In 2013, Aituaje Iruobe, professionally known as Waje, released her debut studio album, W.A.J.E. Among its tracks, “Grind,” a collaboration with Burna Boy (real name Damini Ogulu), stands out as her most explicit song to date.
Although “Grind” was well-received, it never had a music video. In a recent interview, Waje disclosed that her pastor opposed the idea of creating a video for the song with Burna Boy.
The singer mentioned that her spiritual advisor shared certain insights about the song, which she recognized herself, leading her to decide against making a video for it.
Waje, who recently celebrated her 25-year-old daughter’s university graduation, emphasized that as a Christian, she adheres to specific values and avoids creating sensual music.
In her own words:
“One of the biggest breakthrough years of my career was 2013, that was the year that quite a number of things happened for me. But there were a lot of songs that I didn’t even touch, because of my faith.
Do you understand? The song with Burna Boy [titled “Grind”], I didn’t shoot it. Because at the time my album came out and I had a conversation with my spiritual leader, by the time Pastor Tony had spoken to me, he explained why to me and the way my understanding is: there are three boxes.
There’s the gospel box where people in the church edify the people in the church. Those are the gospel singers reaching people in the church. Then you have the conscious box, and these are the people who are also believers of the Word, but they also do love songs because even if you’re a Christian, you’re not doing wedding vows with the verse. You’re not saying “taketh thou”, you will write down your vows because these are real feelings you feel for the person that you love and you want to be able to express that.
And I kinda see myself in that box and we have a few people in that box like the Johnny Drilles and the Timi Dakolos. We’re not only called to Christians, we are called for people who really just want clean music. And then there’s the sensual box and that’s the box I will never go.
Sometimes you as the creative, you have to sit down and think about the lyrics because you can have something you have in your mind but the person receiving it is receiving something else. And the truth is if you truly love God, you will care more about the person releasing it than you do about your art. [And that’s the reason why I didn’t shoot the video for “Grind”]. I had to grow to that point.”
