GOSPEL SENSATION, BIDEMI OLAOBA: How I Avoid Getting Into Trouble With My Female Fans

 

These are certainly great times for popular gospel singer, Abidemi Ayodeji Ogunmolu aka Bidemi Olaoba. If there is one gospel artist right now whose popularity is fast growing beyond the shores of this country, it has to be the young and talented gospel sensation. 

Give it to him, Bidemi has worked really hard in the last couple of years, putting out one hit song after another and enjoying a mass appeal that has become unprecedented in the gospel music genre. 

Here in Nigeria, it’s not just the young Christians that are crazy about Bidemi’s brand of gospel music, the older generation and even non-Christians now form a large chunk of his fan base. 

They just cannot get enough of his high tempo, fast paced and intensely inspiring hit songs. But right now, thousands of Nigerians in the Diaspora and even foreigners are demanding for live performances of the gospel sensation. They all love his music to bits. Lots of young ladies are crazy about his brand of gospel music. Both female Christians and non Christians all love to watch Bidemi minister and he has built a large following of female fans over the years. How does he cope with ladies who would love to be a little closer to him than he would like? He spoke to City People’s Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) a couple of weeks ago and shared his thoughts on this and other sundry issues.   

You seem to me like an introvert, yet you also appear extroverted. How has this helped you know how to use a lot of popular street words called ‘Ajasa’ in your songs and tweak them in such a way that they make your works stand out? And they seem to be working well for you in terms of taking your music to the youths. How do you get to transform all of those ‘Ajasas’ into beautiful melodies?

Okay, so firstly, I think I'm both, like you said, both introverted and extroverted. I can be. I think it does depend on a few things. And about how creative we have been, how we're able to infuse a few things, even though I'm not quite the outgoing type except for my work. I would say I operate as a recorder. Everywhere I go, I pick things. I pick things and store them in my head. Like, some days I wake up, you know, wake up and come up with ideas that I probably had come across maybe some months down the line. So, they just come back to me fresh, and with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit on how to break it down, disect it and dinstinctively come up with something excellent which would be a blessing to the body of Christ. I would still accrue all that to the grace of God. Trust me, I don't think it's any big deal, I don't want to sound like it's a special gift, but I would just accrue that to God. It’s all God’s mercy.

How has it been handling your female fans? Some just want to be friends, they're just excited to see you but some others would love to be much more than a friend. How do you ensure things do not get out of hand?  

You know, you just have to be very firm when it comes to boundaries and communication. I would say that being intentional also matters. You know, the Bible says that when the eye is single, your body will be full of light. So, what that means is once you are focused, once you keep your focus on the assignment, on the ministry, trust me, every other thing will just be taken care of. What should not be part of it will fall off. So, I think one thing that has helped me is keeping my eye focused on the assignment. Yeah, there could be one or two, you know, interferences, people trying to be a little too close and all that, I mean, some people don't mean any harm. Some people just want honest friendship and all that. But at the same time, you can't also be friends with everybody. So, you know, when the vision is clear, everything is clear. So, I would say that is how I've been able to balance it all.

You've made it look so easy, but I don't want to believe it's that easy because this has been a really big issue for many artists and even men of God. Do you see that as a big issue? Is it something that worries you sometimes and you speak to God about it, like, how am I going to know the one for me? How am I going to know the woman who is not with me because I am the famous Bidemi Olaoba but is with me for who I am?

So, like I said earlier, the scriptures is our template. It's our manual. The Bible says that when your eye is single, your body will be full of light. It gives you illumination, it gives you revelation. Once you are focused on the assignment that God has given to you, trust me, you cannot be distracted. Yeah, there will be distractions once in a while, but if you are so focused on your assignment, it's possible for you not to even see distractions. Even though the distraction is present, it's possible not to see it. You can be so consumed with God's assignment for your life that every other thing will just align. It will just be easy. And the Bible says He has given His angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways. So, I feel like it's encompassing as well. Friendship, relationships, people you want to be close to, people that God will tell you not to be close to. But then, again, like I said, you can't be friends with everybody. Being focused has really, really helped me.

Speaking with you now, I'm trying to merge the Bidemi on the stage, the energetic Bidemi that will scatter the entire stadium, no matter how big it is, whether it's a crowd of 80,000, or 100,000, you get the crowd all charged up and scatter everywhere. People are carrying up their chairs, putting them in the air and you, too, are feeding off their energy, jumping up and screaming and all that .And here you are, so calm and soft spoken the person sitting at the next table can barely hear your voice. How do you do it? How do you get the energy to do the things that you do on stage and fire up the crowd every time?

