Written & Creative Directed by Lala Olawale for The Process Mag.

January 2024

Hearing VNTAGEPARADISE’s unpredictable vocals layered on top of grunge guitars for the first time is one of those epic “where were you when..” moments. For me, his infectious anthem, Shooter, conjured feelings of nostalgic teenage angst which, up until that point, I had only associated with Hollywood coming-of-age dramas, and the United State’s indie pop scene. The skill with which his raspy voice maneuvered the guitar-heavy alt-rock instrumentals was something I had never seen from a Nigerian artist.

Even then, only 3-singles deep in his career, VNTAGEPARADISE’s following and Instagram comments already boasted names like Mowalola, Cruel Santino, and Odunsi (the engine). A few months down the line VNTAGE was appearing on Complex’s Best New Artists lists alongside names like Erm Triplin and TiaCorine, he was already the subject of multiple Pitchfork spotlights including a 2022 mid-year review that counted his mixtape “The Parable of The Sensei'' as one of the best albums released so far that year.  VNTAGEPARADISE (aka Angel Tenshi) has released two projects –a mixtape and an EP – and a handful of singles without compromising on his spontaneous rawness. Rather he continuously polishes the tools with which he investigates human emotions like love, aggression, and a thirst for the divine in ways that Nigerian music seems largely blinded to.  

To call VNTAGEPARADISE an enigma, would be putting things too plainly. Not because of the way his nasal indie sound, which contains a mishmash of everything from 70s Brit-punk to modern indie pop, stands confidently against the grain of mainstream Afropop. Or indeed how quickly his DIY music turned several globally respected magazines and the Alté scene’s biggest influencers into admirers. Rather, it is the way he seems to have come about all this via carefree experimentation and a willingness to follow his gut feeling at any moment - with the destination often being a surprise, even to himself. Of course, this enigmatic persona is not all random. Up close, VNTAGEPARADISE lives up to the angst in his music thanks to a quiet demeanor and a serious consideration of what parts of himself he is willing to share with the public. 

This is VNTAGE’s first sit-down interview. He arrives at Abdullai’s top-floor apartment accompanied by his sister (Abdullai is one of our photographers and host for the day).  As we sit across each other, I sense that he is as cautious as he is excited about our imminent interview. The vibes never betray the rockstar though. At intervals, he laughs at himself - sometimes even blushing at the intrigue of his experiences as they come up during the interview. 

Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.  

Olawale Lala: While I was preparing for this interview, I was searching the internet for stuff about you…

VNTAGEPARADISE: (laughs) I don't think you'd see so much..

O.L: The only thing I saw was this Pitchfork review, and it was surprising to me.

VN: Yeah, most of the interviews I've done aren’t in-depth or about myself. It's mostly just about the song. You wouldn't really see personal stuff about me outside…But if you check Complex (Pigs and Plans) you'll see a bit of my early backstory. 

O.L: That’s really interesting because basically no one is writing about you over here but, Pitchfork is, Complex is. You’re pitching to these foreign brands right and they love your stuff.  

VN: I think my focus never really was Naij. I knew, yes I'm in Nigeria but, I also understood that the sound I was making wasn’t really consumed in Naij.  So I never seriously pitched to Nigerian blogs.  

O.L: I heard you used to be a rapper. 

VN: I never really recorded or put out anything but I definitely thought I was going to be a rapper at first. I used to rap in secondary school then some years down the line I got introduced to indie music and the switch was very natural. I didn't have to say “Okay I'm going to switch”. 

I went to the studio and recorded If Beverly Could Fly - that was my first song and it was a rap song. I had a sore throat so I had to go back to record it because it didn’t sound nice and then it took me a week to get another session. During that week the song evolved into an indie song and that's kinda how it started. The beat I was going to use got sold and the new beat that I switched to was an indie beat and it just felt right. 

O.L: I can still hear some of the rapping in you

VN: Definitely, rap still influences my music for sure 

OL: So who is Angel Tenshi? 

VN: That's an alter ego that I came up with. “Tenshi” actually means “Angel” in Japanese so it's just “AngelAngel” basically. I'm very into ethereal things so anything that has to do with angels, anything heavenly, or even God. I just Googled “What does angel mean in Japanese?” I'm like Angel Tenshi sounds nice, so yeah-

OL: Is that something you only bring out when you perform or is Angel Tenshi in the room with us right now? 

VN: Right now, I wouldn't say I'm bringing Angel Tenshi into this conversation. I'm very much VNTAGEPARADISE. But as you said I feel like when I perform I'm very different from how I am on a regular day. On a regular day, I don't talk too much.  I'm usually just on my own but when it's time to perform I don't think about anything else besides what I'm doing so it kind of just comes out.

