Is This the New Queen of Nigerian Music?

Raheem Akingbolu

As talented songstress, Imanse Omowunmi Adefosudo, popularly known as Imanse dropped her debut EP album, ‘Hard Earned Feelings,’ in Lagos recently, tongues wagged as stakeholders asked questions and predicted the future of the young music idol. Among other questions, many people wondered if Imanse has come to the industry to be crowned the queen of the music industry, through her performances.

Weeks before the event, which held at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos, Nigerians were bombarded with suggestive teasers and massive built up campaigns in both online and offline platforms to announce what some analysts described as the final arrival of the Howard University, Washington, graduate of Finance. However, those, who had thought the campaigns were mere make believe, were shocked as the event surpassed expectations.
Tagged the ‘Unveiling Imanse: Artiste showcase and EP release’, the event attracted the crème de la crème of the entertainment industry and paraded many sponsors from corporate Nigeria.

Kenny Blaze, a Nigerian upcoming artiste, who attended the event described Imanse as an artiste who knows what she is doing. “With this event and the quality of the work she has unveiled, Imanse has simply demonstrated that she means business. A lot of things points to the fact that she has done her home work well and with such commitment to the industry, one can be sure of bigger things to come her way.”
Performing to a fully-packed hall, Imanse, whose music is a blend of Afrobeat, Soul and RnB sang along to a live band as she performed ‘Ololufemi.’

The concert took a new dimension when the theatrical display lights changed the mood of the audience and a set of dancers took to the big stage to perform other mind-blowing Afropop tracks like ‘Gbona,’ ‘Sarawale’ and ‘Hehe.’
As she sang away with dancers moving in sync with their electrifying steps, some fans expressed concern over the challenge Imanse would give to existing stars in the industry.

Expectations were not dashed as she entertained and endeared herself to the audience with her performances that showed her as a complete artiste when it comes to singing, dancing and audience engagement.
She engaged the crowd to a spell bound evening in a way that signaled the entry of another great talent with a difference into the music scene.

Part of the glamour that spiced up the evening for the guests were performances from upcoming artistes, fashion parade, exhibition by different fashion brands in foot wears and clothing. The guests were also treated to the serenity of soul performance by a saxophonist, cocktail with fine wine and lots of variety of foods in a cosy and welcoming atmosphere.
The highpoint of the evening was the launch of her EP with different genres of music ranging from hip-hop to RnB. The tracks include: Hehe and Anosike produced by Cobham’s Asuquo. Other tracks are; Gbona, produced by Ikon, Sarewale produced by Jchef and LiciousCrackitt, Original Somebody produced by DJ Coublon.

While fielding questions, Imanse promised never to let her fans down, “This EP is just a tip of the iceberg, by this time next year, my fans should expect another album. I am working harder to put another amazing body of work together. My EP contained seven tracks. I’m planning my album to have 13 to 15 tracks because I’m always working. I collaborated with a guy called Dipo on Sarewale and featured Falz the bad Guy on ‘Gbona’ remix. Working with Falz is pretty cool; he is very funny and very hardworking. And I have a song titled, ‘Original Somebody,’ which is a love song about a guy.”

Imanse who disclosed she drew inspiration from Afrobeat said she would perform at this year’s Afrobeat.
“I should be performing at the Felabration this year. I actually have a lot of heavy Afrobeat in my music. So, it will make perfect sense to pay homage to the king himself.”
She also hopes to work with other artistes at the right time.

“I hope to work with a lot other talented artistes especially Asa when the time is perfect. Because one thing about music is that, it is not about jumping on any collaboration, the person has to like it, you have to like it and it has to work in perfect time. If by God will, I will also feature Wizkid or Davido; it will be super amazing because these are artistes I totally respect.” With the event and the feedback that trailed it, there’s no doubt that entry of the Lagos-born talent into the Nigerian music scene, will further raise the bar and stakes of quality contents and lyrics to educate and entertain Nigerians.