Uwade is a rising Nigerian-born, North Carolina-raised singer/songwriter and musician, who grew up steeped in hymnal choral music and Nigerian High Life on her dad’s car radio and later studied Classics at Columbia University and Oxford University, which informs her work with an astonishing originality and depth.
Over the past handful of years, the rising Nigerian-born artist has seemingly been everywhere: Her emotive vocal opens Fleet Foxes‘ Grammy-nominated 2020 album Shore. She went on to tour extensively with the band, and went on to open for Jamila Woods, Sylvan Esso, The Strokes and more. So far, her output has included a handful singles including “Do You See the Light Around Me?” and “The Man Who Sees Tomorrow.”
Her highly-anticipated full-length debut, Florilegium is slated for an April 25, 2025 release through Ehiose Records and Thirty Tigers. The album’s title is borrowed from the Latin adjective florilegus, which means “flower-gathering.” The album reportedly is a shimmering collection of songs that finds sweetness and light in sorrow — and is an amalgamation of disparate influences and recording sessions seamlessly fitting together through her expressive voice.
The album came together nicely three studio sessions broken up over a yer and half, beginning in upstate New York with Sam Cohen, after she spent a stretch touring heavily with Fleet Foxes. Early last year, her friend Jon Seale offered her a week at his studio space in New York, where she further honed her ideas. Then she returned to North Carolina, later that year, finishing the album with Alli Rogers at Betty’s, Sylvan Esso’s Chapel Hill-based studio. Throughout the sessions, she felt decisive, empowered and complete in control of her creative vision.
“I offer these songs as flowers of gratitude to those who have seen me through my life,” Uwade says. “I share them with the world as a reminder to cherish opportunities for renewal.”
Florilegium‘s first single “Call It A Draw,” is a breezy, Afro-pop inspired tune anchored around a looping guitar line, a jazzy drum loop and a supple yet propulsive bass line serving as a restless yet mischievous soundscape for her gorgeous and expressive delivery.
“Over the past few years I’ve been trying to experiment with my songwriting process a bit more, and this song is one of the fruits of that exploration,” Uwade says. “‘Call It A Draw’ started with a drum loop, a chord progression, and a feeling of restlessness. The creation process was pure, playful, and visceral, relying less on structure and more on improvisation. This approach was really freeing and reflects the sense of release that I feel is central to the project as a whole.”
Directed by Jason Wishnow and featuring choreography by Manuelito Biag, the accompanying video for “Call It A Draw,” follows the rising artist after an presumably upsetting phone call, expressively dancing and running errands in a gorgeous, super modern home. But the phone seems to follow her.