Skales is the living embodiment of Afrobeats’ unreal ability to transcend eras.
The Nigerian artist is currently soaring on the wings of a global smash hit with “Shake Body,” the synth-driven pop banger he originally released in 2014. Having trended earlier this year after being used in a clip by Lamine Yamal, the young superstar footballer of Equatorial Guinean and Moroccan descent, who plays for the celebrated Spanish team, Barcelona. Through him, several new listeners heard Skales’ driven music style, which has cornered its own space within Afrobeats..
Although he’s not new to global success, Skales’ latest co-sign would make any artist excited. Recently, an Adidas ad starring Yamal featured “Shake Body” in its warm-hued clip. Cast as an architect, Yamal’s creative inspiration doesn’t strike until he switches the radio channel and on comes Skales’ hit, whose groove sparks his imagination, and he’s soon dancing.
“I [resonate] with making music that uplifts and brightens people's day,” Skales tells OkayAfrica. Despite being in the throes of mass publicity and with an album around the corner, the Nigerian star led an illuminating conversation about his trending song and much more.
This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
OkayAfrica: What was it like getting a 10-year-old record like “Shake Body” on an Adidas ad featuring Lamine Yamal?
Skales: We knew about the whole situation. I think about a month ago, Lamine Yamal’s mom reached out to me. She sent me a DM like “hey, we’re doing this ad, we want to use your song.” And I said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ We had a conversation with Adidas, they cleared the song — and we’re here. I remember when I first saw the ad — like three weeks before it was released — a tear dropped out of my eye ‘cause I couldn’t believe it, man. This is me doing a major Adidas campaign, a global Adidas campaign. It was just amazing.
Let’s talk about the Lamine Yamal song, “D.L.L.Y. (Dance Like Lamine Yamal).”
Really, the inspiration for me is just the fact that I feel connected to this dude’s story. The fact that he’s a champion. He’s a kid, and he’s doing wonders at a very young age, and of course, he’s been very impactful this year in my life, in my career. And just getting up close to him and seeing how much of a winner [he is] inspired the song. He’s always celebrating — whether he wins or loses. He’s always just there, having fun with his life, and that’s what I picture a real champion to be. Not letting his failures or whatever affect him and just keep moving. Honestly, that’s the whole idea of the “Dance Like Lamine Yamal” song if you listen to the lyrics. It was not necessarily about him, but it was inspired by him.
The sound of the record has some Spanish undertones. Who worked on it with you?
The song was produced by Killertunes, and I just heard it from his Instagram. I heard it play on his Instagram, and I reached out to him like, ‘Man, I really want that beat.’ Because it was at the right time — when everything was going on [with “Shake Body”]. That’s how it happened. It wasn’t nothing planned; funny enough, the guitar sounds more from northern Nigeria than Spanish to me.
Your music has a lot of dance elements, and your biggest songs tend to activate the dance floors. What do you think it is about your personality that makes you able to create music from the fun direction that you do?
I love to party, I love to have fun. I’m a lively person. For me, it’s just making music that fits into my kind of person. The kind of music I listen to is music that excites me, music that makes me happy, you know, and that’s why I just resonate with making that kind of music that would also uplift and brighten people’s day and make them want to dance.
Let’s talk about your forthcoming project, ‘Martina’s Son.’ What’s the story behind the album, and how did you build it?
Martina’s Son is pretty much inspired by my mom’s legacy. And my mom’s legacy is who else but me? This is about what my mom has left behind and how I’m supposed to make my mom proud and just make sure that her legacy lives forever.
Most of the features happened on their own. For example, like FAVE; if you follow me, I post a lot of snippets. So it was just one of those situations where I posted a snippet and FAVE heard it and she hit me in the DM like, ‘Oh, I want to be part of this.’ So I sent it to her, and she sent ideas, and that’s how it happened. And even for the other people I featured, it was the same thing; either we’ve randomly bumped somewhere in the studio, or just somewhere, and I’m playing music, and they [show interest]. That’s how most of it came. It was pure energy, and if you know me, that’s how I’ve always made music from the beginning. I don’t chase people; we just always want to do it together.
What would you say about Afrobeats in global spaces today?
We’re doing amazing. We’re growing day by day. Where we were many years ago is not where we are now. I remember back then, we used to travel far distances just to go perform in some small club. But now we’re talking about arenas and stadiums, so many amazing spaces, performing with the biggest names in the world, knowing our songs, having different crowds from all over the world. I feel like we’re doing great, and of course, we still have a great future; we just need to keep going. And the new generation is on fire too.
You’re a very resilient artist. You’ve been putting out music for a while. How do you keep digging into your bag to create these songs many years after you started?
What has kept me going is passion, honestly. I love music. Music makes me really happy. It’s just the fulfillment that music gives me that keeps me going, in knowing that there’s people really counting on me out here. I don’t know if I would have been doing anything else that would keep me this excited about life.
