Waje is Crazy in Love

Award-winning singer/songwriter, Waje, whose real name is Aituaje Iruobe has a new EP. The 16 minutes EP is loaded with Ballads and R&B tracks. Ferdinand Ekechukwu reports

It is an EP (extended play) dubbed, “Heart Season.” The EP starts with Waje asking her lover to hold her hand as she is blown away, imagining how sweet her lover is walking down the aisle together. She continues to gush about how fantastic her lover is and the bottom line remains that she is so in love with this lover she calls her personal person.

The record is purely Waje singing her heart out with her sonorous voice. It showcases everything that made and has sustained Waje – the vast vocal range – chronicles of enviable love – to the touching communication of sensuality, likewise showing her stance in the music scene.

The EP consists of five solo tracks, with production credits to OG, DJ Klem, Magic Beats and Ayo Alli-Akeem. It follows her critically-acclaimed 2018 album, Red Velvet. On this body of work, Waje’s maturity beautifully reflects in the confidence with which she openly expresses love and her need for it with songs like ‘Call On Me’, ‘Hold My Hands’, and ‘On ‘Bottom Line’, after all it’s all about emotion and sentiment as she croons boldly, “I’m so crazy in love…” It is the same for the last two tracks on the EP, hoping her lover stays forever in ‘Last Time’ and ‘Naked’ a song about vulnerability.

With a music career of over a decade, three albums and one successful concert under her belt, the talented songstress and The Voice Nigeria Judge, has made a name for herself, developed a large fan base and written her name in the sands of time. Waje represents other genres deserving prominence. “I feel we’re all under the umbrella of Afrobeats but there are other genres also deserving of prominence,” she opined in an interview.

Her music is soulful and electric and she describes her sound as Afro fusion with a blend of soulful rhythms, strong percussions, wailing muted trumpets and a distinct traditional guitar interpretation.

Her early days in the music industry were tough. “It was tough because I was still trying to discover myself and had no knowledge of the business side of music-making. I knew the stage and studio were two places I enjoyed spending more time but made the mistake of prioritizing popularity over being bankable as a brand. I also didn’t quite understand what sound I should go with. That’s why I can now do reggae, R&B, Highlife, name it. With this, you start wondering what genre I’m up for unlike what obtains with record labels where it’s dictated to you.”