Name: NIJI
Nationality: British
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Current release: NIJI's full-length album Oríkì is out now via AERONXUTICS.
Topic I rarely get to talk about: Fuji music! So much so I wrote an album around it!

If you enjoyed these thoughts by NIJI and would like to know more about his music, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, and Facebook.

For a deeper dive, read our earlier NIJI interview.



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

Man, everyday I get given 3 or 4 musical ideas. It can be a melody, a bass line, a beat or a whole song! It’s God-given I guess because they just appear in my brain and I have to decide what to do with them!

Sometimes my ideas are influenced by my real life, and my experiences. For example, “Mata,” taken off my new album Oríkì stems from me learning about my great grandmother and the obstacles she faced becoming the amazing person she was.



Learning that experience inspired the whole album, especially learning more about my Yoruba heritage.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

Sometimes I get the whole picture or full visualisation of the idea and work backwards.

More often than not I just follow the initial idea and let that lead me to the finished work. When it’s the latter, I can build a whole song then chuck away everything but the drum pattern, then create a new song!

There’s no planning initially!

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

No preparation needed – once I get my idea, draft 1 begins to form, so you can class that as an early version.

I remember writing “Àdùnní,” I think I rewrote the 2nd section a million times before I settled; it had to feel a certain way. We got there in the end!

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play

My only ritual is to make sure I live and experience life from a real place.

Most of my ideas come to me before I’ve even entered the studio. So my ritual once an idea comes is to record it on my iPhone! Voice memos are soooo important to my way of creating.

For your latest release, what did you start with? If there were conceptual considerations, what were they?

In 2018 I took a trip to Brooklyn museum and there was an installation about Yoruba heritage and culture, it was the birth of Oríkì. It led me to begin researching my own family lineage, and I knew the next project I wanted to do was centred around my findings.

I then spent the next 6 years hand crafting musical ideas based on the deep heritage of my culture. It was a beautiful process

Tell me a bit about the way the new material developed and gradually took its final form, please.

I would say the first building block was making “A13 Fuji” and meeting talking drummer Moses Olukayode. When I was writing “A13 FUJI” I knew I wanted to have a big fuji essence centred around the talking drum, which led me to finding Moses online. I was soo excited!  



“A13 FUJI”  gave me the make up sonically that I wanted the album to follow.

After “A13 FUJI” I went on a big writing period, really getting stuck into music from West Africa, like artists like Ebo Taylor, Fela Kuti and the fuji commander himself, “Adewale Ayuba”.



Covid hit and I went deep into writing.

Once we came out I was on tour throughout the US, so I had a few big recording sessions with my band and Moses Olukayode before I left. It then became a project that travelled with me everywhere, parts recorded in Nashville, Seattle, London, Mexico city and New York. It was a super fun time!

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

Yes and no.

I feel like with Oríkì I pretty much wrote 95 % of all the parts even down to the drum patterns, I kept a lot of the creative control. This was mainly because Oríkì is a big sound, with many tracks full of intricately woven instrumentation, so for it feel cohesive I had to keep parts quite precise,

Except for talking drum by Moses Olukayode who needed pretty much no direction! And would nail most parts in one take! It was such an incredible process!

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

I think for me all I’m doing is capturing moments in time!

This music is given to me from above and all I’m doing is capturing and giving it back to the world – that’s my purpose in life and I’m so grateful for the gift.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practice?

I’m terrible sometimes when it comes to this, I’m a recovering perfectionist. I read a quote that says an artist never finishes a project they just abandon it!

I used to have a habit of not being able to finish ideas because there was always something more to add. That’s why Oríkì took so long! I was loving the writing process, especially as I digged deeper into rich musical history of Yoruba people.

I usually now ask myself if what I’m adding is materially making the music sound better or truer to the original idea. If it’s a no, then the track is finished.

How do you think the meaning, or effect of an individual piece is enhanced, clarified or possibly contrasted by the EPs, or albums it is part of? Does each piece, for example, need to be consistent with the larger whole?

With Oríkì I wanted everything to feel cohesive, but still have individuality.

Hence, why “Sounds of the City” has it’s own sonic palette but can still set next to “Jayê.” It all came together very magically.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? In terms of what they contribute to a song, what is the balance between the composition and the arrangement (performance)?

Production on this record was premium, I wanted to be able to listen back in 30 years and still feel very proud of the sound. It was important to keep everything played by the best musicians I know! And recorded at the highest quality and then mix and mastered at the highest quality.

Because of it’s complexity in layers, the mix was very important! Jay Newland who mixes Gregory Porter's albums, mixed Oríkì and he's done a wonderful job! I’m so proud of how it sounds!

At every step I took the highest quality choice, even down to the types of mics we were using. I cut no corners. It was meticulous work producing this – it’s my highest point of creativity to date.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

It’s always important for me to remember that all I’m doing is capturing moments in time and not to overthink any parts of my creativity.

So as Oríkì enters the world I can celebrate the joy of leaning into this chapter of my life. It has been the most personally rewarding journey, and it comes with no sorrow. I have big sense of fulfilment and then I look forward to capturing the next chapter of life in my music.

I would love to know a little about the feedback you've received from listeners or critics about what they thought some of your songs are about or the impact it had on them – have there been “misunderstandings” or did you perhaps even gain new “insights?”

Great question! I’ve officially retired from predicting what people might take to, I always get it wrong!

“Mo ti dėlé” so far has been received in a way that probably surprised me the most. “Jayé “we knew people might take to well, especially with the amazing video we shot with director Steven Olugbenga Eniraiyetan! It was incredible to be apart of that! Especially watching the original vision written by my long time creative director Prash Muralee come to live

"Mo ti dėlé" responses have been so heart-warming. People have told me they’ve cried to it, gotten through their day with it. It's  been beautiful to see the warm reception.



I’m always so grateful that my music becomes a part of people's lives in such a person way.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Well, music allows me to say what I wouldn’t through words. It’s the most open and honest voice I have which I’m grateful for!

So, for me, it’s a way I communicate with the world. Without it I would feel like my voice has been taken.