WITHIN the class of Afrobeats’ emerging acts, Noon Dave is the bright-eyed RnB maestro pacing his come-up journey with evergreen melodies. His legacy brushes briefly with the hue of his soft-toned rhythms, romantic songwriting and catchy choruses, positioning his artistry as a canvas of his own emotions.
Born David Obafemi, the Lagos-based musician started his sprint to stardom, in 2021, with his debut opus ‘Too Late.’ The record, which captured his feelings about an unrequited love interest, put Noon Dave on a front-burner of RnB acts to watch out for.
Newly signed to Chocolate City Music label, he put out two other love-themed songs, over the next two years, “Brunch”, and “Hilary”, respectively, taking a piecemeal approach to building his catalogue.
Now, the 29-year-old is back on popular charts, this time shifting his strategy to compilation releases, with his debut extended play Noon At Noon, in August, and a follow-up five-tracker dubbed Gem, a few weeks ago. The latter explores Noon Dave’s charismatic lover-boy persona even more, putting his singing technique and relatable lyricism at full display.
The playlist unfurls with Noon Dave appearing solo on three records; the playlist opener ‘Bounty’, where he beckons on his lover to give him a chance, then “Facecard”, the uptempo pop groove where he continues serenading his lover; and “Hold Me” another ecstasy-ridden pop tune.
On the other tracks, he enlists Jamaican reggae star Projexx on the Caribbean-Afro RnB/Pop groove,“Vibration”, as well as Nigerian pop sensation Oladapo on “Merry Go”, subtly elevating the groove of the record with the dancehall and Amapiano elements in the songs.
“GEM isn’t a random project. Before I got signed, I had been working on my sound. I’ve been like this is a diamond in the rough type of thing. I wasn’t too much of an Afrobeats artist. I was more RnB, and Hip-hop. I have a bit of a Dancehall side to my sound too. It’s just a whole mix of different genres – R&B, soul, hip-hop, and dancehall, before Afrobeats,” he tells NetNg.
“But I had to find a way because when I put out “Branch,” people liked it, but it was selective. It was compared to the success of “Hillary” because “Hillary” is more Afrobeats Nigerian. I mean, some people loved “Branch,” but it wasn’t accepted like that. It was a niche sound. So, I had to find a way to balance that. I had to look for a way to incorporate Afrobeat into my sound and blend it, making it sound good. It’s just evolving.”
Growing up, music had always had a particular cathartic effect for Noon Dave, whose mother’s collection of 70s to 90s musicians, he tells NetNg. But the urge to process his feelings with a microphone and audio recording softwares started after he had a sort of ‘epiphany’ that boosted his self-confidence.
“This was still way back when I was a teenager. I think there was a day I was walking on the road or something, and it was the first time I ever thought to even write a song. And while I was singing it, I heard myself, and I was like, ‘This is amazing!’ Like, I sounded really good to myself.
So, I was just like, this should be it for me. And from that point, I just decided I’m going to take this music thing seriously. I could remember watching Usher and R-Kelly on TV back then, singing their lyrics, and I thought to start writing my lyrics. I started working on just writing. I mean, looking from then up until now, I can see that I’ve really grown and I know I can only get better.”
With a full-length album in the works, Noon Dave continues to layer up his come-up journey with interesting new additions to Afrobeats’ library of romantic neo-pop/soul melodies. He firmly believes that despite his RnB being the subject matter of his odyssey, his versatility is the ace up his sleeves in his future releases.
“I’ll say I’m versatile. I can blend in with any genre. I’ll find a way to blend like, fit into any genre and I write quite well,” he said.
Reminiscing on his earliest days and finding his footing with Chocolate City Music, the same nesting ground for stars like MI Abaga, Ice Prince, Young Jonn, Blaqbonez, among others, he tells us that fortune found him when a certain producer decided to take a chance on him.
“There’s this producer, Olumba; he’s produced for A-Q. He used to send my songs to 10Ten, who was the head of A&R for Chocolate City. Although 10Ten had known me for a while, I didn’t know him personally. But he had been listening to my unreleased music, and it impressed him.
Around that time, Chocolate City was looking to sign new artists. Olumba sent some songs I recorded with him to Tenten, but unfortunately, the entries were closed, and they couldn’t take on more artists at that time. Fast-forward to when I released “Brunch”, in 2021, I sent the link to 10Ten, and he was blown away. He asked me to come to Chocolate City for a meeting, and my manager and I went.
They took down the song and offered me a signing deal. That’s how I got signed. Actually, another industry professional, Blaqbonez, also heard my music and played “Brunch” for the Chocolate City team. He recommended that they sign me, which further solidified the deal.”
As he continues to gear up for more musical exploits, Noon Dave’s odyssey is setting sail with just one goal in mind: make more music. “For now, I’m still in that phase of promoting this one I just released.
But, like, I’ve been working out. I just have a whole lot of ideas saved up on my phone. I’ll just explore them; I’ll just keep exploring the ideas I have. So, what I have next is just more music. I envision a career where I am touring around the world, bagging bigger brands and just doing amazing stuff, just touching the world, musically.”
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