On Sunday night, Tiwa Savage featured on
prominent entertainment channel, E! for its new show tagged the ‘E! VIP
series’ – a mini documentary on some of Africa’s best entertainers.
On the episode which features the Mavin
first lady, she talked about a wide range of topics – such as her humble
beginnings, her relationship with former manager/estranged hubby, Tee
Billz, being a mother, the legacy she wants to leave behind and more.
Here are 10 things we learnt from the revealing documentary.
1 Tiwa’s mum once thought she might be gay due to her tom-boy nature while growing up.
2. Her parents vehemently stood their ground against her decision to nurse a musical career as a young child.
“Since I was a kid, I knew I wanted to
be an entertainer but African parents they were like No. Choose one.
Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer or one of those ones. Music is not an option.
So I had to go to school to study business and accounts.”
Tiwa’s dad who was also featured in the
documentary confirmed her passion for music at a young age and said he
gave her a condition that if indeed music was her calling, she would
have to get a first degree in a professional course.
He said, “She has always wanted to do
music and go into music. Growing up, she used to organise musical shows
for all the children in the estate and she will lead the group. So my
condition was that if you want to go into music, you must have your
first degree, finish your secondary education, go to university and
after that you can go into music.”
3. She had to get a job to self-finance her musical career in its primitive stages.
After university, Tiwa needed money to
kick-start her career in music so heeding to her parent’s advice, she
was forced to get a day job as a trainee accountant – a job she quit as
she sunk into a depressive state after getting ‘tired of counting other
people’s money’ and wanting to make hers.
“So when I graduated, I said to my dad
‘Here is your degree, I have given you want you want and I’m going to do
music’. They were like ‘No, you can’t move to America, you need money’
So I got a job as a trainee accountant and I got tired of counting other
people’s money.I wanted to start counting my own money because I
thought Hey there is a whole lot of money around here. What’s going on?
That was a transition. It got to a point that every morning I’ll wake up
and I’ll be depressed going to work. I wanted to sing and at that point
I was prepared to lose everything. That’s when I knew there was a big
calling on my life to do this.”
4. Tiwa Savage revealed how TeeBillz, her former manager helped give her image a face-lift and build the Tiwa Savage brand.
The Mavin star expressed how she felt
she couldn’t compete with the women in Los Angeles after she moved to
the city of angels on the completion of her music course at the Berkley
college of music.
She said’, “I moved to America. I went
to study music at the Berkley college of music. Then I moved to L.A. Now
when you move to L.A. There are a lot of beautiful people there. Their
skin is glowing, their teeth is perfect, their hair is amazing and I’m
like looking around and for someone who doesn’t wax, I have like a
uni-brow.”
She then met TeeBillz who became her manager and molded her into the Tiwa Savage brand we know today.
She said, “I needed to do something and I
met my manager who is now my husband. He saw me and was like ‘you could
be really pretty if you put an effort into it’ and I was like ‘wait
what do you mean’ and he was like ‘you need to lose a little weight, wax
your legs; that might be attractive. So he just literally put me
through this whole program and told me that ‘the music is great, the
talent is there but 80% of it is branding’. ‘So if you want to do the
tom-boy thing, you have to take it to the extreme if you want to be hot
and sexy you have to take it to the extreme. So I started learning how
to wear heels and he basically just groomed me into the image of Tiwa
Savage that we see now.
5. Tiwa explained how her and TeeBillz
had their ‘fair share of marital ups and downs’, even narrating how they
had a little argument at their wedding reception.
Of course we know what has befallen
their marriage but in this documentary which was shot months before
their infamous split, Tiwa discussed how they had issues like every
other normal couple.
“Everybody who is married knows that there are up and downs in marriages and we had our fair share,” she said.
She further narrated how they fought on their wedding day.
“So we just had this little tiff outside
and we are like arguing and everyone is like ‘welcome the beautiful
bride and the groom and we are dancing in and he’s just like grumbling
and it’s on camera. So everyone watching are like ‘Wait where you guys
just arguing so it’s real but there are cute moments and real moments,”
She told E!.
6. Tiwa Savage is not so into writing deep songs
The Mavin singer said her musical
formula for her big hits does not include her writing deep songs that
people don’t know what she is talking about because it can get so deep
that the message could be lost.
“I am not really into writing something
so deep that even you don’t understand what you saying. It’s so deep
that the message gets lost. I feel there is a balance. You can be clever
and witty with some of your words. When I write, it’s a combination of
maybe what I have gone through, I have seen people got through or
sometimes it’s just what I know people want to hear. Ultimately, people
just want to hear good music. So I focus all of my energy on music and
performances.”
7. Tiwa revealed how the birth of Jamil, her son, has re-energized her will to work harder.
Tiwa described how much joy and
happiness Jamil has brought into her life. She is however, frightened
for him due to the cruelty of the world. For this reason, she has vowed
to put in more work to ensure a secure and brighter future for her
precious little man.
“Every time I think of that little man,
it’s a mixture of emotions. I’m happy, blessed but sometimes I’m also a
little scared. He’s so precious. You and I know how cruel this world can
be but sometimes I feel like he should just stay in this age where i
can always protect him. Every time when I wake up and I see him, all of
that just goes through my mind makes me work so much harder. I work so
much more because I want leave a legacy for him. I want him to be proud
of his mum. I want him to one day look at this interview with his wife
and be like ‘that’s my mama’. You know.”
8. Tiwa Savage explained how motherhood has had an impact on her brand.
“My brand is built on the young, sexy,
fresh, sassy, female singer and now I got a few rules here and there.
Stretch marks (laughs) but I have to embrace those scars because that’s
what reminds me of the miracle that I had.”
“So I like to talk about it a lot
especially to African women because we hide behind it and we don’t talk
about the real issues that comes with it. The pressure to lose weight.
It’s fine if you never looked how you did before. You had a baby, if you
had to choose between getting your old body back and choosing that
baby, I’m sure everybody would choose that baby. So I will embrace my
new body because I have a son.”
9. ‘The love is real’ in Mavin.
According to the Mavin singer, there are hardly any rifts between the artistes signed to the Don Jazzy-led label.
She said, “I hear rumours of rivalry
between artistes in record labels but the love is real in Mavin.
Definitely. We all have different lanes and I think that’s what helps
because we don’t feel like we are competing with each other. Everybody
has different images and different sounds.”
10. Tiwa revealed her desire to work with American award-winning artiste, Beyonce and Rihanna
“I would love to work with Beyonce. She
is married. She has child of her own. She is still hot. Rihanna is that
fierce alter-ego we all have in us. In front of the mirror, we all
pretend to be Rihanna. So I’ll love to work with Rihanna.”
She also yearns to collaborate with other African artistes.
She said, “It’s not all just about
international artistes. I really love AKA. I’d love to work with AKA as
well as Diamond, Fally Ipupa and Lira.”
