Canadian-based Afro-R&B, soul singer, songwriter, and producer from Nigeria, Nonso Amadi is announced to be featured as Spotify’s RADAR Canada Artist for the month of April. By joining Spotify’s acclaimed global emerging artists program, fans will have the opportunity to learn more about the breakout artist with their “Get To Know” and “Clips” series through short videos and editorial support on official Spotify playlists.
The Spotify RADAR Canada Artist announcement follows Nonso Amadi’s triumphant return with his new track “Foreigner,” released through Def Jam Recordings stateside and Universal Music Canada, offering the opportunity to strategically focus on a range of key global markets, including his native region in Nigeria. “Foreigner” set the tone of Nonso’s comeback, garnering coverage in Billboard, Teen Vogue, COMPLEX, and NATIVE Magazine. Billboard Magazine said, “Amadi returns in a major way, his raspy, longing R&B vocals flirting with the smooth afrobeats instrumental.” To date, the track has amassed 975.7k total streams across DSP’s and continues to receive praise globally.
Beginning his musical career while studying in Nigeria at Covenant University and then Swansea University in the UK. Nonso Amadi transformed into a sonic-globetrotter after his move to Canada – leading him to fuse the soul & rhythm of African music with modern soft textures of R&B. With an affinity for contemporary R&B, Nonso developed a desire to explore North America and Africa in equal parts – citing Toronto-native Drake’s genre-hopping capability as an inspiration for his own creative fluidity. Nonso’s music is powered by borderless infusions and intention. “I really loved Mary J Blige, Brandy, Wyclef Jean, Paul Play. I love R&B because it’s slow enough to allow you to feel,” he says of his early experiences with the artform.
Nonso’s refreshingly honest yet tranquil approach to music has allowed the likes of Juls, Santi, and Odunsi The Engine — the latter of whom he collaborated with on the War EP’ — to entrench his arrival across Nigeria and the continent at large across the late ‘10’s. With over 100,000+ million streams across platforms, Nonso Amadi refuses to be the typical straight A-student stereotype. Instead, he stands tall as a constantly evolving, textured lyricist able to translate Alte, Afro-fusion and hip-hop into his R&B-canvassed approach to storytelling, best represented on his last EP Free (2019), which features Afrobeat’s heavyweights Simi and Mr Eazi.
In 2019, Nonso made the conscious decision to step away from social media and paused the release of music — all to take a deeper dive into his artistry and separate from noise and distraction. Unaware of the global pandemic looming, Nonso’s time to cleanse and create was stretched into a longer hiatus. Currently recording his debut album, with the support of Universal Music Canada and an international team — the now 26-year-old, Nonso Amadi is determined to shed even more of his creative-skin. “I want listeners to hear this next project and know who I am and what I’ve gone through. I want to make great songs that tell my story”.
