Why most Nigerian songs are lyrically weak —Soti

Soti was recently signed to the Effyzzie Music Group label and set to work immediately by releasing singles which have been enjoying airplay across Africa. ROTIMI IGE caught up with her recently and presents excerpts of their interaction.

 

About her stage name ‘Soti’

Soti is from my name Sotonye. My family started calling me Soti from when I was very little so I carried on with the name

 

Her latest singles and the inspiration behind them

I recently released ‘I pray’ and ‘Ekelebe’. ‘I pray’ was inspired by my hunger to be successful and so we worked on it in a way that everyone could relate and on the other hand, ‘Ekelebe’, which is a slang for ‘Police’ is a feel good party song that shows off my playful side.

 

Pressure being in same label as African music songstress, Yemi Alade?

I wouldn’t use the word, ‘pressured’, rather I would say that I am motivated by her work and her achievements to be just as successful or even more successful

 

Relationship with Yemi Alade

Asides being label mates, Yemi is a friend and a big sister.

 

Sojourn into music

I’ve been a music lover from a tender age. I joined the church choir at five, had my first professional studio recording at 15 with gospelondbeatz who was then working with Tee Y mix. During that year, I also worked with Naeto C on a track called ‘Superman’ which was on his first album ‘You know my P’ and Ikechukwu on a song titled ‘Killz’ which made it to his ‘Life and times of Killz vol II’ album. I took a short break from recording for educational reasons and then continued working with P2J. We came up with a track titled ‘Boy’ which featured Iceprince Zamani. After schooling, I continued recording at different studios in Abuja and that was how I met up with Effyzzie Music Group. They were interested in my talent and we decided to make it official!

 

Her sound

I would describe my sound as New School Afro pop lol

 

What stands her out as an artiste

By just being me! There’s only one Sotonye Pepple in the world and all I need is for my personality to shine through my work.

 

What motivates her

I’m motivated by my desire to be successful, I’m in competition with myself, I want to be better at my craft with everyday that passes.

 

Latest projects

Well, for now, I’m working on a mix tape which should be out by middle of the year by His grace, so please look out for that.

 

Something not many know about her

I have half an eyebrow on my left eye and I love to cook.

 

Her take on weak lyrics in Nigerian songs

Well, yes I agree however, the public have a huge role to play in this. Artistes with commendable lyrical content are rarely celebrated and those with little or no lyrical content are! Everyone wants to be successful so it seems that majority of artistes have decided to follow the trend; 90 per cent beat and 10 per cent lyrics

 

Are professional song writers needed in the Nigerian music industry?

It’s needed because variation in sounds is necessary and some artistes are brilliant vocalists and performers but their song writing skills are not amazing and that’s where a professional songwriter comes in!

 

Background

Well, I’m the second child of three children, I’m an only girl so I was a bit of a tomboy growing up, jumping fences, playing a lot of sports, and getting into trouble at school usually for noise making. I think my favorite memories are from secondary school! I was very troublesome but I was loved by my teachers.

 

What she would like to be remembered for

I would want to have a positive impact on people’s lives through my music. I want to create music that will live on even after I’m gone.