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Asa explains how she proved to her family that she wasn’t sleeping around as an artist.
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The singer made this known in an interview with CNN’s Zain Asher at the Access Bank International Women’s Day conference.
Nigerian-French singer, songwriter, and recording artist Bukola Elemide, professionally known as Asa, has revealed how she proved to her family she was sleeping around as an artist.
Asa explained that she had to persuade her family otherwise because many people believe that female artists who reach the peak of their careers must have slept around.
Speaking with CNN’s Zain Asher at the Access Bank International Women’s Day conference in Lagos, she said:
“In Paris, I don’t think about gender. (Rather), I have to fight being from Nigeria. Gender is not a problem. In Nigeria, I have to fight (for my) gender.”
The multi-award-winning performer, who recently released her fifth album, V, also stated that her gender had a significant impact on her early career behaviour.
She said:
“I was very aware of my femininity, so when I went into studios, I usually wore baggy clothing because I did not want to accentuate the fact that I was female. I did not want to bring attention to myself; I just wanted to do my job.”
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According to Asa, those (fashion) choices led men to question her sexuality.
“Some men would comment, ‘Are you even a woman? What’s wrong with you’?
“People think if one is a female artiste, one is sleeping around, so I had to prove that to family.”
The “Eyo” crooner also expressed her dissatisfaction with her parents’ attitudes toward her upbringing, particularly her strict father.
She said:
“It was a bootcamp at home. He made us eat beans for a year, and insisted on the home help putting weevils (on), sprinkling them as protein,”.
She also revealed that she had been trained since she was a child to be a wife.
She said: “One has to learn how to cook for one’s husband. One has to be sweet for one’s husband, and I was like, ‘Am I going to do all this for one person? And I don’t even know who the person is’.”
The “Ocean” hitmaker also maintained that women (in the industry) still do not get equal opportunities (with their male colleagues).