Being an International African Artist Comes With Pressure – Uncle Waffles
As Amapiano keeps growing in fame, more artists are taking the sound to the global stage and Uncle Waffles is one of the acts leading the charge. Her hit single ‘Tanzania’ enjoyed international success and she aiming to consolidate this with the release of a new EP.
Speaking with host Dada Boy Ehiz, Waffles stated that she wanted to make an EP that documents are growth as an artist.
“I wanted a project that’s going to represent the journey that I’ve been through since everything happened. There’s a huge part of what happens that we don’t share, there were a lot of emotions throughout this whole time, going from someone who was taking free-kicks to travel the world, came with a lot of things, so I wanted a project that represents the emotions that I’ve felt, feeling like you are trapped in somewhat of an asylum – it’s a beautiful asylum, but there are so many crazy things happening that it just felt like the perfect name for my next project when I’m now in a different stage of my career.”
While Amapiano was created in South Africa, it has been adopted by other countries including Nigeria where it has dominated the soundscape since 2021. Amapiano can be creatively configured into different styles and Waffles intends to showcase this on her EP.
“One thing I’ve tried to do [with ‘Asylum’] is to make sure it shows the diversity Amapiano has, to make sure that actually, Amapiano can fit into every genre, the same way house did. Everyone was able to do house remixes, with any sort of language, any cadence, so I just wanted to get to a place for myself where my music also allows all types of people to hop on. We’d love to have more people hop on to ‘piano sounds, so that’s the energy you should expect – a lot of diversity on the project.”
Uncle Waffles shared that while she has found international fame, it comes with pressure as many listeners’ first interaction with her sound comes with her music. This makes her put in the effort to make sure she makes amazing music.
“Travelling the world, getting to share this genre. It feels absolutely amazing but comes with a lot of pressure because, in a lot of the places that I’m privileged to travel to, I’m usually the first contact with ‘piano. It’s such a beautiful experience but it’s also a high-pressure experience because you know, you always have to make sure that the first contact that these people have is a contact that will make sure that the door stays open for every other Amapiano act, for them to constantly want the other acts to come out, so there’s a lot of pressure but there’s so much beauty. I’m getting to see a lot of the world, experiencing things I never thought I’d be able to experience. It’s amazing, it’s still a lot of pressure but it’s beautiful overall.”
‘Asylum’ was released on March 31, 2023, and the 7-track is available for streaming across all platforms.
