Hi Osé! Thank you for interviewing with Kiwi Collective Magazine for our Black Artist Spotlight series. Can you start us off by introducing yourself and what you do?
“My name is Osé and I'm a 17-year-old R&B soul, trap soul singer-songwriter out of the GTA. I've been making music for a year now, but you know, I've been moving fairly quickly so it's a little overwhelming at times but I'm just doing my thing.”
How did you first get into songwriting?
“I've always had a love for music from a very young age. I started singing in church, going to church choir practices and everything with my mom. That's how, I guess, I unlocked this thing that was always dormant within me, something I didn't even know was there, and that was music. Growing up, people would always tell me ‘Osé, you have to do something with that’, ‘don't let that go to waste’ and everything but I just never knew where to start. Once I did feel confident enough to attack songwriting and everything, it was really hard at first because I didn't know what to write about, I had no inspiration. I was only like 15 at the time. It was like, what do you write about at 15, how I always get into arguments with my brothers? Nobody wants to hear songs about that. Then, I went on vacation to my home country, Nigeria, in the summer of 2019. I was so bored this one day and I had nothing to do. So, I picked up a pen and paper and I went into the washroom because my logic was that some of our best ideas come when we're in the shower, right? So I was like ‘okay, maybe something will come’. And it did because that's how I wrote my first song Games and then I wrote my second song Overfeel the same way. When I came back to Canada, I was scared because I feel like what made me kind of unlock this songwriting ability was being in my grandmother's home country. I got the gift from her because she never had the opportunity to sing, and she always wanted to, but back then, singing wasn't really considered a career, per se. She never had the opportunity to pursue it full force but just being in her environment, I feel like, kind of just awakened something within me, that I didn't even know was there.”
Following up on writing in the shower, is that something that you still do every now and then to write songs today?
“Not anymore. I actually like to write in the dark now. I feel like it allows me to reflect a lot. So, I just turn off the lights, play beats and then everything just starts pouring in.”
A lot of artists spend their early years experimenting and struggling to find their signature sound but you already have one! How did you find your sound?
“Finding my sound was just me being myself, to be honest. I've always loved singing from a young age and being brought up in church was a big part of that as well, just that soulfulness. A lot of people have told me that when they hear my music, they can hear the emotion in every word that I say, and they can feel it. That's all that I strive to do really and that just comes from the church. I also grew up listening to artists like Brandy, Mary J Blige, Faith Evans, Alicia Keys and more recent artists like H.E.R., Kehlani, Jhené Aiko, and Beyoncé. So, it's growing up in the church, and also thinking, how can I take something from everybody while also just sprinkling a little bit of Osé on it. Because of that, you never know what version of me you're going to hear. I might come out with something that's really soulful, more on the churchy side, a bit more Aretha Franklin. But next time, I might come with something that's a bit more R&B and that’s what you're hearing more of today. Every time you hear a song from me, you're always getting a different version of Osé.”
Do you also produce your own music?
“No, as of right now I'm working with a producer that Jeff Robinson connected me with. He hooked me up with this amazing producer and we're actually the same age, which is really funny, but his name's LJ and yeah he's really dope. Every other producer that I've worked with has been amazing as well. KR was the first producer that I ever worked with. When I started doing music, he just gave me a bunch of pointers on how to navigate [the music industry]. Yeah, really dope people.”
What currently inspires you to make music?
