"I attended singer's album listening session, and I didn't die from wokeness"

I hate being woke. The concept of wokeness annoys me in its entirety, and so I always seek to avoid it.

The phenomenon of being woke is a cultural push to challenge problematic norms, systemic injustices and the overall status quo through complete awareness. Being woke refers to a person being aware of the theoretical ins and outs of the world they inhabit. Becoming woke, or staying woke, is the acknowledgment that everything we’ve been taught is a lie (kind of/mostly).

These days on social media, it is fashionable to be woke. Twitter throws wokeness your way at every turn, with comments and 140-character releases on just about every topic being a sceptical one.

Here’s a good example of it. Perhaps the most useless and wokest tweet of all time.

Needless, random, and outrightly annoying. That’s why I hate wokeness; it is a pretentious and arrogant, with a little mix of stupidity. Miss me with that bullshit! Miss me with your annoying wokeness!

Sometimes, this wokeness comes to you in form of music, with ‘alternative artistes’ scrambling to fight through normalcy and reach an intellectually superior level of creativity, where they make woke music that is meant to stimulate and enlighten you. These artistes who make ‘woke’ music do it with a guitar a great voice, and plenty of passion.

On the surface, Aramide appears to be a ‘woke’ music specialist. She owns that guitar, has a great voice, a calm personality that hints at all the depth of creativity that she possesses and wants to hit you with. You immediately prepare your mind to be elevated, and stimulated by the wokeness.

Her debut album, is titled “”, a very woke name for an album. How did we get to this? And why did the album art appear to be woke?

Check out the album art below, and tell me if it isn’t woke.

Well, still considering the album art, I got an invite via email, and a call from her PR inviting me to the album listening. I wasn’t going to consider this from afar. If I didn’t go to wokeness, wokeness definitely wants to come to me.

“But is the album woke?” I asked during the phone call with Nike Fagbule, Aramide’s PR and CEO of Zebra Stripes Network.

“Just come and see first.” I knew this was a setup. This people are setting me up to be attacked.

I arrived at the album listening which held on Sunday, November 13, 2016 at the Fuze Lounge V.I. feeling like I was about to be slaughtered. There were the usual suspects. Johnny Drille was there, Sound Sultan showed up, Waje came prepared to support.

It couldn’t have been worse. All of these artistes have wokeness in them. And I can’t but hold on to fears now that they have showed up.

When Aramide was introduced by the host, Tosyn Bucknor, I felt my intestines jump up in shock. The hour is here. I am about to go through the worst experience of my life.

But no. Aramide said no.

The first single was tiled ‘Eledumare’, a song that involved god. Another was a shout out to haters, while others had plenty of calming love and romance. The wokest amongst the singles involved one on a wayfarer who finally returned home, and the family members are striving to enjoy the new reality of having that person at home. It was woke, but the good woke.

That was washed off by another single that had Ice Prince on it. Ice Prince and wokeness are parallels; they never meet.

As she finally performed her current top single, ‘Funmi Lowo’, I could relax my spirit. I made through Aramide’s album listening party in one piece.

Actually, I did enjoy it. The music had a mellow elegance to it, the creativity was present, and so was the bounce and swerve that great albums need to be enjoyable in Nigeria. Aramide’s album had all the woke sounds, but the subject matter embraces and then serenades. It is not exactly woke, but it comes close as a distant cousin. The type that you would love to hang with and take on trips to distant places. They type to switch on at any point in the day, and get value for your money, and time. Simply put, based on that listen “Suitcase” album is a keeper.

There you go.

As I walked away from the album listening, my earlier apprehension had been replaced by a warm glow in my heart, and for a very long time, I admitted that this was a surprise. Aramide’s ‘unwoke’ album surprised me. I didn’t get attacked and killed by wokeness. My fears were unfounded.

What I received was love and music, all packaged into an album that originated straight from Aramide’s suitcase.

Aramide’s “Suitcase” will be released on all digital stores globally, and physical CD stores nationwide on November 22, 2016.