Omah Lay is making waves and influencing the Afrobeats genre. The singer shares his moving story behind his latest single, his collaborations with Tyla and Justin Bieber, and how moving from Lagos to London has only strengthened his vision. He also talks about his new album ‘Clarity of Mind’, what he hopes his fans can take away from it and more!
TetrisKelly:
Hey, it’s Tetris with Billboard News and I’m hanging out with Omah Lay. How’s it going, buddy?
Omah Lay:
I’m fine. Things are going well, how are you?
I’m fine. Man, I gotta tell you, congratulations on the new single “Moving.” Tell me about that song and what the inspiration was for it.
“Moving” is the second single from my next project. It was completely inspired by me moving to a new place. I haven’t actually spent much time in Lagos recently. I’ve spent a lot of time in London, especially recording the album. It’s just a new environment, being able to move from one place to another and then being your own police.
And tell me about the music video for the song. How involved were you in the visual design and what kind of story did you want to tell?
I mean, lately I’ve been making it a point to tell the story of my music through the music videos. For “Moving,” I tell the story of how illegal immigrants travel through the desert, through the Sahara to Europe, because the thing about Nigerians from Edo trying to get to Europe illegally and going through the desert and a lot of them not making it and stuff. So yeah, that was just the story. That was the inspiration for the video for “Moving.”
Oh man, that’s incredible now. I like that, you can connect your life experience with something else from your region and tell a story like that.
I mean, I think if it is anything, it is the story of the whole world. For me too, having a Nigerian passport is very difficult. When I travel there, it is like I am just looking for peace. I am looking for a place that I can call home. Of course, I have my home but I am just looking for a place where I feel accepted and all that because at home, it is really bad when we cannot stay at home and enjoy the everyday things that are even given to us by God and nature and that is being able to live freely. In Lagos, it is difficult so I feel like I am telling the story of the whole world where everyone is looking for a place where they can find peace of mind, a place that they can just call home and relax.
Keep watching to find out more!
