Pandemic, A Blessing In Disguise For My Music Career, Says Afropop Singer, Holmes

Fast-rising singer, Umughare Prosper Aghogho, better known as Holmes, has continued to register is presence in the Nigerian entertainment industry despite coming into the scene late.

The Warri-born Afropop artiste, who meandered his way into the music scene in 2020, following the covid-19 pandemic, #EndSARS protests that hit the country, said the year has indeed been a blessing in disguise for him and his music career.

Currently signed under Addictive Music Worldwide and D’Luxe Management, the singer has released over eight singles that features the likes of Ycee, Yung6ix, DJ Neptune and Davido.

In this interview, the singer speaks about his life, music and future plans.

It’s been a tough year, how would you describe it?

It’s been good so far, I will say God has been faithful, I will say 2020 so far has been an amazing year. It came with a lot of things like the COVID-19, but so far I think the pandemic has kind of affected my career in a positive way based on the fact that it has given me the time and focus to do more music because all through when it started I have just been focused on my music. I have produced a lot of songs trying to push to a certain level where I see myself because the place I see myself in a few years is a very big place. So, so far, I have been dropping songs and have dropped about seven singles before my last single and I still have a lot to work on and yet to achieve.

Tell us more about Holmes

I am a singer, I deal with Nigerian songs as I work strictly on Afropop music. I am bringing my own unique part, I’m not trying to be like anybody or trying to change what exactly the industry is like because I can’t do that. So, I’m bringing my own sound. I want to push the brand to become something where I don’t need introduction when you hear the song.

How has the journey been with D’Luxe Management?

Before my label, Addictive Music Worldwide teamed up with D’luxe Management, it was good but I am going to say it has been amazing since I started working with D’Luxe management. I know I am following the right path where I am going to get to the peak of my career so I am going to say working with them has kind of paved me into the positive direction I have always dreamed of following. If you compare my past and now, I’m going to say I’m living far better than what I was doing before.

So, looking back your body of work and where you have arrived, what will you say?

The hard work is definitely paying off, it even brought home an award and I felt so blessed right there. So, it’s paying off and I’m willing to put in more hard work, it never stops even when you are there, you still need to keep working.

So, the industry has faced a lot of challenges in respect to challenges and EndSARS, how have you coped?

There has really been a lot of challenges, if it wasn’t the pandemic, I believe it is going to be lots of stage performance, a lot of gigs and concerts but the  ENDSARS protests and pandemic really posed a big challenge to many entertainers and even none entertainers because it’s what you can’t control. It’s the government and bigger than us all so I know the year is fast gone and I believe 2021 will be better than 2020.

What inspires your music?

Life in general inspires my music, I’m going to say the ladies, too, inspire my songs. I have some couple of songs that are talking about life too, like the general challenges we face everyday in the country but majorly we have a lot of songs for the ladies on the street to look out for.

Take us through the process of making your music?

Actually we are still in the general Afrobeat and Afropop. My music making process, I explained one day that it depends on the mood, my current situation and happenings around me. For Finally, my manager said we are going to do Afrobeat and then I picked ‘Finally.’ After getting the instrumental, it depends on how I feel, sometimes I feel like I just don’t want to play on this song, I want to bring something really positive, then I go back to bring out the best music.

But sometimes I can’t just hear the beats, if I am in the studio and if there’s a producer there, walks in and vibes to it. That’s majorly how I make my music.

What would you refer to as your preferred genre or comfortable genre of music?

So, talking about my sound, talking about the music, I do Afropop, I am majorly a singer, I am not trying to go into rap songs. Afro fusion like I said and I believe I can go into any kind of beat, like my song ‘finally’ is an Amapiano kind of vibe, I’m still trying to go deep into Afrobeat.

Are you open to working with songwriters?

I am hoping to work with songwriters, I believe there’s nothing wrong working with songwriters based on the connection, maybe the song the person has to bring to the table is relating to me, my kind of sound then yeah I’m ready to work with someone like that but basically all my songs that are out right now are basically written by me.

So, what inspired your current single, ‘Finally’?

First of all like I said, I later heard the song ‘Finally’ and I got a call from my manager that day, the idea of the song was actually from my manager D’Luxe management CEO. He was like we already have a song with David, why don’t we take it to the DJ aspect because it is easier for songs to fly because we already have a DJ there, other DJs were already picked. DJ Neptune now is the biggest DJ and he is my brother, big ups to Neptune, it was my manager’s idea so I will say I am not regretting the choice because it has been giving me a lot of positive reviews so far.