I’ll always be remembered for making ‘sweet’ music — Nu Baby

Nu Baby, real names Tolu Ogunwomoju, is an Afro Pop artiste who, in 2021, became one of the industry cynosure musical act now touted by industry critics to be one to look out for in 2022. He told ROTIMI IGE his aspirations, plans for 2022, among other things.

Tell us a bit about your background and early memories growing up…

I’m from a small family of five, I grew up in Ibadan around Oke-Ado to be exact. My earliest memories centre around going to school and church, which were honestly the most important/conversant places for me growing up.

What were your earliest musical influences?

I honestly can’t say exactly what my ‘earliest’ musical influences are, but I think Wande Coal, Style Plus, Chris Brown, probably even Yinka Ayefele are some of the earliest that I can actually remember

Now that you have decided to do music professionally, what do you think are your unique selling points, seeing that the industry may be a bit saturated…

I think I have a very unique vocal texture that helps me stand out and my general delivery on songs are very different. Music is borne from experiences and reality and that’s different for each of us. I believe I translate my own realities to music in a method or style that only I am capable of. In shorter words, nobody can tell my story better than myself.

Tell us about your songs…

I make Afro Pop, but I like to call the music I make ‘sweet music’. It’s really important to me that any song you hear from me sounds sonically sweet. My little catalogue so far shows that; from ‘Only Fan’ to ‘With You’, ‘Obodo Gidi’ and ‘Masta Jam’. There’s just a feeling of sweetness when you hear these songs and I think that defines my sound a lot.

2021 was a definitive year for the birth of ‘Nu Baby. Tell us about that.

I basically decided to take an actual leap into music last year, I guess we can call 2021 my freshman year and my report card for the year isn’t looking bad at all. Over the last year, I really got an amount of visibility and love that money can’t buy. I dropped four songs and was able to amass over half a million streams and also chart in places I’ve never been to. I can only hope that 2022 will be seven times bigger.

If you could change anything about the Nigerian music industry, what would it be?

In fairness, we’re really an infant industry and everybody is learning on the go. The only specific thing I’d want is to create a thriving ecosystem for upcoming artistes. There’s a lot of special talent out there just waiting to be discovered and the industry at the moment doesn’t really have a way to help with that, and that definitely something I’d want to change if I could.

What should fans expect from you this year?

I have plans to drop a project this year, an EP specifically. I’ve been working on it for a little bit now and expect it to drop sometime in the second quarter of 2022. It’ll be around four to five tracks long and will probably have no features.

Your EP has no collaborations?

That’s what it looks like at the moment, but you never know. I do believe that every artiste should take time to discover their strengths and weaknesses and what better way for me to do that than on my first project! I generally don’t shy away from challenges.

What would you want to be known for in the music industry?

I’d like to be known for my music first and foremost, Like I said, it’s important that any song I make comes off ’sweet’ and that’s because I always want to bring a good/sweet feeling to whoever is listening. I also want to be known as a game changer and one of the greatest Nigerian artistes after all is said and done.

Tell us about your fashion sense…

My fashion sense is mostly centred around looking fresh and neat. I’m never afraid to try out new pieces. My goal is generally achieved when someone says “see as Nu baby fresh/soft”.

What is your typical day like?

My typical day involves a lot of recording/ making music. I’m sort of a studio rat, in fact sometimes I forget to eat because I’m recording. So on a typical day, I probably spend  about 12-15 looking at my computer screen and recording.

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