Singer Adekunle Gold has opened up about the emotional story behind a song on his upcoming album Fuji, set for release on October 3.
The 38-year-old revealed on Tuesday that the project narrates his personal journey, capturing lessons, victories, grief and the joy of fatherhood.
According to him, the oldest song on the album ‘Simile’ originated from one of the most challenging periods of his life, the death of his father in 2019.
“I know it sounded crazy when I said I’ve been working on this album for over five years, but it’s true. The oldest song on the album came out of one of the most life-changing moment of my life,” he wrote.
“It was 2019. I was in Lagos, though I couldn’t tell you what the day looked like. I don’t remember if it was morning or night, sunny or rainy, grief has a way of numbing even your senses.
“My manager at the time had been calling me every day, urging me to get back in the studio. Beyoncé’s team had reached out; they wanted me to write for her Lion King project.
“Under different circumstances, I would have been overjoyed. But I had just lost my father, and in that moment, even music felt like a weight. My whole world had collapsed.
“But one day, I forced myself to get up. To try. To write. I sat in my small studio at home, picked up my mic and let everything I was feeling pour out. That’s the day I wrote Simile. means rest on me, lean on me in Yoruba.”
He described the track as more than a song, calling it “my grief, my confusion, my cry for direction.”
“When I finished, I knew it was far too personal to give away. Still, we sent it to Beyoncé’s team, and I secretly prayed it wouldn’t make the final cut. It didn’t. And so Simile stayed hidden on a hard drive for years,” he continued.
“Fast forward to 2024. My best friend Michael, who produced Simile, played it randomly in a recording session and asked me if I remembered when I wrote it. I didn’t. I had buried it, just like I had buried so much of my grief.
“But the moment the song started playing, it all came rushing back. We sat there listening to it over and over, and I knew instantly: this belongs on Fuji.”
Fuji will be Adekunle Gold’s sixth studio album, following Tequila Ever After released in 2023.
