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Nigerian-French singer Asa captured audiences with her soulful brand of pop that put African songwriters on the radar. After a five-year hiatus, she’s back with an intimate album. Moroetsana Serame caught up with her.
Her fans love her and so do the critics, and now singer Asa has returned from a five-year break to make a highly anticipated comeback. And just as the title of her latest single suggests, it is indeed a good thing. She describes her upcoming album as one where she bared her heart and is the most vulnerable she has ever been.
The indie pop singer began her career in music at a young age and although her parents did not approve, Asa followed her heart. Throughout her career, she forged her imprint as a pioneer for creating a space of belonging for contemporary African artists on the global music scene.
The songwriter’s journey has impressive accolades. Her studio albums Beautiful Imperfection and Asa both sold platinum, and the latter won the Prix Constantin Award in 2008. She was nominated for the Victoires de la Musique for Female Artist of the Year in 2011. This year, she played at the Africa Day Bassline Fest, MTN Bushfire and the Zakifo Music Festival in May. She’s set to play at Kenya’s Koroga Festival in September.
Good Thing, her follow-up single to the emotional ballad The Beginning, is a lighthearted, cheerful tune that highlights the complexities of love. It effortlessly weaves soft harmonies into a story of triumph, encouraging the abandonment of fear in an ode to being honest and embracing love in true Asa style.
Self-love for the enigmatic songstress can be defined as healing, growing and looking inward. She sees herself as someone whose identity is constantly being built.
She told #Trending during a phone interview this week: “At my core, I’ve remained the same person, a quiet voice in the middle of a storm, trying to heal the world in my own small way.”
She described her hiatus as a much-needed reset button that gave her the opportunity to put in the work and to avoid sounding redundant or like everyone else. Her sound is unique, with hints of Fela Kuti, Miriam Makeba, Angélique Kidjo and many others. The maverick’s hardworking spirit is highly attributed to these influences. Appearing last month at the Bridges for Music Academy workshop in Langa, Cape Town, with Zakes Bantwini, she encouraged young and upcoming musicians to maintain discipline and remain grounded, emphasising that having a good and honest manager would help them remain true to themselves. She enthused that the complex minds of artists are refined not by coincidence, but by work ethic, saying she’s excited to see who she becomes.
“To create and keep creating we need partnership,” asserts the boho-chic beauty.
Her aspiration for the album is to have fans experience it as a friend telling them a story. The sultry musician would like as many people as possible to hear her music. Similar to the book she is currently reading, Man’s Search for Meaning, Asa marvels at the resilience of human beings and wants her fans to be happy. She hopes that she has done them justice with her prospective album, which is due for release in August.
It’s the perfect way to say goodbye to cold winter nights and usher us into self-love season – springtime.