“Currently, there is a number of things. I would say definitely the biggest one is my grandmother never having that opportunity [to make music]. Also, just my love of music. I honestly don't think that I could live without music and it sounds super corny but it's just true. I like to eat, sleep and breathe music. Every day, I wake up and the first thing on my mind is music. The first thought is ‘I can't wait to write a new song’, ‘I can't wait to record’, ‘I can't wait to do something with music’. I can't live without it. And, everybody is going through something and I want to be able to speak to every single person that's going through whatever situation or circumstance they find themselves in. Of course, I do write a lot of love songs, a lot of songs about heartbreak and everything but the thing about my music is that it cuts across all ages, all genders, all cultures, whatever it is, and you can translate it in your own way. My first song, Games, is all about the idea of giving somebody a taste of their own medicine. Obviously, I wrote that in a relationship sense but people go through that all the time in friendships and family as well. My music can be translated in so many different ways and I want to speak to people. I'm in this competition called Artists for Social Change and I wrote a song called Set My People Free, which is all about what's been happening with Black Lives Matter and just everything that we're going through as a community, as a race. I just want to be a mouthpiece for my community, a spokesperson for every person who doesn't have a voice and who wants to just feel something and say ‘wow, she goes through what I'm going through.’ We’re all human.
Going back to your Artist for Social Change nomination, you mentioned you wrote a song about the Black Lives Matter movement called “Set My People Free”. What does this freedom look like to you, especially in light of conversations of abolition and things like that?
“If I were to put it into the context of my life, freedom is to be treated as a human being, as an equal. We all bleed the same at the end of the day, you know, it's all about character. At the end of the day, we are all the same inside, we all have the same colour blood so why are you judging me because of the colour of my skin? I want to be able to walk down the street and not be afraid like ‘what if I get stopped?’ or ‘what if somebody tries to do something?’ I don't want to have to be looking over my shoulder the whole time. Especially when I walk into a store — I don't want to have to be followed, I don't want to have to worry about that like ‘Oh damn, here we go again’. You know, the whole same old, same old. [Freedom] is just to be treated like a human being, to be treated equally. To just be treated with the same love and respect that you want to be treated with.”
Are you currently balancing school with creating music? If so, what does the song-writing process look like while you are also attending school?
“I am! I'm in my last year of high school right now, thank goodness. Because everything is online right now, it's actually a lot easier to do music because I'm at home, constantly. Also, teachers are more lenient because of the pandemic and what's going on in the world, I feel like educators are just more understanding now. But when I was going to school in person, I’d usually just finish my work early so that I could have ample time for music. Sometimes in the middle of class, I will be writing songs or a melody will just come to my head, or my producer will send me a beat and then it's like, ‘I have a sick idea for this' and I just get to writing. There's no way that music isn't like a part of my day somehow, even during my lunch break. I go to a Catholic high school so sometimes, I'll go to the chapel during lunch. I'll just sit there by myself and play the piano. Of course, it's gospel music but it's really refreshing and gives me time to reflect as well.”
So, for you, songwriting is kind of like a constant process where you get little bits to do throughout the day.
“Yeah.”
You recently released a new single called “Do No More”. Can you tell us what it is about and what inspired it?
“So Do No More is all about being at your wit's end when a relationship is at its breaking point. Like, ‘I am on the verge of leaving, and when you're ready for me on a mental or emotional level, or whatever the case may be, you can let me know’. It's not like you’ve completely lost feelings but at the same time, you’re not going to deprive yourself of that sense of feeling wanted because it seems like they don't want you. That's what it's all about. When I wrote it, I wasn't necessarily going through that. It was more so what I was seeing around me.
Fun fact, I actually wrote it as a demo to send off to a label. I went into the studio to record it and the producer, Nick Cassidy, came into the studio and I had no idea who he was prior to meeting him that day. We just chopped it up and he played the guitar and bass for it and it came together so beautifully. I was like, ‘I can't send this off anymore, I have to release this as the last single of the year’. I released it like, ‘here you go guys, here's a little something, Merry Christmas’. It's doing well, so, I’m assuming people like it.”
Do you have any upcoming projects?
“I do! I'm planning on releasing another song sometime in March. I don't have an exact date yet but it's going to be a good one. It's another R&B soul song. I would describe it as soulful, an emotional epiphany, and overall just deep.”
Watch the music video for Osé's latest single, Do No More and follow her on Instagram.
Interviewed by Iqra Abid.