Afrobeats lacks pure lyricism before I came – Fireboy DML

By Taiwo Okanlawon

Nigerian singer, Adedamola Adefolahan, popularly known as Fireboy DML, has claimed that the Afrobeats scene before his emergence was just “vibes” and lacked “pure soul and lyricism.”

Speaking in a recent interview with BET, Fireboy explained that he created his own sub-genre of Afrobeats because he knew his sound was “different.”

In the interview, Fireboy talks about how he got interested in making music, his many notable collaborations with the likes of Blaqbonez, Jon Bellion, Jon Batiste, Jax Jones, Madonna and his most well know collaboration Ed Sheeran on his most famous song “Peru,”.

He also talks about how he feels about the Grammys finally recognizing Afrobeats, how much he loves football, mixing Afrobeats and country music, his love of Noah Kahan and more.

He argued that his genre, unlike mainstream Afrobeats, has “some depth.”

He said, “The Afrobeats scene before I came in. It was built on vibes. But I realized that there was something lacking, and that was pure soul and lyricism in our music. That was what I brought into the game. That’s why I call it Afro-Life — it’s Afrobeats that has some depth to it.”

Fireboy said listening to artists like Elton John, James Blunt, Celine Dion, Wande Coal and 2Baba while growing up inspired the kind of music he makes.