For his third EP, Nigerian singer-songwriter Novemba sets forth on a dreamy, introspective journey through some of his most life-changing experiences. Covering grief, romance, anxiety and heartbreak, Escapade pairs weighty lyrical content with a mélange of sounds. “Everybody talks about genre, but with me it’s more or less make good music first,” Novemba tells Apple Music. “It’s African, so it’s original. And it’s a fusion of a whole lot of genres.” Novemba’s foray into a fusion of sounds began with his debut EP, 2020’s Truly Novemba, and its follow-up, 2021’s Novian Universe. “The first EP was something experimental—I was trying to do a bit of everything,” the artist born Uzoma Samuel Onyenucheya explains. “After the first experiment, it was about creating the sound and creating something people could experience.” Yet after releasing Novian Universe, driven by turmoil and self-doubt, Novemba almost gave up music for good. “I got to a point where I was questioning myself: ‘What next? Do I stop it? Do I stop doing music or do I move forward with it?’” It turned out that connecting with a new creative team reignited his creative flame. “You know when you get that message you’ve always been praying for? That sign you’ve always asked for, and then you get it, and you’re like, ‘OK, I think it’s go time’? I call it a takeoff point. It’s the beginning of something great. Escapade, for me, is the totality of my experiences, putting it out there and letting the world feel how I felt in this period of time. It’s both an adventure and the takeoff point.” Below, he takes us through the story of Escapade, track by track. “Escape” “It’s sad music, to be honest. I created it after I lost my dad. So, that was the whole experience—trying to escape from your reality. ‘Escape’ is me expressing myself, pointing out my real feelings, how I felt, which was to run away. I just wanted to disappear at that time because it’s an uncomfortable position. And then I just wanted to pour it out into music.” “Spiritualize” “‘Spiritualize’ is me coming out from that situation. After I’ve escaped that place of feeling sad, ‘Spiritualize’ is like being thankful for what’s happening now. I’m grateful this is me now. I’m happy. I’m much happier I’m sharing my truth and what I’m into now—my family, happiness. No matter the obstacles I’ve had, I’ve come out from that. And now I’m in a much better position and place. I’m reconnecting with myself a bit and being much more expressive.” “Love Vacancy” “This is a situationship, where you like somebody, and the person likes you, but not in the way you like them. The person prefers you sexually, but maybe their body language doesn’t say so. It suggests something more. And you are holding onto that something more, but it probably isn’t [real]. You’re looking for love, but the person you’re loving has no vacancies for you. I don’t know if it’s a good place or not, but it helps—you get to realise yourself more and try to treat yourself better. But it’s a hard situation to deal with, especially when the person still lets you know that they want you, but not in the way you want them.” “Vibe (On My Mind)” “It’s a love song. It’s just about telling somebody how you feel about them and how they make you feel. That’s why I said, ‘Give me fire like Goku’: I feel fire and sparks sometimes when I’m with that person. The character stood out, so it’s something that just stuck in my head. We were driving when I made that song. It’s a feel-good vibe.” “Ewo” “‘Ewo’ is an Igbo exclamation. It’s like in an emergency, ‘Ewo? What just happened?’ I use a sexual circumstance to describe an emergency, like ‘something’s about to happen’. I don’t know how I’m going to handle it. I don’t know what I’m going to do right now because maybe I’ve praised myself too much, and now I’m in that situation. And now I’m realising, ‘OK, it’s different, and I don’t know what I’m going to do right now.’ So, that’s why I’m saying, ‘Ewo? What have I done to myself?’ Yeah, ‘Ewo’ came out in seconds—I think one of the fastest songs I’ve ever written.” “Rewind” “So, you ‘Escape’ into this reality or the adventure, and now we’re at the last phase. It’s a subtle, calm, very cool vibe. This time around, I don’t want you to leave. You’re coming to my adventure, and I want you to experience it all over again. That’s the artistic idea, but the song itself is about me professing what I want to do to my sexual partner, but on the larger scale. It’s more or less, ‘Come into this reality. When you get to the end, you rewind.’ I want you to come back. I don’t want the adventure to end. Come into this and live my reality and be in it. Enjoy it.”