Nigerian Afropop star Teledalase—Apple Music’s latest Africa Rising featured artist—joins Nandi Madida via FaceTime on Apple Music 1 to talk about her latest single, 'Agbaya'. She also discusses her EP, ‘The Bad Wife has no Tongue,’ and how she balances her career as a nurse with music.
Teledalase on the title of her EP, ‘The Bad Wife Has No Tongue’
The title was inspired by a character from ‘The Book of Longings’ by Sue Monk Kidd. She experienced injustice and spoke up about it very publicly. However, her father was so ashamed of her for speaking up that he cut off her tongue. So in a way, I saw that as the symbolism of how women are often punished for speaking up about their personal experiences. It’s also based on my own personal experience. I was once married, so I wrote the EP from a place of self-reflection, and also based upon the stories that I've learned about other women.
Teledalase on her single, ‘Agbaya’
This song was inspired by rage! At some point when I was reflecting on what had happened in my previous marriage, I just felt like, “Oh my God, I can't believe this happened to me." So I was filled with anger and I had to put it somewhere. I feel like most of the times we're taught to subdue it and not really forgive and move on. But I was just like, "I'm going to write a song about this. I'm going to write a song for women when they're angry and they need to channel it—they need to put it out somehow." I want women to be able to relate to that.
Teledalase on her single, ‘Kuloso’
It's about the standard that women are often held to in society, especially in the context of reproduction and giving birth, which is unfair. It's not just in Nigeria, I think it's across the world—and with issues like infertility, most of the time, the woman is held responsible in a lot of society. So if you can't have a child, it's the woman's fault somehow. I wanted to address it because it's such a sensitive topic, but yet important.
Teledalase on her song and music video for ‘Aabidi’
When I wrote this song, I really just wanted to explore intimacy from a woman's perspective, and also in a way to highlight how love can be so much more enjoyable if both partners listen and learn how to love each other, based on their preferences. Making the music video, I had to take my time to really come up with the scenarios and write the scripts and create a mood board. I really wanted to highlight Black love. I was very intentional with everything from the visuals to the lyrics, even to the simplicity of the beat as well.
Teledalase on how she balances music & her love for nursing
It's actually not that hard to balance it, because I'm a traveller nurse, so I do nursing for three months, and then I have one month to do new music, and then I go back to doing nursing. I love being a nurse, and I love doing music at the same time. I think it's such a privilege to be there for people when they're most vulnerable, and people listen to my music on their good days and their bad days. And as a nurse, I am there when someone needs, and I'm also there when some people pass away. I'm sort of like a bridge in both contexts.
Tune in and listen to the full episode this Friday, April 25th at 9a Lagos/London / 10a Johannesburg/Paris / 1a LA / 4a NYC on Apple Music 1 at apple.co/_AfricaNow.
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