Throwback Interview: Waje Takes Centre Stage!
This interview was pulled from the May 2013 edition of TW Magazine.
By Chinedu Iroche
Whenever a female entertainer is the topic of discussion, the preconceived notion is often one of a diva. This is not the glamorous, glow-in-the-dark, scene stealing diva but more the stuck up, pampered, egotistical, screaming version. At first glance, you might lump Waje into this unflattering category, especially when you take in the shoulder-draping weave – sunglasses perched on top – and six-inch (give or take an inch or two) heels she has on which allow her to tower over the crowd. Thankfully, my six foot frame spares me from the downward gaze of this glamazon and instead, we see eye-to-eye, literally and after sitting down with her for this chat, we also see eye-to-eye, figuratively, on a lot of issues.
For the mother in you
Born Aituaje Ebele Aina Vivian Iruobe in Akure and raised in Benin City, Waje was forced to grow up earlier than most as her parents got divorced when she was nine years old and she had to help her working single mother raise her four younger siblings.
Her “deputy mummy” role would prove to be an invaluable training course, as eight years later, Waje found out she was pregnant. Fresh out of secondary school, she had been involved with a close family friend who was about five years older. “When I told him about [the pregnancy] he was alright, until his father told him he [had to] marry me,” she laughs hysterically as she remembers this detail. “He was already in university and had his dreams and aspirations. He left me and I was very bitter for years! I thought he was going to marry me.”
Waje credits her own mother for helping her through this difficult period. “My mom is amazing!” she extols. “I was five months along before I told her. I said, ‘Mommy, I’m pregnant, it’s five months and I’m not aborting it.’” Her mother’s response was simply, “Okay.”
Relieved to have informed her mother, she braced herself for her friends’ reaction. “My greatest fear at the time was my friends,” she reveals. “One time, they all came to laugh at me in my house, to see if the story is true. I was the popular girl in school, everybody knew Vivian… I was supposed to be the ‘perfect’ girl. It made me realize I didn’t have many good friends,” she reflects.
Two months after her daughter was born, Waje decided to leave Benin with her baby and went to stay with her mom’s sister – ‘Big Mommy’ – in Enugu. While she admits that in the early days, she occasionally second-guessed her decision to keep her baby, she maintains that at no point was she ever ashamed of her daughter, whom she nicknamed Favour. “I was just grateful to God that I had a family who supported me,” she says about coping with her situation. “I stayed with my mom’s older sister and got into university when my daughter was like a year old, so my aunt started taking care of her.”
Finding Favour
“My daughter wasn’t public knowledge until I tweeted on her birthday, about two years ago,” she confirms. The stigma associated with being an unwed mother is not lost on her but she says pragmatically, “Many times when people hear that we, especially entertainers, have kids, they think it has to do with promiscuity but the thing about it is we all make mistakes. At the end of the day, you take from that mistake and make something beautiful out of it. I have a song I wrote for my daughter and a lot of people might not agree with the title. I titled it “Beautiful Mistake.” In the midst of a lot of crises and all of that, there’s always something that’s beautiful… So Waje; yes, she’s a single mother, yes she’s an entertainer but that doesn’t mean she’s promiscuous! That doesn’t mean I don’t want to inspire young people. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to tell the next teenager, ‘Hey, use protection!’ Be wise in your dealings, have your self-esteem, principles and values.”
Regarding her baby father, Waje confirms that he’s not present in the child’s life. “She doesn’t go by her father’s name but it’s on her Birth Certificate,” she confirms. “She’s asked about him but to be honest, I don’t know what he’s up to [even though] his mom is still in her life as a grandmother. If she ever wants to go looking for him, I won’t stop her. I don’t speak ill of him to her, at all. I take full responsibility for my actions, I’m not blaming anybody.”
If nothing else, teen pregnancy and motherhood have made Waje realize that sometimes when young people say they have dreams, they really don’t. “We say it because we hear people say it,” she reasons. “If we really did, we would be so passionate about it that we’d work hard and make sure everything we do is in line with that dream. That’s what I’m trying to teach [my daughter], that if ‘that person’ is coming, just understand that the only reason is to distract you from that thing you want! What the parent is supposed to do is help the child identify the dream, and then you’ll just be shocked how persistent they can get.”
Becoming Waje
In 2001, Waje met Chris Madubuiko, a record label head who sighted her singing at church in Enugu and he convinced her to sign with him and he groomed her in the ways of music as a business. This made her realize there was more to music than just singing for fun. It was through Maduibiko that she would meet PSquare who were in town for a show she would also perform at. They liked her voice and invited her to Lagos to record on their 2007 album, Game Over. The result was one of the duo’s biggest hits, “Do Me.”
