The Captivating Afro-Soul Stylings of Nigerian Canadian Singer Osé

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Osé’s origin story is as Nigerian as it gets. The daughter of a father who’s a pastor and a mom who was the music director for the choir, she started singing at an early age in church. “They would put me up on the podium to sing before the minister came on to preach,” she recalls on a call with OkayAfrica. That formed the beginnings of a now-burgeoning career as a musician.

Born in Nigeria and raised in Toronto, Canada, Osé grew up surrounded by a wide range of music. At home, her parents played traditional music tied to her Benin heritage, while turn-of-the-millennium Nigerian pop classics also played around the house. She namechecks Edo highlife maverick Sir Victor Uwaifo, breakdancing, hitmaking twin duo P-Square, and a host of other Nigerian artists. “My dad’s mom was a singer back home, and I feel like I got it from her,” she adds.

Coming of age in Toronto, the city’s R&B and hip-hop scene was also influential. Blessed with a luminous voice, it made a lot of sense that her initial artistic tilt would lean heavily on R&B. On “Games,” Osé’s earliest release, she sorts through the mess of a complicated situationship, her musings of retribution laid over dusky, neo soul-inspired production. Although technically rudimentary, it highlights a preternatural sense of direction that the then-teenage artist refined across subsequent drops.

A scroll through her SoundCloud captures her growing adeptness at balling up emotions, particularly those concerning the complexity of romance, and expressing them in precise, often affecting ways. From the all-out pain of “Hurt Bae” and the dismissive energy of “Do No More” to covering SZA’s vindictive “I Hate U” and Muni Long’s pinning hit “Hrs & Hrs,” Osé has been putting in work for her proverbial 10,000 hours.

Last year, she scored her first viral hit with the summer release, “Makaveli,” a catchy single that melded the Afrobeats swing of Ozedikus’ production with the charm and memorable melodies of her voice. “I found this beat while I was scrolling on TikTok one day; the Ozedikus video popped up on my for you page and I was like ‘Oh, I need to make something to this,’” she says. The result of that spontaneous decision is her biggest song so far, with over two million streams on Spotify alone.

Beyond its value as a breakout single, “Makaveli” is relevant because it’s integral to the singer’s hybrid sound these days, which blends modern African pop with her soulful leanings. “I’ve been creating Afro-inspired music for a while, but putting it out to the world is what has taken me time,” Osé says, “because I’m such a perfectionist and if the music is not how I envision it, I’m not gonna put it out until it’s up to that standard.”

In early 2024, she put out “JJC,” a smoldering track with a subtle groove, where she sings of realigning a relationship to better suit her feelings. It’s different from anything Osé had put out prior, a savvy shift that evolves her artistry without totally severing her from what came before. Also, it was a significant song at a time when the artist was looking to up the ante for her career.

“For ‘JJC’, I got a loop from one of my guys and I just wrote that song on my bed,” she recalls. “At that time, I felt like I had been putting in a lot of work into the music and into my journey, but I felt that I wasn’t really getting the recognition that I felt like I deserved at that time.”

Right now, Osé’s recognition is increasing, having snagged co-signs from SZA, H.E.R, and Timbaland, and opening for Erykah Badu at AfroPunk Fest. Last month, she released her latest single, “24HRS,” a smoky mid-tempo bop teasing out the joy of savoring every moment with a favorite person. Initially written three years ago to a guitar loop, the song was crafted over time to reflect her vision as an Afro-soul artist.

Although she’s currently pushing “24HRS,” she says new music is “coming soon,” with a debut project in the vault. She’s also learning to navigate going after her music dreams while keeping herself grounded — the latter includes praying and leaning on her family’s consistent support.

“It feels like everything is happening at once, but I’m enjoying the journey,” Osé says. “I’ve been learning to take in moments and just enjoy things for what they are, which goes back to the messaging of ‘24HRS’ because, a lot of the time, we forget to actually appreciate what’s happening around us. That’s been one of my key takeaways from the last year, just being able to really cherish the days and not just treat them as days that are blending into each other, but really as like special moments — 24 hours that you cannot get back.”