Following the success of her single ‘Vibe’, Mairé sits down with the 49th Street to talk about her musical journey and what her new single ‘Woman’ means to her.
Zia: For the people who are going to have issues, can you pronounce your name for me?
Mairé: It’s spelt Mairé with an accent on the ‘E’ but it’s really pronounced ‘Marie’.
Zia: And who is Mairé?
Mairé: Mairé is a free spirit, a powerhouse but most important of all, Maire is a musician.
Zia: It seems like music is a big part of your identity.
Mairé: Yes, it is. I’ve been doing music for as long as I can remember. In primary school, I was in the choir. And I was in the school music club, it’s always been something I’ve been doing. Officially, my first song was at 20, but I’ve been doing music way before that. It’s been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I wrote my first song because of Leona Lewis’ Bleeding Love. So like, it’s just always been there. My biggest musical influences are the old R&B artists because they were what I grew up and my sound takes after some of it.
Zia: Pursuing music professionally, how has it been?
Mairé: It’s one thing to actually like making music and it’s another to make the music. Thankfully, I can do both. I was making music and making a name for myself when I met Dammy Krane in 2015, he was the one that introduced me to Spellz. We made a song together, Alhaji, and that really gave me a leg up in the music industry and when I went out from then on, it was like “Yeah, you’re Mairé.” I took a break from music for a while, went into the corporate world and rose to the top and when I was ready, I went back into making music.
Zia: What inspired Woman?
Mairé: Woman is basically an anthem to all the strong women and a call to women who society has beaten down. I come from a family of really strong, opinionated women. Amazons, if you will. And because of that, whenever society tried to make me feel like I couldn’t do things because I was a woman, the mindset I got from my family would fight against that. There was an incident in school where I was being bullied and it was bad, I really wanted to leave the school, and my mom after listening to me, told me, “Lion no dey born goat.” And it sounds funny now but it was true, she was the strongest woman I know and lions don’t give birth to goats so by extension I was strong too. And I went back and I prevailed. I’m sure that all these people, they look back and they’re like “Oh wow, she’s even doing well for herself right now.” So that was it in school, and even in the job market, there’s always people making you feel like, “Oh she’s a woman. She can’t do this.” Statements like, ‘why are you talking like a woman’, society makes you feel like ‘Woman’ is a negative term. But I learnt the ropes of the corporate world, and now there’s actually no one that can measure up to my skills as a manager and a marketer.
Zia: Period.
Mairé: So yeah, Woman was recorded at a period where I wasn’t getting any sleep or breathing space. I was working back-to-back; I just got a promotion and I was working my ass off. My producers saw that, I would be in the studio till 5am, then go back home and get dressed for work. Because I was still so bent on doing my music, that’s how the song was born. When I listen to the song, I think of my mother, Why did I think that I could stay up all night and still work all day? Because I saw my mother doing that; she’d go to work and be a boss and come back home and teach me my homework, make dinner for me, those little things. I saw her do these things and it’s like “If this is what it means to be successful, by working your ass off. I will do it.” And hard work was what I was going to be successful. It was difficult for a while and I had to change my mindset and tell myself that everybody’s story is not to my story. That my story would be different; as a woman, as a musician, as someone in the corporate world. As a musician, I watched all my friends careers take off while mine dwindled and at first, I would cry to God and ask why. But I realised that I was built different, that the way it would happen for me would not be the usual way. Most people would have to suck up and God has put me in the position that I just have to show up and apply my brain. I’ve always wanted to make music on my own terms. So ‘Woman’ is a song that encourages women to push beyond their limitations, both the ones society puts on them and the ones they put on themselves. It’s also a song to celebrate women because most times they make us feel like we’re helpless, we’re a lot more than that.
Zia: You mentioned a lot of names in this song, Lupita and co. How have these women inspired you?
Mairé: All these women have pushed limits, they’ve broken barriers and I feel like that’s what it really means to be a woman, to prevail all odds. When you look at Lupita in the industry she’s in, there’s a stereotype around the kind of woman who gets roles, who wins Oscars. You look at her and you’re like, that’s the kind of woman I want to be. And of course, you have Tiwa Savage, first Nigerian musician woman that really blew internationally and really inspired a lot of Nigerian women to go into music. A lot of these women are not just excelling in their chosen fields, they’re also doing outreach campaigns and making sure the next generation of women after them are given the tools they need to excel.
Zia: Speaking of outreach campaigns, what’s the Woman campaign about?
Mairé: The Woman campaign is multi-faceted but the bulk of it is to just celebrate and recognise the women who inspire and empower us. My focus is not to shed light on a woman’s pain, there are a lot of people who do that. I want to use to my voice to speak to women and empower them, for them to use everything they have at their disposal to their own betterment. I don’t think I’m an activist, I’m just a musician and I’m using my voice to do what the lord put me here to do. The main focus is just to change stereotypical limitations and that’s what this campaign is about.
Zia: When women listen to this song, how do you want them to feel?
Mairé: I want them to know that they are capable beyond their wildest dreams. I want them to know that they can be oil tycoons. I want them to know that they can be billionaires. I want women to know that we can make better presidents. In most Nigerian breweries, most of the brand managers are women, and we’ve been recording some of the biggest sales. The fact is that every woman is basically superwoman at this point and we need to realise that. It’s one thing to know something and it’s another to feel it and embody it and I want women to embody their strength, their freedom. I want them to know that there are no limitations. Whether the ones from family or school, you’re powerful.
Jay-Z is one of my biggest inspirations because I relate to him a lot. Whenever I was going through things, I’d listen to his albums. I’d listen to Blueprint, I’d listen to Niggas in Paris, there’s a song on Niggas in Paris – ‘who gon’ stop me now?’ where he says, ‘Beat the odds/beat the feds/won’t be wise to bet against the kid’ or something like that. And that’s been my slogan ever since, beat the odds, defy limitation. And that’s what my song is about, it’s a very honest record because it’s not just my story, it’s the story of every woman out there.
Zia: I love that. You talked about Spellz, it looks like you guys have a very close relationship. What’s it like working with Spellz?
Mairé: Ah, that’s my big brother. Honestly, if there’s someone that’s been my strong anchor in this industry, it’s Spellz. The first time I worked with Spellz, I didn’t even have money, it was someone that told him to take me under his wing. I’ve been there ever since. His wife is like family to me and they’ve been so supportive of who I am. He’s played such an integral role in my life and as a musician, he’s helped me hone my skills as a songwriter. In the studio, we can be writing music and I’d write one line and Spellz would write the other and it’s such a seamless relationship. On the personal front, he’s a very loyal guy, very grounded and there’s a lot to learn from him even on that side.
Zia: Apart from Spellz, is there any one else who you’re particularly close to in this industry?
Mairé: Shout out to a lot of people actually. Especially in radio. There’s one person, Deolu, he’s fantastic. He kept up with me even when I wasn’t making music actively. I’m also an introvert so that’s made it a bit hard to have friends when there’s a lot of noise especially in Lagos. I’d rather just sit at home and if you’re looking for friends, that’s not the way to go about it. Shout out to the people who keep it real with me though, DJ Lambo and a host of other people.
Zia: So, after Woman, what’s next for Mairé? Or is it too soon to ask?
Mairé: Oh, it’s not too soon at all, Compound Interest is the name of my next project. It’s an EP and although I’m very nervous about it, I’m hoping that you’d enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it for all of you.
