Meet Oyinda, the Nigerian-British singer and producer you’ll be telling all your friends about

Oyinda is a powerhouse — the singer-songwriter, dancer, director, and producer pretty much does it all. As an artist she is careful and intentional in the way she curates both her music and the visual elements that supplement her work.

As a young woman she is charismatic, kind, and above all, bubbly. We grilled her for a good two minutes on her rings, her hair, her favorite new Twitter follower and her recently released interactive video project that features Empress Of, Ramzoid, and CanteenKilla.

Rolling Stone pointedly referred to her as "R&B's best kept secret." But it's about time to spread this secret like a middle schooler scorned.

Where did this project stem from?

I wanted to delve further into the virtual reality I originally created with Pussykrew. I collaborated with them for the video for ‘Serpentine.’ I felt like that experience really made me want to go further into the aspects of creating CGI art and explore the fact that there isn’t a lot of representation. I was talking to my manager about the experience of how I got to set and the “nude” underwear they brought me was white, which isn’t standard and nude is a state of being, it’s not a color. The experience of being in my knickers and not actually blending — I really wanted to experience that and delve further into what that made me feel like. So these three environments in the videos are a safe space where you can explore. That’s what I loved about the virtual reality is you can delve right into that.

Have you had experience with virtual reality before?

No! I was just really attracted to it. It’s so brilliant, you just sit yourself in it and experience the world for yourself. When you turn it turns. I’ve actually only watched my videos on my phone.

I saw a lot of what I assumed were historical, biblical, or mythological references. What sources of inspiration were you pulling from?

When I was growing up I was obsessed with Greek mythology, Nefertiti, Cleopatra, and that whole vibe. I was so obsessed with Prince of Egypt. I really wanted to be statuesque. I really wanted to be the embodiment of power. That timeless beauty and that timeless strength, all women have that. I wanted to do that for myself. I’ve always been a shy person and I’ve always been introverted. I am very bubbly when you meet me but it takes a long time to get to know me because I’m not one to really share. I really wanted to be raw and present in these. Those poses and everything else I drew from different things, including things like the Terracotta Army. I just wanted to feel cemented in time but to also be infinite.

Replacing some of these symbols with a brown body is so powerful. Even considering the erasure we tend to see of Cleopatra as a woman of color.

You hardly ever see our features in things like that. The fine art and what they define as ‘fine’ is a definition that revolves around whiteness. That idea of beauty being universal is really important to me. This strength, I feel like everyone has that and it’s just the confidence to be able to draw that out of yourself and to be true to that strength. We don’t always have that.

You often take full ownership of your work. How was collaborating with other artists?

Shout out to Empress Of (Lorely Rodriguez) because she’s the sweetest human of all time. She’s taught me so much. She’s also a female producer and she's always been willing to give me tips. I just told her, “I’d love it if you remixed Never Enough.” Her music is so light but at the same time her lyrics might not always be. There’s a levity to it all, and that’s her aesthetic. Each of these songs of mine have a vulnerability that can be misconstrued as weakness. Everyone can feel how they want about my music but ‘Never Enough’ has never been a love song but people always take it that way. That’s what drew me to work with Lorely, and I was lucky she was free and willing to do it.

Watch babe's interview with Oyinda below: