Music
Tiwa Savage Covers Hunger Magazine, Talks New Album and Entering Her Mogul Era
Queen of Afrobeats Tiwa Savage stuns on Hunger Magazine’s latest cover, talks new album ‘This One Is Personal’ and entering her mogul era.
Photo Credit: Hunger Magazine/Instagram
Tiwa Savage has just done something she’s never done before, and it terrified her. The Queen of Afrobeats, who has spent nearly two decades commanding stages and topping charts, has stripped away all the armour in her latest offering, “This One Is Personal.” The 16-track album, featuring collaborations with Skepta, Taves, and James Fauntleroy, marks her most raw and unguarded work yet.
“It’s the most vulnerable I’ve ever been on a record,” she revealed to Apple Music. “Every single record resonates with an experience I’ve gone through. It took two years for me to do this record.”
Released just eighteen hours before her headline show at London’s KOKO, the album sees Savage returning to her R&B roots whilst maintaining the Afrobeats crown that has made her a global force. Now gracing the cover of Hunger Magazine, the forty-five-year-old Grammy-nominated artist opens up about heartbreak, healing, and why some songs are still too fresh to perform live.
Read excerpts from the interview:
How it was performing the new album live for the first time
“It was amazing, but I was nervous! We only announced the show in London forty-eight hours before the date. The album had just come out, so I was like, Oh my God, they’re not going to sing along to the words. Afrobeats is upbeat, you know, people are dancing, singing back to you, and the [new album] leans more into R&B. But people were really encouraging me. I’m still tryna get my head around all the words, and they were like, Sing, girl! When you do stuff that is authentic to you, real to you, you win all the time.”
On working with Skepta on ‘On The Low’
“Now that was a nice break from being in the studio, pouring my heart out, to being in the studio with a really hot guy. I was like, Ah! Okay… This is a nice transition! Aside from that, he’s a talented man of his word. He said he liked it, was going to jump on it and then sent me his verse the next morning.”
On being told at twenty-seven that she was ‘too old’ to be signed, and recently hitting back at someone on X who told her to stop singing and “get married and rest”
“I used to resent my age and say, Why did I start so late? But now I see that there’s actually a reason. God is using me to encourage people beyond music. You could be twenty-five and not be signed and think that’s too late, but you can always look at Tiwa Savage and be like, Yo, it could still happen to me. I don’t shy away from my age. I always find ways to talk about it, embrace it. Nothing anyone can tell me is gonna stop me from doing what I want to do. I’m gonna be singing in a wheelchair, I’m still gonna be looking hot and I can still take your man.”
Read the full article here.
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