Apple Music’s Africa Now Radio this Friday with Adekunle Gold

This Week’s Episode Features a Conversation With Adekunle Gold and the 5 Hottest Tracks of the Week!

Tune in to Africa Now Radio with Nandi Madida this Friday, October 3rd at 9a Lagos/London / 10a Johannesburg/Paris / 1a LA / 4a NYC on Apple Music 1 and broadcast on YFM Accra every Sunday at 2pm, YFM Kumasi on Saturdays at 3pm and YFM Takoradi on Saturdays at 6pm.

Cover Star Interview
Nigerian Afrobeats singer and songwriter Adekunle Gold joins Nandi Madida via FaceTime on Apple Music 1 to talk about his latest single “Believe”. He also discusses why he named his album ‘Fuji’, about changing his look between albums, and representing Yoruba culture

This Week’s Hottest New Tracks
Nandi Madida shares the hottest new African tracks of the moment. This week’s selection includes new tracks from Nissi feat. Olamide, Ossi Grace, Rayona, Khaid & Ayo Maff, and Chley.

Tune in and listen to the full episode this Friday, October 3rd at 9a Lagos/London / 10a Johannesburg/Paris / 1a LA / 4a NYC on Apple Music 1 at apple.co/_AfricaNow broadcast on YFM Accra every Sunday at 2pm, YFM Kumasi on Saturdays at 3pm and YFM Takoradi on Saturdays at 6pm.

Adekunle Gold tells Apple Music about his relationship with Fuji Music
I grew up on Fuji. It was played in my house. I guess I should say thank you to my auntie, for constantly playing it when I was a child. It became a part of my life. I listened to it on the street. Fuji is just the sound of Lagos. It’s at every party, every event, they play it everywhere. It’s ingrained in me, it’s a part of my life.

Adekunle Gold tells Apple Music why he named his album ‘Fuji’
My album Apple Music’s Africa Now Radio this Friday with Adekunle Gold started as an acronym. “Finding Uncharted Journeys Inside”. That’s what I was going to call the album first. But then the acronym was F.U.J.I. I’m already making Fuji sounds, I might as well just call this album Fuji. It’s just a deep dive into everything I grew up on. The sounds that formed the artist that I am. Every song. My voice is Fuji. Since my first album Gold, I have a Fuji sounding song on every album. Even if I sing R&B, I sound Fuji. So I might as well just make this as a body of work and show the world this sound that I grew up on, the sound of my childhood, the soundtrack of Lagos and everything that I’ve embodied as an artist.

Adekunle Gold tells Apple Music about changing his look between albums
If there’s one thing about me, it’s that I’ll do whatever I’m thinking. I have no inhibitions and I’ve always been about fashion. I’ve loved it all my life. I’ve loved to look good. I’m particular about how I’m presented and how I walk in a room. I’m from royalty. That’s something I’ve known all my life but I didn’t embrace until 2023 or 2024. I went back to my palace. I’m from a royal family called Kosoko. He was the king of Lagos in the 1800s. He fought the British colony. I started to dig deep, I went back to the palace, and it’s helped me become even more confident in the way I present myself. And hey, I’ve been in the gym five times a week! I want to show that off, I’m happy to be healthy. To look good, to look fit. I love fashion, you’ve seen me at the shows. I’m just living, I’m just enjoying my life.

Adekunle Gold tells Apple Music about the attention he pays to his presentation
I’ve been about this life since 2015. I’m a man of the art. I love art. Any form of it. I’m a designer. I love poetry, I love literature. More importantly, I love music. I’m a full embodiment of art so I treat my projects like movies or books. They’re new chapters to me. I like to present this to the world in the best way possible. When I made ‘Gold’, it was everything I was before the fame. ‘Above 30’, I wanted to be different. ‘Afro Pop’ I wanted to go mainstream so I presented it that way. I made pop sounding songs, I started to plait my hair, I had braids. Every album has been a chapter, a new movie, a new role, a new persona. My albums are different eras of my life. Different places, different moments. They’re my books, they’re my movies, and that’s how I treat them.

Adekunle Gold tells Apple Music on originally writing the song “Smile” for Beyoncé’s ‘The Lion King: The Gift’ album
“Smile” is a very important song. It’s the oldest song on my album, I wrote it in 2019. I just lost my dad when I wrote the song. I felt very lost. I was just finding my way, building a relationship with him. I didn’t know him that well my whole life. Finally, I was getting to know him and then death took him from me. I poured all my emotions into that song which is why when I eventually sent it to Beyonce, I was praying that she didn’t pick it. I love her so much, that’s my idol and it’d be a huge honour for her to sing my song but I felt like I was sharing a piece of me. And that didn’t sit well with me. So when they didn’t pick the song, I was so happy. At least I get to tell my own story.

Adekunle Gold tells Apple Music about representing Yoruba culture
I love music, I love the sounds that I grew up on. And I love my culture, I love my traditions and heritage. I will always uphold it. I feel as Africans we all have a duty, an obligation to show our culture. I’m a world traveller, I go everywhere and I learn new cultures and I even imbibe some of them in my songs. I will never stop doing that.