By Ayo Onikoyi

UK-based Ghanaian singer simply known as Effs is currently in Nigeria to savour the success of her debut single titled “I Like That” which garnered over 1 million streams across the world and mostly streamed from Nigeria.

According to the singer, who hosted some media men at a private hangout in Lagos on Wednesday, she is basically in Nigeria to leverage on the streaming numbers with a view to connecting with her fans and the entire Nigerian music community.

“My debut single “I Like That” has been streamed more than 1 million times across the world but the most important thing to me is that the song has been mostly streamed from Nigeria. Even if people don’t know the face and the name, they are streaming the song. So, it is about me coming down to say “thank you” to my Nigerian fans and to let them get to know more about me. Basically, we are here to leverage on the numbers we are getting from Nigeria and try to turn the streaming numbers into real fans,” she said.

Effs,  who describes her kind of music as Afro-fusion is not entirely new to Nigeria. In fact her musical journey was rooted in Nigerian influences having built her passion for Afrobeats  alongside her Nigerian friends back in the university in the UK.

” This is my first official release. We’ve had underground releases back in the day where you would do something like a mixtape. So I had a song called “No Wahala”. That’s because I have such a strong Nigerian community influence growing up,’ she revealed.

Speaking about the single, Effs says it is a unique song delivered by her magical vocal with the production dexterity of Richie Mensah, a producer known for producing many hits.

“The song is unique,  it’s not your typical Afrobeats. That’s why I’m calling it Afro-fusion. But it has a very definitive Afro sound from the Amapiano drums. It was developed by Richie Mensah who is famous in Ghana and all around the world for producing biggest hits. So, it’s called a heavily influenced Afro drum sound. Even if you wanted to call it pop. You couldn’t just ignore that African drum in it. But I think what is different is probably the Nigerian diaspora base and the fact that Nigerians today are connected to the global world. They are not only hearing one sound, because of Spotify, Instagram, and things going viral. They are also more  open to the new sounds coming in and I have blended my R&B vocals with Afrobeats, which I don’t think is typical. But you do have people like Tems and Wizkid who did things like “Essence”  and that’s very grainy and authentic.

 ” I Like That” is a kind of an R&B Pop vocal blended into Afrobeats which isn’t typical. It could be a Toni Braxton song. Right? It could be a typical Toni Braxton love song, right? So it’s like I’m blending old school R&B with new school and Afrobeats.  That’s exciting for Nigerians. I think that’s exciting for people who genuinely love R&B too,” she said.