Nigerian songstress, Waje cuts the image of a diva whose nest hasn’t been troubled by the storms of life. The common perception is that celebrities have everything going perfect in their lives and the grass is always greener for them. For Waje, she has had her own fair share of trying times. She revealed in a chat with an online magazine how she wanted to give up music as a result of being constantly criticized.

“After my performance at the Guinness Colourful world event in October 2013. I trended on twitter but not for the right reasons. I did not trend because of my performance, instead I trended because people were uncomfortable with my body size. They had an opinion about how I looked. The things people were comparing me to were hideous. Someone took a picture of a remote control and said I looked like that. That made me say to myself, ‘you know what Waje, music isn’t for you’. I had come out with an album, but when that happened, I said you know what, I can’t deal with this. I cried for hours that day at Eko Hotel. And interestingly, I started feeling the way they said I looked. So, I started drinking. I became bitter. I told myself I’m done with music. I’m going to find something else to do. I didn’t eat for days. I became angry with every family member who came to talk to me. I had no reasons to smile or be happy and decided to sign out of all my social media accounts. I started working with Uzikwendu of Uzi’s Burnout. And Uzi did not just work on my body; he worked on my mind, also. Through that, I separated myself from the negativity and focused on what I wanted to hear. I started to create an environment where the only thing I heard about myself is positive and great.”

By Ayo Onikoyi