She would move to Lagos in 2009 after participating in MTV’s 2008 reality TV show Advance Warning, held in South Africa, leaving behind a job at the Enugu State Tourism Board. “I had a video online which I also sent to Nigezie and others,” she explains. “I think it was an OAP (on-air-personality) at Rhythm that actually put in my name for that show, I don’t know how my name got there. I just know that some nice person just thought this girl should be there.”
She would prove her anonymous backer right by finishing first runner-up behind Durella. “There were about 27 of us,” she recalls. “Kel, M.I., Blaise [featured] and for me, that was the testament because they were all superstars at the time. I remember when they paired me with (General) PYPE, people were calling it an insult for them to pair a Waje with a PYPE, that do they know who PYPE is? Who is this girl from nowhere?”
Still often defined as ‘that lady with the fantastic voice who hasn’t quite made the leap to superstar yet;’ Waje counters: “I’m not blowing my own horn but if for any reason they’re mentioning the top three female artists, top five female artists, top two – my name is always amongst them, so…,” she lets her statement trail off, claps her hands and shrugs her shoulders.
“Sometimes, I do agree [I’m not quite there yet] but sometimes I don’t. If people are, so to speak, described as stars, it’s because of what they’ve achieved. I have achieved at least 70 percent of those things. I just feel, in my own case, it’s a little peculiar and I really don’t know why. I no dey bother myself with that one, to be honest with you,” she says while laughing. “It’s a journey for me and eventually, when I get to that point where I feel that I can be described as a star… it will come. That point for me is success in everything I do, with regards to my music.”
Growing Up
For Waje, the uncertainty that comes with her position in the public eye can be attributed to her naïveté. She confesses cluelessness regarding the inner workings of the music business. “For me, it was just about talent,” she says. “I didn’t understand that the business part also had a lot to do with how people perceive you.”
This also helps explain why, after a string of singles including, “Kolo,” “For a Minute” and “So Inspired,” Waje is yet to release an album. “I wasn’t very organized, to be honest with you,” she admits. “But things have changed because I understand business a lot more. In the past four months, my career has grown because I understood that I can’t do it alone. There are professionals doing what they do and with their help, you can get to where you’re trying to get to. On my birthday (September 1st) I came out with two singles and for the first time in my life, I trended three times on Twitter. Since then, there’s no week that you don’t see Waje on the blogs, whether good or bad. “Oko Mi” is on the radio, topping charts. “I Wish” spent three weeks at number one on the MTN Y’ello Top 10 and there are way over 100,000 downloads of the song. It was all part of a plan that we stuck to.”
Her debut album, Words Aren’t Just Enough, should come out in the first quarter of next year but she still can’t seem to shake the tag of pseudo-star. She has even been said to look like ‘a mummy and not a star.’ In response, she asks, “Is that supposed to be a bad thing? If I look like that, hey! That doesn’t mean I won’t reach my potential,” she says, matter-of-factly. “I believe, whatever you’re doing, just make sure that you can defend it because you will definitely show yourself somehow if you’re pretentious.”
Life is no fairytale
Looking back on her past, she hopes her experience can help young women. “A lot of young girls; I’m not talking about 17 year olds, I mean 25, 30 year old girls live in this world they have built for themselves that’s totally out of touch of reality!” she scolds. “It’s just that feeling that people call ‘love’ but for me, in hindsight, it was just attention I was getting and I was enjoying it. There was a gap and I someone was filling it. Somebody will say, ‘Oh, he’s just my friend, he’s nice and he listens when I talk.’ Of course, that’s why he has ears!” she screams sarcastically. “But that’s what we’ve told ourselves over time and even in our old age some of us keep making the same mistakes.”
It was very difficult to consider guys again after her pregnancy, let alone trust them, so today, she’s after a partner that “understands that he’s not there to take from you but also there to compliment what you have. Somebody that will take from you is someone that will get you pregnant and leave,” she advises. “As a teenager, you’ve seen Snow White, you’ve seen Cinderella, you’ve read the love stories… I don’t think we should read those stories, if you ask me because it paints a picture that is not real! I’m not a fan of [romance], the kind of movies I watch – action! Gun!” she adds emphatically, forming her index fingers into a pistol Charlie’s Angels style.
