Apple Music Launches New Artist Discovery Program Africa Rising 03 Jul 2020
Omah Lay Tells Apple Music About the Success of His First Project as a Solo Artist
"I wasn't expecting all of this. I didn't expect it to happen this fast and so soon, you know what I mean? But I'm grateful. I just made music, I put it out, and everybody's loving it. And I'm really grateful."
Omah Lay Tells Apple Music About Transitioning From Being a Producer to a Singer
"Maybe I wasn't confident enough but I didn't know that I could be this guy right now. I didn't know that people would enjoy my music this much. So I felt more comfortable just staying in the studio and making music for other people, but the time I tried with 'Do Not Disturb,' I put out my first song, 'Do Not Disturb,' and the reception was really amazing, so I had to run with it, and I put out 'Hello Brother,' and yeah. I grew more confident, and I started making more music, and I got my deal with KeyQaad."
Omah Lay Tells Apple Music About When His Love for Music Began and Idolizing Drake Growing Up
"You know, growing up and always being with my dad, he played a lot of highlife music, and growing up listening to Drake a lot, with time I just started making beats. You know, I started rapping, and I wanted to be so much like Drake, when I was really young, I just wanted to be Drake."
"I was just a rapper. I was a rapper then I decided to enhance my music skill by becoming a music producer. I stopped rapping and, yeah, I was a music producer for a long time, for about four or five years, I was just making beats for people and writing songs for other people. So just about last year, I decided to take it up professionally."
Omah Lay Tells Apple Music About Writing "Bad Influence"
"While I was working on the 'Get Layd' project, I actually stayed away from my social media follow and I stayed away from a lot of things. I was just trying to get my head straight so I can get my message right, you know? While I was working on the 'Get Layd' project, I decided to just do something for my Instagram followers, and at that time I had just 1,500 Instagram followers, you know? So I had decided to make something for them to just listen to while I am off. So I made 'Bad Influence,' and everybody was like, 'Yo, we need the full version of the song. This song is something else.' And I went back and I completed it, and it is what it is today. It wasn't even supposed to be on the 'Get Layd' EP, you know? But people request that for the song a lot, that we just had to put it on the EP."
Omah Lay Tells Apple Music About Writing "You" and His Songwriting Process
" 'You' was like my first official single. I and my team, we wanted to put out a single before the 'Get Layd' project, so I had three versions of 'You.' I really don't know how everything happened, but it happened so fast that, and 'You' is there right now. I don't know why. I don't even know what to say about the song (laughs)"
"When I had the 'You' beat, I had the beat and the beat was superb, you know? I dive straight in. I started making the records. I made the first version and second version, and 'You' was the last version. This is usually how my process is. I try to make three different songs with the same beat."
Omah Lay Tells Apple Music About His Sound and Not Liking to Be Boxed In
"At the end, I make Afrobeats. African. This is what we do. In my own making of Afrobeats, I don't like to get myself all boxed in, what it should sound like. I try my best to search every single place, you know, every single style. I want to do reggae, I want to do dancehall, but at the end, I want to do Afrobeat. So I'm not trying to be boxed in."
Omah Lay Tells Apple Music About Self-Criticism as a Producer
"Being a producer, I've heard so much. I've listened to a lot of songs, and I always want mine to sound the best, so every time I make a record, I'm always doubting it. But at the end, you know, everybody around me is enjoying it, and I'm a bit of a perfectionist and it's really affecting my craft. But I think it is just like you said, it's a gift and a curse at the same time. That was the same thing with the whole 'Get Layd' EP. I didn't like any song from that EP apart from 'Bad Influence'. I didn't like any of the songs. I felt like there was a lot of songs in the trash that was better than the songs on the EP, but my whole team and everybody, in fact, my parents, my brothers, everybody thinks these ones are good enough to be in the project, so I just give it up for them."
NEWS & PRESS
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AIMP Statement on Spotify's Music-Audiobook Bundle
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6 new publishers elected to IMPF Board
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The Music Producers Guild Announces 2024 Awards Winners
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First signing between Beautiful Mind & PULSE Music Group is Elijah Noll PULSE Music Group Co-CEO’s Scott Cutler and Josh Abraham along with President/Head of Creative, Ashley Calhoun announced today that they have formed a music publishing creative joint venture...more
Record Store Day, The Music Business Association and Luminate announce new partnership regarding physical music sales data across independent retail sector in the US
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Absolue inks deal with Capitol Records Italy for Jack Savoretti album
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Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music opens at the British Library
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YolanDa Brown OBE DL becomes University of Kent’s new chancellor
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TuneCore Expands Music Publishing Services and User Experience to Aid Independent Songwriters
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Liana Flores signs to Verve (US) and partners with Fiction (UK)
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THE HEADLINES
Should the state step in to save our live music scene? (see Features)
Gary Roden exits Co-op Live following troubled venue launch (see News)
Spotify talks growth, bundle royalties and short-video plans (see Digital)
BPI CEO calls on music industry and government to unite around 5 key priorities to support human artistry and sustainably promote British music (see News)
Hipgnosis Song Management fires back at Songs Fund board (see Business)
Blackstone bid for Hipgnosis receives backing from board (see Business)
Taylor Swift’s new album breaks Spotify records (see News)
Independence - what’s up with that BPI press release about 2023 music consumption? (see Comment)
Creator Remuneration Working Group meet for the first time (see News)
Concord's takeover of Hipgnosis (see Analysis)
Concord set to acquire Hipgnosis Songs Fund (see Business)
Is the music industry gaslighting artists? (see Comment)
BPI’s new Yearbook highlights an independent sector growing for a sixth consecutive year (see Reports)
Can’t cross the moat? Walk around it. (see Comment)
The conversation around Fandom needs to change (see Opinion)
Viagogo: Carrying on ticketing, despite the controversy (see News)