“Artistes should always tell their stories” — Singer Adekunle Gold

• Gold reflects on his inspiration for creating a cover of One Direction’s ‘Story of my Life’ on his YouTube channel, stating that sincerity is key in creating music about oneself or personal stories.

Renowned artist Adekunle Gold recently marked the tenth anniversary of his acclaimed song, ‘Sade’, by sharing the motivational narrative that inspired its creation.

In a reflective video posted on his YouTube channel, Gold discussed the influences that shaped the song, which serves as a cover of One Direction’s ‘Story of My Life’. He expressed, “I have always believed that artistes need to tell stories; say something that is sincere to you. ‘Sade’ is the story of my life. I just make music about myself or based on stories I have been told. I think it’s the sincerity that has worked for me.”

As he reminisced about the moment he first encountered the original song, the ‘Rodo’ artist shared his thoughts. “I was driving my green baby boy (Honda Accord) that I really liked and listening to the radio. The traffic in Lagos was already hectic when a song by One Direction— Story of My Life— came on. I thought it was beautiful and there was space for an instrumental, then I started to freestyle. I thought it was a great melody idea, so I recorded it

“I wanted to create an EP that would tell stories about my life in a more sincere way. Before ‘Sade’, I had written songs such as ‘Orente’ and ‘Friend Zone’. Those were original tracks, so I kept them. I then decided to make the recording I did in May 2013 into an actual song. I went online, found the beat, and called my friend, Olaitan Dada. We hit the studio, and that’s when we brought the song to life. Olaitan added a talking drum to the bridge, wanting to include elements of our culture in the song.”