Oluwasemilore Akintelure, Yinminu, is an Afro-Soul artist from Lagos, Nigeria. Yinminu, short for Olorunyinminu, is a name close to Semilores’ heart, heritage, and art. Given to him by his grandmother, it means God has set you apart; God has selected you from the rest. That legacy certainly shines through in his craft, in his ability to move you with the power of his words and voice.
Semilore was born and raised in Ikorodu, Lagos. As a child, he was proactive and passionate anywhere music was concerned. He began to produce his music as early as five years old. He would record on a Nokia phone, then harmonize with the first recording into another phone back and forth until he had created a song. Picturing that is hilarious when you think about it, but also how bewildered his parents must have felt watching him do so.
Producing records on Nokia phones was not the only shocking thing Semilore did as a child.
“My earliest memory of music, as my mom would say, was when I was singing along to commercials on TV as a kid. My mom would say I’d start crying if anyone sang along with me because that was my solo, my time to shine.”
Unsurprisingly, he was also a choir member, relishing the ability to perform uninterrupted as he had always wanted. This deep love and entrenchment in music from childhood led him to attend the Tenstrings Music Institute for a year before leaving Nigeria for the US in 2018 to attend University. Semilore has a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering and two master’s degrees.
Constantly enveloping himself in the warm embrace of music and its powers, Semilore sees music as therapy. Regardless of whatever is happening to him. Whether in moments of despair or joy, making music was a way to preserve those memories. Keeping them as close to his heart and authentic as possible by recording during the moments they are hitting the most. Music coming from such a powerful place is bound to be magnificent.
Music is not Semilore’s only talent. He is the executive producer of his music videos, manages his rollouts, and produces his music. Understanding this about him is essential to understanding how deeply he immerses himself in his creations, which makes them extensively versatile and soul-stirring. He takes enormous risks and only does what feels right. This is a lot of intensive work to take on as a singular person. However, he does have a tight process for each facet of his work.
When it comes to recording music, he is constantly ready. The moment a melody comes to him, he records it immediately. Later, in his downtime, he parses the recording and defines the instrument styles he wants to explore. This process can take anywhere from three days to three months to complete a singular song. It is all entrenched in the feeling.
Without feeling what he’s trying to convey, he will not work on the music. Meaning that his emotions must always match the story he is trying to convey, or else he will not create at all. It’s a huge gamble to take on your creative process, but definitely not a soulless one. Infusing all his music with his actual energy at the time is a recipe for infusing his passion into his sound.
Next, he records his vocals. Either playing the demo for his friends to get adlibs from them or just layering the tracks himself. This is actually his favorite part of the process as he adores beautiful arrangements. He spends quite a lot of time ensuring that these arrangements translate clearly into the melodies he creates. After this, mixing and mastering are his next priorities so he can finalize the tracks for distribution.
He is currently in the midst of rolling out a visual album, To Be Set Apart. However, the presentation of this album as a visual album was not his initial intention. He had all the songs on the album ready in 2023. While discussing with a friend, Gideon Peters, he decided to make a visual album instead. It was extremely stressful, tasking, and generally a huge undertaking for one person. However, he got a creative director who brought his vision to life, along with his family and friends showing up for him.
It took three months to plan each video before shooting anything. One of the videos was shot in Ohio, where he was based at the time. The team that undertook the video drove five hours from Canada to Ohio to shoot for five days straight. Meanwhile, another song was shot remotely in Lagos. Semilore recalls how exhausting it was. However, the results were worth it. However, Semilore deems all it took to get here as part of his process.
“It takes a village for real, but that’s my summary of my process: big dreams, great support systems, and a lot of risk!”
To Be Set Apart explores grief, loss, and neglect through Semilore’s perspective. His main message is that the experience can linger in the pain of the journey; however, it does get better. This project, in particular, delves into the difficult reality of the pain in and of itself. It is meant to be a companion on the road to healing and self-realization. This album is his note to help people carry on that healing.
When asked who inspires him the most, Semilore says his sister and his mum are his biggest inspirations—stating that his sister has overcome some of the hardest intensive physical challenges he’s ever seen. Consistently show so much resilience through what life has thrown at them. Making him take a stance that he can and must always show up for himself, regardless of what he is going through.
To be set apart is a homage to his mother, who he refers to as the matriarch of a Nigerian household. It details her life and the things she experienced while he was growing up, such as domestic violence. Choosing to touch on such a triggering and sensitive topic was very intentional. Semilore states:
“There are many things that are often overlooked in the story that I really wanted to talk about with this co-lead project of a son and a mother. Be on the lookout for ‘Then I knew’ when the project drops.”
Semilore will release Africa’s first visual album in January 2025. This passion project combines 20 years of experience with 4 years of production. The first single, “Nowhere Is Safe To Be,” dropped on October 25th, while its video followed the next week on November first. You can check out the trailer for Yinminu on Instagram @iamyinminu. We can’t wait for you all to see what Yinminu has in store.