“Let’s face it, we’re not supposed to have sex before marriage. It’s not even about getting pregnant; there are diseases that you can get, so it is wise that you just protect yourself! It’s all about you!” Still, she concedes that you can’t always stop teenagers so “just lay the cards on the table, let them make their choice. Prepare them. For example, I’ve been really busy [lately], so my daughter buzzes me, ‘Mummy, I’m not going to school today’ and I asked why and she replied, ‘Because I’ve not seen you.’ She lives with my mother, so I drove there and sat with her. My friend was with me and she said, ‘It’s demanding but you always have to make time unless, somebody will make time.”
Regardless of her mentioned aversion to romance, she still draws on her experiences when making music. One example is her hit single “I Wish” which she says was inspired by a personal experience. She elaborates: “I had this male friend, we were very close but not close like ‘that.’ We’d been friends for so long but there’s something my mother told me, ‘Man and woman no dey befriend!’ It has to end somewhere. So in my mind, I was like, ‘Brother, where is this our friendship moving to?’ I was like, ‘I wish I didn’t feel the way I felt about you.’ That’s why I wrote the song.”
True Worth
Often misquoted or misunderstood in publications, why did the outspoken but private singer decide to sit down and share her story? “One of the reasons we chose TW [to open up to] is because of what TW has done with women over the years. You guys have successfully connected with a lot of women and not just women, a lot of Nigerians; like an x-ray, making people as transparent as possible so people get to understand why probably this person is this way or why this person decided to follow this vision or whatever it is.”
Fair enough. So, at the risk of a future misrepresentation accusation, here’s what Ms. Waje hopes to achieve in her career: “If I tell you, you will laugh,” she says, already laughing herself. “I want to win a Grammy. People think it’s about the award but it’s not. For me to be the sort of artist that would win a Grammy, I have to be able to conquer Nigeria, conquer Africa, you know? It’s about the things I have to achieve to get to that level. Sometimes, when God blesses someone to a point where other people cannot explain, they tag something to it. What’s wrong with saying God gave the person the money? Is God that stingy? I know that this Waje that you’re seeing is going to be so successful,” she declares. Sitting with Waje, it’s very easy root for her.
She remembers a time not too long ago when you female artists didn’t get big gigs, creating rivalry amongst the ladies. These days, however, herself, Omawumi (who she calls her sister) and Tiwa Savage in particular are commanding just as much respect as their male contemporaries. “I believe that we are of age and have a right to choose what we want for ourselves, regardless of what we do for a living,” she says about any rivalry. “I be human being, e no get as e no go take pain me if they pick someone else over me but the question now is, how good is my work? How out there can I get so that next time I create the opportunity for somebody to pick me or pick both of us? We take our work seriously and we have circumstances where we pass work around if one is unavailable. Tiwa has done that, Omawumi has done it, as have I.”
For any young lady attracted to the glamour of showbiz, she advises hard work because “as much as it’s your talent, it’s a lot of work. First of all, understand what you are and what you want to achieve as an artist.” An advocate of girl power, she still has love for the boys, who are nice enough to let her play. “They inspire me,” she admits. “And there are so many things I’ve learnt from M.I., Naeto and also Banky W. It’s not just about the singing but somehow, we invest in each other.”
Starlight, star bright
Whether you consider Waje a star or not, what is very evident is how comfortable she is in her own skin. I touch on the irony of her song, “For a Minute,” defining her relationship with the listening public. If they just took the time, just a minute, to listen and get to know her, maybe they’d finally see what makes her special. “For the first time since that song came out,” she begins, with a sly grin on her face, “You’re actually the first person to figure that out. For real! To be able to channel the emotion I need into a song, I either have to tie it to my career or a loved one.”
However, even if fans still don’t get it or don’t return her love, there’s someone she knows she can always count on – her daughter. “She’s my best friend. She knows. My pikin, should in case you read this thing,” she says, laughing out loud. “Na only you I get, I no get another person!
“Aside from the lessons [learned], I’m only human and I’ve passed through certain things. Now, what makes me a star is being able to pass through those things and still come out and be the person I want to be, successful as I want to be and that’s my definition of stardom!”
Tidbits
• She was a scholarship student at Word of Faith Secondary School, thanks to her singing
• She studied Social Work at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
• WAJE, the stage name, is an acronym for Words Aren’t Just Enough
• At age six, her daughter wrote invitation cards to all her school friends for her mother’s wedding. She wasn’t even engaged!
• Waje’s team is made up of a manager, publicist, business consultant and personal assistant