Simi Talks About Her Album ‘TBH’ On Apple Music’s Africa Now Radio

Nigerian singer-songwriter and actress Simi joins Dadaboy Ehiz via FaceTime on Apple Music 1 to talk about her latest collab with Adekunle Gold, “Balance.”

She also discusses her new album, ‘Tbh (To Be Honest)’, her minimalist approach to collaborations, and why she doesn’t try to top her previous work. 

Simi on why ‘Tbh’ took three years
 
It took me almost 3 years, from conception of the idea to the actual release of the album.
It was the sound. I had the idea from the beginning, I knew what I wanted to say but for me I think the hardest part was “How do I want to say it? What sounds do I want to go with, or not want to go with?”
 
I did loads of writing and removing and adding, mostly because of the sound I was going for. There are lots of songs that also fit the idea but not the sound I was looking for, so just all of that I think was the hardest part.
 
 
Simi on the sound of ‘Tbh’
 
It’s just really chill. It’s music you can drive to, music you can chill to, music you can romance to.
 
I just let my voice do a lot of the work – my writing here is more in-your-face, and more daring. It’s just more modern. I listen to this album and think “Damn, I did that,” so I’m really excited for people to hear it.
 
 
Simi on not trying to top previous music
 
When I’m working on a project, my goal is not to beat the last project. It’s not to top anything. I’m just trying to express something, so how do I want to do that.
 
The funny thing is that every project does different things for different people. For a lot of people, my very first mainstream album ‘Simisola’ was the thing that made them love me, so some of them have a hard time moving on from it, whereas some other people are excited to see me evolve and hear different sounds from me, so again it’s what am I trying to do? 

For me that’s the goal: when I’m trying to express something, how best can I express it? It works for some people, it doesn’t work for some people, and that’s ok.