OL: I remember this performance at the Mowalola show, Studio X. You opened the show 

VN: Yeah I was the second actually. Mary X2 went first, you didn't see it?

OL: Oh? I didn't, I just remember you because you got very amped. I remember you came down from the (boxing) ring that was the stage and you actually brushed past me.

VN: Oh wow, are you serious? (Laughs)

OL: I said, “Yeah! The party just started”. I feel like that charged energy just carried on. How do you conjure that type of performance and what do you think about when performing? I know Nigerian audiences are very hard to perform to when you're unknown.

VN: No for sure - When I perform, yeah? I just don't care. Because if I care too much I'm going to limit myself. I can't really care about these people not responding how I want them to respond. What I do is I just perform. I don't even have to tell myself to do this or to do that  - I don't even practice. When people tell me they're practicing, I’m like okay, that's cool but then I can't relate because I could just perform today. That's just how it is for me.

OL: That's very interesting. So what's your everyday life like and how often do you make music? 

VN: My everyday life is spontaneous. Today is not tomorrow, Tomorrow is not today. It's very spontaneous. I record at home most of the time so it's still spontaneous, to be honest. Because I recorded yesterday but also throughout December I wasn't really feeling the energy or the vibe to record at all so I just took a break from recording music and literally last week I just felt the vibe again. I just record when I get inspiration but I don't like to get inspiration and wait. I want to implement it as soon as possible. 

OL: What does your inspiration for recording feel like?

VN: To be honest my inspiration is very much from everyday life. I could just go outside… Actually, my music is about the things I go through, my experiences. Like if a girl breaks my heart. You heard Shooter because I was heartbroken - not exactly heartbroken but I was hurt by someone and I made Shooter. Pink hair was because I felt suppressed during that period of my life. Police were just stopping me too much and I was like “What are you stopping me for?”

OL: Why?!

VN: Like I don't know! Because of my appearance, they just felt like…

OL: Did you have pink hair? 

VN: My hair wasn't pink actually but it was just a reference because I had earrings on and I don't know why they just feel like they can stop you or harass you. So yeah my music is just what I go through in my everyday life. It's usually centered around the love of God as well as romantic love, especially the new stuff I'm making. 

OL: Yeah you're very religious

VN: Well I wouldn't say religious because I feel like religion is kind of a limiting thing if you follow the “rules” of religion. But if you just find God for yourself then it's more like a relationship with God, more of just love for people and love for the world basically so that's what I love.  

OL: Do you have a favorite performance? 

VN: Probably Studio X though and that's because it was a boxing ring and the arrangements and the sets were covered in red. It allowed me to express myself more because there was more room for everything. But also I could be sentimental and choose my first show. The debut show I did in Bobogiri was another good one because that was an achievement for me.

OL: Your stuff is very DIY. When was the point you decided “F- it, I'll just do it myself”? 

VN: The thing is, it wasn't even like okay I'll just do it myself because no one cares or anything. The first song I did when I went to the studio the guy mixed and mastered it and it was nice, but I also didn't really like the song. I feel like his expertise is Afrobeats so it was a new sound to him. Then I did another song in the studio and I kinda deeped that I'm just starting this p, I can't be spending all this money to make music when I haven't started earning anything from the music. So I just started recording on my phone, I started producing as well, I just started doing everything myself just because I was money conscious. Also while I was doing it, I realized that I understood what I wanted to do more than anybody else, so why not? 

OL: I wanted to ask you about this lyric you have in Turnaround; “Stuck between chasing my dreams and chasing something else.”

VN: That was a crazy part of my life because you know how you're certain about something but everyone just feels like they know what you should be doing. Like my dad, my mom, everyone around me, even random people I meet tell me “Oh, why are you doing this?” “You should probably do this”. “Oh, this type of music is more digestible and more commercial”, “Why don't you do this?” So everyone just has an opinion and you're in a place where you know what you want but you're kind of also feeding into what people are telling you. It's like you're chasing your dreams but you’re chasing something else as well.

OL: So your dream is to be what? A rock star? 

VN: I mean, I am a rockstar. I feel like I'm already all these things and it just left for people to know and see me for who I am.

