where it's like, what, you can see that there has been,
12:57it's been a minute since there has been an Afrobeats record that did it.
13:02You know what I mean?
13:04But I do think that someone genuine like you really is doing a great thing for the genre,
13:09so I'm glad that you're able to tell your story.
13:13I definitely care about art.
13:15I definitely care about it.
13:17It's what has brought me this far.
13:19It's what has brought Afrobeats this far.
13:21Well, congrats on moving, man, and we're excited for Clarity of Mind.
13:23Thank you. Thank you for having me today, man.
13:25Absolutely.