Afrobeats’ leading lady Seyi Shay shares the vibrant video for her latest single ‘Your Matter’ featuring Eugy. Shot in a jungle landscape and featuring both artists, the colourful visual follows Eugy’s journey from day to night through the thick jungle to find Seyi Shay. Complete with adorned dancers and kaleidoscopic heat detection cameras, ‘Your Matter’ is a fully sensual audio-visual experience.
‘Your Matter’ marks the international recording artist’s debut via Island Records UK and features a hypnotic blend of infectious vocal melodies, warm chords and syncopated rhythms. It’s a sun-drenched banger with a twist of 90s throwback R&B that’s set to make waves across carnival month.
Originally born and raised in Tottenham, Seyi Shay (real name Oluwaseyi Deborah Joshua) relocated to her home country of Nigeria, where she has quickly established herself as one of the biggest female artists on the continent. Though still relatively unknown outside of Africa, her music and videos have had millions of views each and she’s already worked with key names across the industry including Wizkid on ‘Crazy’, Bryan-Michael Cox, Justin Timberlake, 2face Idibia, Beenie Man, Harmony Samuels as well as a duet performance with Neyo.
Not only has Seyi set a strong platform for African women in music – having been twice nominated at the MTV Africa Music Awards – she is also a notable activist having participated in the #WhatIReallyReallyWantglobal campaign film earlier this year promoting female empowerment. The campaign sparked international media alight, with support hailing from Rolling Stone, The Telegraph, Harpers Bazaar and Vogue to name a few.
In keeping with this momentum, Seyi Shay’s ‘Your Matter’ delivers a much-needed injection of strong female energy into the UK Afrobeats scene.
We LOVE the video! What inspired you to write this track and how did you link up with Eugy?
“I was introduced to Eugy through an old friend in the industry named Nick Shonuga of All Black Sheep.
I happened to be in London earlier this year so we arranged a session and got into the studio. Team Salut (the producers) and Eugy had already gotten a vibe so I just freestyled my verse and everyone just liked it that way. Raw and from the heart basically.
It was an all round great experience. It all happened so quickly! From recording to shooting to releasing under Island records. Team Salut made it very easy for me to be honest. They already had an idea and eased me into this new sound they had.”
The UK is a melting pot of different cultures and music. How has your musical tastes influenced your sound.
“I’ve always been into Afrobeat. That’s all my mother played while growing up. Especially Fela Kuti, KSA and Shina Peters. London is where I was born so naturally I just mixed what I grew up listening to with what people are vibing to now.”
We’ve seen you transition from a lead singer in a pop group back in 2008 in, (Managed by Matthew Knowles) to flying the flag high for Afrobeats. What made you switch genres?
“The opportunity was there I guess. I already knew how to make Afrobeat records. Then, with the help of Sound Sultan and Tuface Idibia, I moved to Nigeria and started performing across Africa . ‘Afrobeats’ feels right and flows more naturally. this sound is what my people want. The switch was inevitable.”
We notice the Afrobeats scene is quite male dominated and have been quite vocal about female empowerment. How do you manage to deal with this environment?
“Work like a man. Haha.”
We love the fact that you are putting out tracks with lots of different features. Can we expect an album soon?
“I have a South African and then East African collabo dropping soon. I just want to focus on the singles for now. Then when I’m happy with the variety I will put together a body of work and make an album.”
We know you are based in Nigeria now, but you were born and raised in Tottenham. Which country do you prefer to live? Nigeria or the Uk?
“The motherland of course.”
What is it about being African that you love the most?
“The soul, the life, the colours and the beat!”
