‘Femi Kuti Almost Refused To Feature On My Song: fantasy”- Niniola

        Nigeria’s Queen of AfroHouse music, Niniola while taking us through her musical journey made a revelation and a story to her new single ‘Fantasy’ which features trumpeter and afrobeat artist, Femi Kuti, son of legendary Fela Kuti.

          Niniola in an interview on the HitDriveTime with Duke Emmanuel @thedukeoflife ,  narrated that after recording her recent single, she knew something was missing, a feature.   

Together with her team, they deliberated on the best fit for the song when Femi Kuti popped up in her mind. She had her manager reach out to Femi Kuti and they were invited to the Shrine; Fela’s iconic studio.

When they arrived at the scene after they stated their purpose of visit Femi Kuti repeatedly stated that he doesn’t want to feature on any song at the moment.

“I almost panicked and felt embarrassed. I whispered to my manager asking, why this man wants to do this to me?’’

        After several conversations it all ended well, she said. “I respect Femi Kuti a lot. He is way older and has achieved a lot of things I wish for, The man is a legend”.

She then added that the next morning, he instructed them to meet at the studio to record the song without listening to it first.

       Niniola also narrated her journey while starting up music.  The early days of her career were filled with challenges, rejections, and breakthrough. 

In her words “Growing up, I wasn’t allowed to leave the house, so I found solace in my parent’s music playlist. I sang along without knowing that I was training my voice. I started using for my classmates in school; Performing their songs on request”.

 “I then ventured into going for talent hunts and music auditions where I got so many NOs including the West African Idols that Timi Dakolo Won” she added.

       The Afro House singer, songwriter and energetic performer revealed that she got her first breakthrough when she auditioned for Project Fame in 2013 and qualified. “I became the first runner up where I won 2 million naira. So I decided to invest the 2 million naira in my music.

I went online to search for the biggest music producer in Nigeria and one name kept popping up ‘’SARZ’’. I reached out to him and told him I wanted a Hit Song.

After I recorded IBADI, I ended up being managed by Micheal Idika who was managing SARZ at the time. Ibadi earned me the name ‘Queen of AfroHouse’. And I loved the name!” she concluded.

Beyonce’s team reached out to me before she sampled my song on the record “FIND YOUR WAY BACK”. I got paid for it and I got my credits as well. The album got nominated for Grammy awards so invariably I am a Grammy nominee.

She also revealed on the Drive time that she is working on a new album that will have songs with legends on it including multiple award-winning producer TIMBALAND.

She, however, did not reveal the title of the album.