Spotlight  

DTS: Music That Feels Like Heaven

By Chisom Njoku

11 April 2021   |   12:00 pm

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The art of making music is perceived by some as a gift and to others as a skill because the ability to understand musical notes and serenade a crowd doesn’t come freely to everyone. Adedayo Agbi is one of the young gifted artistes who have embodied music and become one with their sound. He sits…

DTS: Music That Feels Like Heaven

The art of making music is perceived by some as a gift and to others as a skill because the ability to understand musical notes and serenade a crowd doesn’t come freely to everyone.

Adedayo Agbi is one of the young gifted artistes who have embodied music and become one with their sound. He sits down with The Guardian Life to discuss his love for music, struggles as an independent artiste, and big plans for the future.

Tell us about yourself, who is DTS?
DTS is an acronym for dedayothesage, I’m Agbi Adedayo Enahoro by birth name. A 26-year-old artiste based in Lagos, Nigeria and I love to create because that’s all I know. Music is the passion that drives my creativity to its highest form so I’m that guy that loves making music to create experiences not just for listening.

How long have you been making music?
I started making music when I was in the university back in 2012 with my friends and I loved it because that helped me deal with society. At a very young age, I couldn’t decide whether I would fit in cause my mind was always somewhere trying to escape and music helped with that. It helped me relax, imagine in colours and create ideas that might change the world.

What inspires your sound?
A few years ago I couldn’t answer this particular question properly but now that I have clarity, I’ll say “experiences”. I believe life is all about creating, most times creating memories, and most importantly creating experiences got to be the thing for me over time I’ve been influenced by my favourite artist that makes music the way I want it to be, but somehow I figured there has to be more to this it can’t be just the lyrics and beat, in my search for a deeper meaning to it and a deeper meaning to life, creating experiences has heavily influenced my sound.

Walk us through your creative process?
I’m inspired by life itself, I could be on my bed humming sounds to a voice note, thinking about a particular idea and all that, get to the studio and try to record what I have from my voice note but fail at it. And most times I could be in the studio sad or happy and when the beat comes on random thoughts come together and make meaning of themselves, then boom! I immediately start to generate an idea around the thought created then I record magic.

What are you working on right now?
Right now, I just put my new song ‘Heaven’ featuring my brother Buju, but besides that, I’m working on a production with UrbanTrybe titled ‘Exodus’. It’s the birth of new generational sounds trust me we’re changing the game. Pretty much creating new works that define history.

Who would you love to work with here at home or internationally? There’s a list: Brymo, WurlD, Asa, Niniola and if by chance I ever get to be in the same room with Pharrell and Frank ocean making music together, then I think I’ll just retire cause that’s a complete life cycle to me.

What is a major challenge you’ve faced as an independent artiste?
A major challenge is the fact that I’m actually independent cause everything has to be done by me and not having someone to represent you formally makes it hard to deal with bodies like brands or even platforms that are supposed to promote you but so far I’ve been able to learn a lot from everything.

If you could change one thing about the Nigerian music industry, what would that be?
If there’s anything I would change about the Nigerian music industry is the mentality of “you have to bribe every Dick and Harry just to be heard”. They don’t want to listen to your material unless you’re tendering an envelope, it sort of reduces the value placed on the art itself. It’s a big issue.

What can fans expect from DTS in the near future?
DTS is going to be responsible for the sound of an era in the nearest future. I owe it to myself to see it come through. I just want my fans to see this is bigger than me, it’s bigger than anyone else.