Odeal tells Apple Music the story behind his song ‘London Summers’

Award-winning singer, songwriter, and producer Odeal joins Nandi Madida via FaceTime on Apple Music 1 to talk about his latest single “London Summers”. He also discusses his new EP ‘The Summer That Saved Me’, how experiencing different countries shaped his music, and how watching Burna Boy perform live influenced him to become an artist.

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Tune in and listen to the full episode this Friday, July 18th at 9a Lagos/London / 10a Johannesburg/Paris / 1a LA / 4a NYC on Apple Music 1 at apple.co/_AfricaNow and broadcast on YFM Accra every Sunday at 2pm, YFM Kumasi on Saturdays at 3pm and YFM Takoradi on Saturdays at 6pm.

Odeal tells Apple Music how experiencing different countries has helped shape his music.

The more knowledge you have on something, it shapes the way you see things. I feel like from just having that background of being ‘here today, there tomorrow,’ and just moving around a lot with family definitely shaped the way I see life and the way I interpret information. It gave me a well-rounded understanding of how people work, how community works, how music works, tonality, everything. So it definitely helps with the music because I know whatever I’m making, I know where the influence comes from, I know it’s an amalgamation of different things that go into it. Even though I’ve lived in London for a long time, I know that my music will connect with people in London and also connect with people past London.

Odeal tells Apple Music how watching Burna Boy perform live influenced him to become an artist.

I’ve always just loved music and making it – but it was just a hobby. It was just something that I liked to do. But when Burna Boy came to perform his first show back in London in 2017, I got to watch it and I was just captivated by the performance and I was like “Yeah, this is a showman!, that’s what I want to be. I want to be someone who can perform, not only make great music but make music that connects to people when live, I want to take it to the next level.” From then I was pushing to make sure that the music that I’m making was better each and every time. I am always thinking “how does this translate live? What’s the experience?” I think that’s been my whole journey of music and growth since then.

Odeal tells Apple Music the story behind his song ‘London Summers’.

I wanted an anthem for everyone to be able to sing. I wanted something Londoners and people around the world could be like, “Yo, this is the song I play when I’m in London”, this is the vibe.” When I made the song, I was in Los Angeles, and it was a whole vibe at the crib. I had my producers around, session musicians, my London friends. my boys, my girls were all there. I was literally in between the session and vibing with everyone – there was a certain energy in the room. When I was done with the record and was sitting back playing it, it just felt so good and everyone was dancing. People who I have never seen dance in that room were just vibing! I didn’t know the name for the record and one of my friends said, “Yo, this song feels like a London summer”. And I was like “Yes!”

Odeal tells Apple Music about his song ‘My Heart’

I was still in L.A and the producers, musicians, and everyone in there were instrumentalists. I’d been making the drums the day before, but I didn’t know it was going to be for ‘My heart’.
I’m very driven by things that make people move. I like drums that really make people move. I was like, “Yo, how about these drums that I made yesterday? Listen to them”. They all began playing as the beat was playing. The bass guitarist starts adding the groove and after a while, all of the musicians knew exactly what to do. They were just adding their own licks here and there and before you know it, the song was done! I know when I perform this, it’s going to go crazy and it has South African elements in the chorus, the chants! I love a good chant, things that people can sing, and there’s that S.A (South Africa) energy!

Odeal tells Apple Music about his song ‘Patience

This song is supposed to be set somewhere in Latin America, maybe Cuba or somewhere in a bar. You meet someone that you’ve met before and it’s like those feelings come back again, and you just want to not think too much and just move with the feeling, as opposed to thinking about what happened before. The song is basically about me appreciating the patience of this girl where she wants to take her time with things and not be rushed. There’s a little biblical reference in there (Delilah): – she might be bad for me, but I feel like she’s good for me. I really like the smooth Afrobeats on the song, and every once in a while, when we get a song like that, I want to be captivated by it in the diaspora. So I really think we needed that this summer, which is I why I put it on the project.