Iyanya Onoyom Mbuk, better known by his stage as Iyanya, has stated that he took a long hiatus from the music business since he rose to stardom sooner than he expected.

The artist, whose latest single ‘Like’ is a resounding success, revealed that he always knew he would be famous from boyhood, but never imagined it would happen so quickly.

Iyanya stated this on a recent YouTube Podcast.

I didn’t know it was going to be like major famous so when all that happened I can admit that I wasn’t prepared for it. It took me by surprise. Just like a young boy from Calabar who took part in a competition and before you know it the whole world knows you, presidents know you and it’s a lot to take in.

So, I had to go through the process of losing my family, doing music at the same time, it’s a lot that happened and at some point I felt like I lost my mind completely.

Life goes on regardless of what you are going through, life has to go on. It’s like the day I was told my mom died, I was backstage about to perform. The promoter came to me and told me I’m going in in the next 15 minutes and within 15 minutes, I got a call that my mom is dead. The guy was like for real just go but I insisted that I would perform and the people there didn’t know I just lost my mom.

Iyanya’s comeback track ‘Like,’ which features Davido and Kizz Daniel, has received over 5 million views on Youtube since its release less than two months ago.