Today, afrofusion legend and Nigerian singer, producer and songwriter Wande Coal drops a new single and visual titled, \u2018Umbrella.\u2019 Co-written by grammy-nominated producer Sak Pase, multi-platinum singer\/songwriter Sean Kingston and Wande Coal, the single comes as the first visual offering and second single from EMPIRE\u2019s new compilation album \u2018Where We Come From\u2019 (VOL. 1).<\/p>\n
In the video directed by Austin McCracken, Wande is first seen playing the piano and singing at a wedding. After the couple marries, Wande shows his emotion by dancing in the rain and sings the song\u2019s chorus, \u201cI\u2019m in the rain like umbrella.\u201d<\/p>\n
The visual cuts back to the wedding reception and shows guests dancing and enjoying the festivities. \u201cI like for my music to tell a story and paint a picture of what I\u2019m going through and experiencing,\u201d Wande said regarding the visual direction. \u201cWhen people listen to this, I want them to think of happier times with people they love to be around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wande\u2019s \u2018Umbrella,\u2019is in celebration of the explosion of African music into mainstream airwaves. EMPIRE is the top label in Nigeria and this compilation project is a body of work set to highlight the rising talent from their ever-growing roster in the continent. The first single from the project, \u2018Cough,\u2019 by Kizz Daniel dropped on 10\/14 and is currently #2 on the Global Shazam chart and #1 across every DSP platform in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
The album was created during the writing camp at EMPIRE\u2019s headquarters in San Francisco directly following their first showcase \u201cThe New Africa\u201d during the second night of SXSW. During the writing camp, the crowd saw performances by BNXN FKA Buju, Cheque, Fireboy DML, June Freedom, L.A.X. Wande Coal, and other trail blazers signed to the label. Artists set to be spotlighted on the upcoming project include Fireboy DML, Olamide, BXNX fka BUJU, Black Sherif, Kizz Daniel, L.A.X, and more.<\/p>\n
Tina Davis, EMPIRE\u2019s Senior Vice President of A&R, signed Wande Coal to EMPIRE and is excited to share his latest project. \u201cIt was an honor to sign a legend like Wande Coal. As a forefather of the Afro-Fusion genre we wanted to make sure we highlighted him on this project,\u201d she said. \u201cOutside of him being an amazing person, he approaches this record from a pure place of love.\u201d<\/p>\n
EMPIRE globalized their existing success in America by further highlighting the accomplishments of Nigerian artists like Fireboy DML, Olamide and Asake. Named as the top label in Nigeria after only one year of its creation, EMPIRE holds the title by market share and as the top music company with the most collective No. 1\u2019s in Nigeria by TurnTable Charts, the Billboard equivalent in Africa.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, artists across EMPIRE\u2019s roster dominate the Top 35 songs on Apple Music\u2019s \u2018Nigeria Top Songs\u2019 chart and held the #1 Top Single for over 17 weeks on TurnTable Charts. The artist division has seen much success with Fireboy DML becoming the first African artist to perform at the 2022 BET Awards, Kizz Daniel breaking records as most streamed artist on Boomplay, KiDi going platinum in India for his hot single \u201cTouch It\u201d featuring multi-platinum recording artist Tyga, and Black Sheriff gaining 75+ million audio streams for \u201cKwaku the Traveler\u201d in just one month.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe artists from Africa really transcend where music is today,\u201d Ghazi, EMPIRE CEO and Founder said. \u201cThis is a legendary moment for EMPIRE to be able to share incredible African music with the world, much of which we were fortunate enough to record at our studio here in San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cUmbrella is meant to celebrate love and how protective, special, and full of life it makes you feel\u201d, Wande says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":21053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,31],"tags":[7,14,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-21056","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"category-music","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"yoast_head":"\n