Let’s say Love & Hustle is a film and every song is a scene from that film.
– UA.X on his debut studio album
UA.X is someone you might not know and DEFINITELY know at the same time. His journey into the creative scene Kickstarter with visual media; Photography majorly, which would later evolve into more of Film and Music Video. You DEFINITELY know him as he’s the mastermind behind the visuals of Tems’ “Crazy Tings” & “The Key”, Lojay’s “Leader”, Prettyboy D-O’s “Police n Teef”, Rema’s “Woman” and a lot more to boast of a directive catalog so solid.
As he continues to swivel through the creativity spectrum, it was fairly not surprising that the act would evolve once more into the music scene as an ARTISTE himself. It was time to go from behind the cameras to being in front of them.
I’ve heard I look good in front of the camera.
– UA.X on the switch to becoming a musical artiste.
A debut single “SAFE” in 2022 had kickstarted his journey of musical artistry and he hit it with aplomb.
“It’s fun watching people try to guess the meaning (I’ve heard auxiliary cord) and I have to say I kinda enjoy the mystery and maybe I’ll let the world know what it means some day.”, UA.X when we asked about how he had come about a stage name as intriguing as it was unique.
It just feels like there are endless sides on the spectrum of the fascinating artiste’s brand. Switching departments in the creative space is a phenomenon that we had seen in several other instances, but majorly Producers turning Singers. Hardly Directors to Singers, something UA.X says to have found ‘challenging’
“We haven’t had a lot of music directors turn artists so there wasn’t much of a blueprint but my journey has always involved collecting creative badges I can put on and take off. The music badge was one I debated putting out for the longest time but it always seemed impossible to take off. So far, I’m loving the process and I’ve heard I look good in front of the camera.“
But he is unwilling to totally give up anything for the other. As a response to being asked which of the creative departments he would rather introduce himself as first, he responded brightly: “Depends on where you meet me. But I like to be called Seyi every other day“.
And after a considerable amount of time on UA.X the person, it was time to shift the focus to arguably the most important thing happening in April. A debut studio album from UA.X!
“How did I come about the title(Love & Hustle) of my debut album? My music comes from my everyday life, reflecting on the process that made me decide it was time, the things I’ve had to sacrifice to be here, it’s all been a movie and right now, these two themes (Love & Hustle) are up there for me so it kinda came natural“.
“Love & Hustle feels like the score from a film. It’s a soundtrack to a part of life we can all relate to and I hope people find themselves in the music when they listen to it.”
Might be often overlooked but subtle aspects such as an album title, cover, length, track listing and overall intentionality infused into it just adds to the overall quality. Something a well seasoned creative and artiste such as UA.X is well aware of.
Going into more details about the album, he said “I worked on Love & Hustle for about over a year. But I’ve been dreaming about it for a long time. Feels Good to finally be here. I had to pick from a lot of songs. Even after submitting the project, I had to recall it and take out one song. I’m happy we got the 9 on the album right. I’m proud to say this is my debut.“
The super talented singer and songwriter has decided to go the solo route for his debut studio album, an audacious but assured move.
“The songs on the album are very personal and the process just carried along that way. I’m Excited to do remixes to them and collab a lot more very soon.” Fret not! Collaborations are on the way.
Being the sophisticated visual creative that he also is, we expected X to have a good scoop of considered and a carefully meditated idea for his debut album cover photo.
“As a new artist, I have a lot of people tell me “make sure your face is out there” and while we were putting the art together, I arrived at a point where all I wanted to go against all of that, to focus on getting people curious about the music“
On working with TMXO as executive producer; “I worked closely with illkeyz and Lexi in the beginning. They are great producers and then TMXO put the icing on the cake and took us to the next level.“
And as to what kind of music they made? “It’s Nigerian Rnb But with a fresh flavor. I’m excited to share it with the world.“
Next, we asked the vibrant act to give us a hint into where his head space was whilst creating each record on the album. And it was interesting, to say the least.
“Let’s say Love & Hustle is a film and every song is a scene from that film.“
With the album just around the corner and everything we have heard from the man himself, we are set to get a load of RnB goodness on an LP. Much like something we haven’t seen as often before.
