In an age characterized by the general escape from the burdens of meaning making, most music lovers have grown accustomed to experiencing art with little emphasis on what it means. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the music industry, where music lovers focus on the melody with little attention to the lyrics. Of course people know the lyrics, but more often than not, the meaning of the words are not really taken into consideration. Naturally, this has resulted in a lot of melodically amazing songs with very little to say about life. Then comes a Nigerian pop artist in Gillian Baci who is entirely obsessed with meaning. But not just that, despite my referring to him as a Nigerian pop artist, he describes himself as a ‘cosmic pop artist who loves to evolve’. As such, his current sound is unlike anything in the Nigerian music landscape. If you listened to his latest single ‘Fired Up’ without someone telling you, you would definitely think it was made by an American or European. What does it mean to be obsessed with meaning? Why does Gillian see himself as cosmic and what exactly does that mean? This feature will answer these questions by first taking an overview of Gillian’s short but long-spanning music career.
Gillian’s professional music career—where professional means releasing music on digital platforms (he has been known to publicly disown some of his earliest songs)—officially started in 2016 with his first single and fan favorite ‘Fool’s Gold’, produced by fast rising maestro Yung Willis (who has since gone on to produce for industry’s biggest including MI, Falz, Timaya). On Fool’s Gold, Gillian sings about the realization that finding love is rarely ever a straightforward process, and that sometimes we are tricked into falling into something we think to be love, only to later realize that it was a fool’s gold.
He followed up with the island influenced ‘If You Break My Heart’ in 2017 backed by Abuja rapper Zilla. In this song, he sings to a potential love interest about the consequences of breaking his heart, in the hopes that she is duly dissuaded. This is where the story gets interesting. IYBMH was supposed to be the first single off a 5-track EP Journey to Heartbreak Boulevard. This was to be followed by a 10-track album titled Heartbreak Boulevard. It’s 2022 and neither project exists. Asked about this, Gillian said “it was around that period that I realized that I couldn’t pursue music as a career without money. It was devastating. Sent me into a long period of depression. Had to rely on drugs and alcohol to stay afloat. But in the end it became clear what I had to do. Make money. So I took a break and went hustling. To be honest, I’m still hustling. But I’m in a better place now, hence the 2022 revival,” he finished with a cheesy grin.
In the time between 2017 and 2022, Gillian began freelancing as a singer and songwriter on Fiverr, getting hired by a plethora of brands, companies, and individuals to make music across a wide range of genres from Afrobeats to reggae, pop, EDM, and at some point a Chinese anthem. Owing to his prolificness, he was tapped up by Multichoice’s Africa Magic to write over 10 songs for various movies and TV series. Guided with both a love for music and stories, he also became a writer and filmmaker. Getting a scholarship to the Multichoice Talent Factory, graduating top of his class and getting another scholarship to attend the New York Film Academy. During his stint as a filmmaker, he wrote, directed, and produced 2 short films, one of which (Anaze and the Zipman) was licensed by Amazon Prime. His foray took him to the world of blockchains and web3, where he’s since written a book on Polkadot (a new generation blockchain that connects other blockchains) and currently writes for RMRK, dubbed the most advanced NFT protocol in the world.
And then we return to the music.
Where in 2017 Gillian was singing about love and heartbreak, in 2022, his lyrical focus switched entirely to the self and its relationship with itself and the world. Inspired by his journey out of depression, the 2022 revival was launched by his first compilation ‘Sweet Serenity’, a 5-track EP laden with positive vibes, sweet pop melodies, impeccable lyrics, and glorious production and performance. Although recorded by Gillian in Nigeria, the EP was produced and engineered by five music experts from Argentina, Greece, and Chile. It was released on 22nd April and marked by a fan listening event where Gillian performed all 5 tracks.
The first track and single, ‘Feel at Home’, is an upbeat mental health anthem in which Gillian encourages the listener to let go of their mental images and free themselves of the burden to make an impression. His main message, as reinforced by the Alan Watts quote in the opening of the song’s music video, is that ”the meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves”.
The second single ‘Till You’re Feeling Again’, begins like a dreamy pop song, only to evolve into a groovy and soulful R&B track reminiscent of the 2010s. The meaning of the song was made crystal clear in the music video directed by award winning filmmaker Allen Onyige (who also directed the Feel At Home video) and featuring Gillian’s sister, Hilda Baci, the popular restaurateur, teacher, and influencer who won the Jollof Face-off competition in 2021.
The third song is the dreamiest song of the EP, sounding like a cross between Maroon 5 and Coldplay. It was playlisted by Apple Music and has since garnered over 100k streams on Spotify. On it Gillian encourages the listener that even when thugs are truly terrible, the truth is that if there is always magic around, if only they are willing to open up to it.
On the fourth track, ‘Step Into the Light’, Gillian sings that though it’s dark and he can’t see where he is going (where darkness can be seen as a metaphor for depression/sadness), he can feel the light and that sensation guides him until he steps into the light. At its core, the song is a leap of faith.
The EP’s final song Up Down takes Gillian’s message to its philosophical center—the realization that life is up down (a terms he uses to describe life’s tendency to be sometimes good and sometimes bad) and because of this, the sustainable path to peace of mind is the full acceptance of this duality or contradiction.
And thus we arrive at Fired Up, his latest single, a song about the transition from a feeling of complete exhaustion to one of infinity power and excitement. At the climax of the chorus, Baci croons “feel the heat I think I might put out the sun”.
What becomes apparent upon listening to Gillian’s music is this obsession with meaning. Each song must be saying something, and most times it’s not straightforward nor basic. 2022 has been all about the flying phase, hence the positive energy of the lyrics. This is to be followed by the falling phase in 2023 which is expected (although not entirely confirmed) to feature songs about the downbeat of life—depression, sadness, alienation, existential crises, and so on. It is interesting to see how Gillian evolves over time and where his obsession with meaning takes him on what promises to be an illustrious career filled with meaning and showmanship.
To keep up to date with Gillian Baci, follow him on Spotify, YouTube, and Instagram.