At this point, VNTAGEPARADISE’s guitarist Maxime pulls up downstairs. “ Vin”- as he is fondly called by friends, interrupts our conversation and calls out to Maxime from the balcony. He asks Maxime if he needs any help bringing up his guitar equipment. He does. VNTAGEPARADISE apologizes for the interruption and dashes downstairs. 5 minutes later, they both re-emerge from the stairs with VNTAGEPARADISE holding the amplifier in both arms and Maxime carrying his guitar closely behind - Maxime is also accompanied by his brother. At this moment, I sensed for the first time that I had truly caught a glimpse of what lay at the heart of the VNTAGEPARADISE project. Maxime, lanky and baby-faced in his all-white jersey. Vin is nearly as lanky with his airy tank top vest, tracksuit pants, and green head warmer worn low so that they completely cover his eyelashes. The picture of the pensive rebel gives way to that of a community of music-obsessed friends who enjoy creating on their terms and might happily compromise on anything except that. I had only vaguely heard about VNTAGEPARADISE’s band from a mutual friend, Wase Taiwo (Multimedia artist, guitarist, and Vin’s longtime collaborator). I hasten to ask him about the group as soon as we sit down to resume our conversation.

OL: Tell me about your band

VN: My longest band member is Wase, then Jordan Badero and Maxime - they’re guitarists and typically they switch between playing rhythm, lead and bass. So it’s still very spontaneous (laughter). But I'm actually looking for a drummer right now. 

OL: Does the band practice a lot?

VN: Honestly I feel like that's something we've been trying to do but we haven't really locked in. Jordan is in London, he came to Lagos in December but he's gone back so right now we work mostly separately.

OL: How was your growing up? Because in your songs I get the feeling that you were maybe a loner. 

VN: Do you know why that's so crazy? Because that's actually so true. I feel like growing up my parents were always out so I'll just be at home with my siblings. My family - we're very strong together but most of the time I just like to be on my own. Even when I go out, my social battery is so low. Someone told me that in my songs I'm always asking to be alone like “Leave me alone!”(Laughing) And like I said I create from my experiences so that's just it. I kind of was just on my own.

OL: OL: I love this song as well… Simulation 

VN: Simulation is my deepest song. The song is not fiction, the lyrics are very true. It was like a lot of the things that I went through growing up that made my life harder in a way. And I don't really like to talk about my life like that but, yeah. 

OL: In the song you’re talking to yourself?

VN: Yeah it's a conversation. I feel like most of my conversations are in my head. I just be talking to myself out loud. And people look at me weird but - don't people talk to themselves? It’s not that deep right? (laughter) The song is probably like a conversation I've already had in my head. I only just recorded it. 

OL: So there's this other part which must be very satisfying for you. On one hand, maybe everybody isn’t listening to you yet but, you have a lot of famous people that love your stuff. I  found out about you on Instagram in 2021 and while  I was on your page  I saw a comment where Santi (Cruel Santino) was like “I've been listening to you a lot right now” So all this was already happening very very early. It's like almost as soon as you started making music you kinda caught the attention.

VN: Shooter was my second song and that was the song that Santi replied to. It was cool because I started talking to Odunsi after my first song. I don't know if you know Idris King, he does this thing called 90’s Baby which is a platform where people perform and stuff. So after I put out my first song I sent him an email because there was this email for people who want to perform. I sent my song to him and he was like “Okay.” He called me in and I performed and he told Odunsi about me. Later I reached out to Odunsi and then Odunsi was like oh, Idris told me about him. So I was like “okay cool.” So that's kind of how I started talking to Odunsi but then I met Santi and he told me that Odunsi told him about me. 

So I guess people are just telling people about me because that's just kind of how it's been. Right now, there aren’t so many people that listen to me but I have the people that I admire listening to me and working with me. So I feel like I'm just at a place where I'm just very grateful for life, I can't really be upset or complain. It's just calm. 

OL: Very nice, I think we’re done here!

VN: Aight bet. Thank you.

We head back into the living room to meet Maxime, who is strumming his guitar with academic focus and playing a familiar Nirvana tune. Vin walks across the room, sinks into the chair beside Maxime, and dims the whites of his eyes as he listens to the guitar. “The kids just wanna play!” James Baldwin said. But it seems these kids are intent on playing their way right to the top of the world!

CREDITS

In conversation with: Olawale Lala

Photography: Daniella Almona and Abdullahi Ali. 

Styling: Debby Fasingha 

Design: Manuchimso Nsirim

Editor-in-Chief: Ojuromi Eboseyi Rachel

Creative Director: Olawale Lala

Editorial Director: Ojuromi Eboseyi Rachel 

Production: The Process Africa

Lighting Director: OluwaTobiloba Ikioda 

Photo Assistant: Chukwuebuka Raphael