I think it comes from a place of gratitude. I'm wired in a way where gratitude to God is enough to inspire me. You know, when you can look back, count your blessings. You look back at how you were some years ago and how farther he has brought you. Just in the thought process alone, you are fired up. It brings fire in your bones like, God, I want to jump high. I want to jump off the roof for you. So, I would say my honest gratitude to God is one thing that I draw energy from. And I mean, honestly, I'm just an energetic human being. I'm calm when I'm talking to you right now. But when you give me the mic and I get there, everything changes. That's what I'm called to do. The energy comes from where even me, I don't understand. Even when I'm down, when I'm not feeling so good, that fire lifts me up. You know, it's not every time you have good days. There are days where you don't really feel good, but you don't have to feel good. God is always good. Yeah, you don't have to feel good to praise or worship God. The Bible says God is good and his mercies endureth forever. So, it's not a feeling that would determine or dictate the extent of my jumping off or anything.

You seem to have a lot of relationships with many of the big names in the gospel industry, but you seem to have a special relationship with Mercy Chinwo, both of you have this synergy. Once she calls you out or you call her out to join you, there's a lot of fireworks already, even before any one of you picks up the mic to sing.What explains that synergy that both of you have when you perform together?

She's an amazing woman of God, trust me. She's a very, very amazing human being. I am glad that we’ve done great songs together as well.

Was Give Me Chance the very first song you guys did together?

Yeah, that was the very first song that we did together. When we go to ministrations, sometimes the churches request for that, for her to come and take the verse. I think there was one that I didn't even know she was going to come up stage and immediately she came, my God, everywhere was fired up. So, I would say we have a very good relationship and she's an amazing woman of God.

Let me put you on the spot a bit. Apart from Mercy, can you give us five gospel artists today that once you listen to them, even you as a minister yourself, something takes over you.

Sometimes, it’s not even about the big names. I have listened to quite a number of people that are not as popular and trust me, their music is a huge blessing to me. But, for the ones that you probably know, I would say Minister Mercy, Pastor Nat, Minister Dunsin Oyekan, and a few others as well. So, I would say anytime I'm under their ministration, I feel really blessed. And every other minister of God as well. But like I said, sometimes it's not the big names, but for the sake of the interview, the ones that you probably know really do inspire me.

How do you respond to some of the older generation, those who some might consider rigid or set in their ways and who still believe that gospel music should be done the old conventional way. When they see young people like you who tweak songs and give them catch phrases, they're like, I don't know what these young ones are doing singing gospel this way, how do you respond to that?

Yeah, we know our elders cannot be wrong, honestly, trust me. The old conventional way is as powerful as how it is now. The God in the Old Testament is still the same God in the New Testament. The same God before BC, his God is one. The wisdom of Solomon does not eradicate the age of Methuselah. So, we can't say, oh, because we are in 2025, that our elders, our fathers, our mothers of faith have become old. There is no old-fashioned way of doing things. Yeah, we can modify, we can appeal to this generation differently, but I think both go hand in hand and both work like five and six. So it's bridging the two gaps, you know, that matters.

So, I mean, all our fathers, our mothers of faith, I'm open to advice, suggestions and corrections because Yoruba would say there is no way a young child will have more rags than his father, no matter the number of new clothes he has.  Wealth of what they have cannot be bought. The trends of nowadays cannot be bought. Yeah, the ancient landmark can't be taken out. They can’t say because, oh, this is 2025, we have to change these landmarks. Nah, I believe it has to be a perfect blend.  

Give us a couple of other men of God that you would consider spiritual mentors, spiritual fathers who have greatly influenced you?

Thank you, sir. So, because, you know, I'm just a boy. All our fathers in faith, Daddy GO, Mommy GO, I can't mention all of them, they are all blessings in different ways, you know. So, I would say, yeah, it's not everybody that has the opportunity to be close to or the opportunity to listen or be under their ministration before. But I'm sure we're all in the body of Christ. So, the role is the body. It's Jesus. It's not denomination. The focus is the body. The focus is on Jesus. Everybody has been a blessing, you know, one way or the other to this generation, to their generation, our generation, and the whole generation that is going to come after us.