Apple Music: ‘Africa Now Radio’ with Nandi Madida this Friday features Salle

This Week’s Episode Features a Conversation With Salle and the 5 Hottest Tracks of the Week!

Tune in to Africa Now Radio with Nandi Madida this Friday, September 19th at 9a Lagos/London / 10a Johannesburg/Paris / 1a LA / 4a NYC on Apple Music 1 and broadcast on YFM Accra every Sunday at 2pm, YFM Kumasi on Saturdays at 3pm and YFM Takoradi on Saturdays at 6pm.

Cover Star Interview
Nigerian Afrobeats singer and songwriter Salle joins Nandi Madida via FaceTime on Apple Music 1 to talk about her latest single “If You Leave” with Ayo Maff. She also discusses dealing with viral success and taking time away from social media, the support she’s received from Don Jazzy and her EP title ‘Only Sad People Smile’.

This Week’s Hottest New Tracks
Nandi Madida shares the hottest new African tracks of the moment. This week’s selection includes new tracks from DJ Neptune & Swayvee, Thukuthela, Jazzworx & GL_Ceejay, Morravey, Ykee Benda & Azawi and Bukzin Keyz, Felo Le Tee & Tman Xpress.

Tune in and listen to the full episode this Friday, September 19th at 9a Lagos/London / 10a Johannesburg/Paris / 1a LA / 4a NYC on Apple Music 1 at apple.co/_AfricaNow YFM Accra every Sunday at 2pm, YFM Kumasi on Saturdays at 3pm and YFM Takoradi on Saturdays at 6pm.

Salle tells Apple Music about dealing with viral success and taking time away from social media
It was a personal time for me and I really needed to take that time to be able to come out and shine in my full glory because after the noise, after the traffic, the virality, I needed time to actually ask myself certain questions. Like “Is this what you want? Are you happy with this? Can you move on with this?”. I also took that time to make more music, to understand my sound, to understand what music truly means to me. So honestly, I’m happy I took that time, even though all the moments were not so positive. I had self-doubt. I had lack of confidence. I lost friends. I started doing things on my own more. However, I think it was a very important process for me in this whole journey. I’m so happy I went through all that and I’m here now.

Salle tells Apple Music about  the support she’s received from Don Jazzy
Don Jazzy is such an amazing person. I’m so grateful to him. He really played a huge role in my career because when I was taking time to understand myself, I needed someone like Don Jazzy to speak to me, tell me things, and kind of enlighten me on things that would come, things I would experience, things I would see, and he heard my music and he was happy. He knew I had the talent. So overall, I think meeting him made me understand that everything I was going through then was normal. Because obviously he has thousands of artists that have gone through him. So hearing him say the words he said made me realise that what I was going through at that time was so normal and I just had to be consistent, be patient, and keep working. And it really inspired me throughout that period and I’m so happy we’re still in touch.

Salle tells Apple Music about her EP artwork
I’m so creative, but at the same time, it’s so hard for me to execute my ideas. I need a whole team who really understands me to put it together because everything I know is just in my mind but it’s so hard to explain. I’m happy I worked with people who understood my language. They were not tired of trying again and again and again. We tried different things and I’m like, “You know what? This is it. This is it.” And it came about looking so beautiful and very resonating, because when I look at that picture, it’s like… It doesn’t rhyme with the title. But then if you just look deeper, just look deeper, you’d really, really resonate. It’s beautiful.

Salle tells Apple Music about  her EP title ‘Only Sad People Smile’
I like to call it a confession I didn’t ever want to write. And the title was the first thing I picked before even putting the songs together, just because I was in a phase where I smiled the most when I knew what I was going through. I knew the self doubts I was battling with, because I used to doubt myself a lot. And even at that moment, all I wanted to do was just hang out with friends. I wanted to just go out. Sometimes I would go out and I wouldn’t want to go back home because I know what is waiting for me at home. I just wanted to be happy. I was forcing myself to be so happy. And that is why I picked that title, because it really explains how I was smiling so hard, I was smiling the brightest, but then I wasn’t feeling happy. I did not have so much joy in me. I had no reason to be happy, honestly. So after I picked the title, I had to take time to be ready to execute every feeling and every emotion that made up the title. And then I had the songs… I already had the songs down in my notes because I write when I’m feeling it. So if I have a certain experience right now or I have a certain feeling, I just put it down in my notes. And whenever I’m in the studio, I just sing about it. So I put it together and only sad people smile.

Salle tells Apple Music about the song “Therapy”
‘Therapy’, she’s obviously the moment I was feeling very… Like I told you, I used to doubt myself a lot, which is the moments where I was feeling so doubtful of myself because I had so many amazing people around me. I had amazing friends, had people whose talents were so pronounced and I was just a girl living in her own small, tiny world. I just wanted to make my mum happy. And in those moments, you know when all you want to do is just leave and make your mom happy, but at the same time, you also want to be something for yourself. You also want to be great. So back then I was feeling so small. I was feeling so small. I was feeling like I wasn’t enough. I was feeling like I had to do so many things but at the same time, I was feeling like I wasn’t living up to my expectations. And being a 17 year old and having all those feelings, you know when you’re a teenager, these emotions just be piling up. And that is what Therapy is. She’s beautiful, so beautiful.

Salle tells Apple Music about the song “Underskirt” 
I need the world to see women more. I need the world to see women outside of what they’re putting on. I need the world to understand women, because I feel like… Listening is one thing. Understanding is another thing. I need the world to understand women because it’s our world and every other person is just living in it.

Salle tells Apple Music about the song “If You Leave” with Ayo Maff
She was vulnerable, stupid. You know when you’re just so in love and then it makes you become unkind to yourself and makes you lose who you are, it makes you lose your shine. It just makes you dark and it makes you… I don’t know, it just removes you from your body.

Salle tells Apple Music what she’d like people to take away from ‘Only Sad People Smile’
I keep saying if there’s anything I want people to take from Only Sad People Smile, it’s that it is very okay not to smile when you don’t have a reason to. You don’t owe anybody a fake smile. Honestly, it’s okay to be sad, dwell in your sadness. Be sad for as how long you want to be. And then when there’s something to be happy for, be happy and be very happy, because people try to suppress sadness and I don’t know why. It’s like, “Oh, you have to be the vibe, the life of the party. You have to be happy.” Or if you’re feeling sad and somebody’s coming over, you have to just take your time, go through everything you’re going through. Overthink… But just dwell in it and come out and be even happier. Honestly. Be happier.