#7 Joulez Alton: The Spiritol Crooner
I started as a mainstream/secular artist back in secondary school. I had a break for one year. During this break, I had a nudge in my spirit that I was supposed to do music for the Christian space...
Hi, Happy New Year!!! Thank you for joining us for today’s episode of StudentsWhoCreate Interview. Our Student Creative for today is a student of Obafemi Awolowo University who wrote, recorded, and produced some of his early music all by himself. He started out as a mainstream artist but now does Christian music. How did he go from doing mainstream music to spearheading the movement for a new genre of Christian music? Read and enjoy!!!
Hi, Thank you for speaking with us. Can we meet you?
My name is Oyenekan Joshua Temiloluwa, I am known by the stage name Joulez Alton. I am a final year student of the Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, OAU. I am a Christian Music Creator from Abeokuta.
How and when did music creation start for you?
I started as a mainstream/secular artist back in secondary school. I recorded some tracks then and had a break for one year. During this break, I had a nudge in my spirit that I was supposed to do music for the Christian music space and so I began to do Christian music in December 2017.
At the beginning, I used to use my phone to record and write songs because I didn't have money to go to the studio. After some time, I began to scale up and gather money to go to the studio and now I have my own equipment with which I use to record demos at home.
Why did you gravitate towards music as your form of creative expression and not other forms of expression?
I will say that it's a gift, I have tried to develop an interest in drawing, in fact, I wish I could draw but I don't know how to. Music is something I've been doing as a child. I used to play the drums as a young boy in the teenage church and this has been a large influence on my music production process because I use my knowledge of playing the drums when producing beats. Also, I have not seen any other thing I can do as well as music.
How are you able to combine school and music creation?
I would say that the prowess with which I make music now is because of the amount of work I have put-in in the past. When I have a music project I usually make it my priority at a time to do this, my priorities are known and set out. There are some times I have to take a break from school work, to say it simply is that music is more of a priority than academics to me but I am not always recording or always on the road so I spend the time I'm not recording or on the road focusing on my academics.
What are some of the challenges you face as a Christian music creator and student?
My genres of music are quite out of the box when it comes to the Christian music space. People outside the church classify it as church music because the lyrics are Christian lyrics so it is not the secular content about big bum bum or stuffs that are provocative. Also the church people are hearing the sound and are judging the sound before the lyrics. The challenge is that it is not well accepted by the people that are inside and neither by those that are outside the church. The niche that I have, targets many that grew up on secular music but discovered the essence of the spiritual life as young adults and often find it difficult to transition directly into the lift-up-holy-hands and slow music every day. We still want that jam, that vibe, that energy, so we love to listen to music that is both spiritual and has the vibes. There are lots of us, young people, like that and that is the niche I'm targeting.
The challenge is to be bridge the gap between the church message and the upbeat type of music.
How have you been able to navigate this challenge?
I would first say that the first way we overcome is by the Spirit, that is, to make sure that everything I do or put out is by the Spirit, which is very important. This to an extent helps to break a lot of the boundaries because the song is a message by the Spirit, people that are spiritually inclined and discerning will connect with the music. Now, when taken down to the point of logic, what I've been able to do is that I make sure that the message is clear and targets the right people. I will not take my style of music to a gathering with people that are within the ages of 40 and above, I take my music to people that are between the ages of 19 and 25. In fact, recently I discovered that the age range is not even perfect for my type of sound, there's a generation coming, Gen Z, they are the type of people that relates better with this kind of music, so now, people between the age of 12 and 18 are the target. They relate well with it and as a matter of fact, I have done some experiments and discovered that teenagers accept this kind of sound better. Because the music space in Nigeria is a lot vibrant and bigger now, whether you're a Christian or Muslim, you listen to a wide range of music and therefore are open to content that is actually spiritual and has the same type of energy and vibe they are used to.
How would you describe the creative community in your school?
The creative community on my campus is saturated with people that are doing mainstream music and those(we) that are doing Christian music tend to be secluded and are in our own space because most parties, events, and dinners organized are not organized with the purpose of bringing people to Christ. They are basically for networking, vibing, and socializing. The best that can happen is that we host or organize our events ourselves and create the buzz ourselves. This has not come to play because of several reasons such as finances and the inconsistent school calendar. As a matter of fact, there are not many of us that do Christian music on OAU campus and for the few of us that do, we still have a lot that is not well dedicated to it so the Christian music creative community is not well-formed.
What can be done to improve the creative community?
What I believe can be done is that; over time we have noticed that most of the music events that are religious-focused have not come to accept our sound, afrobeat, in church. So when they are doing concert(s), they are not thinking of including you in that mix. If they begin to include us in that mix, it's only a matter of time before we begin to gain relevance such that we're able to have our own community on campus. As a matter of fact, there are people that have tried it, to create and push it on campus years ago, people such as El Noel, and Creed, but were not able to do it successfully because it is just a niche audience that listens to that kind of music, but now the audience is larger and bigger because there are more young people all over the place that are hungry for something, hungry for the word but if we do not have the platform, the funds, the push, there's no way we can break out because publicity and PR require money.
What is your creative process like for a music project?
For lack of resources, the first thing I do is make the instrumental and beat, then I write songs to the beat I created. The next thing is to take it to a studio to record and then it is mixed and mastered in the studio followed by release. What is supposed to follow mixing and mastering is planning, scheduling, and all sort but there's not much budget for promotion so I just release it so anybody that stumbles upon what I do will know I am serious about it because you can't say you are an artist and don't have anything to show for it or have just one song. You are supposed to have at least a library of 3 to 5 songs then people who are your friends and families listen to it and know that this is what you do, so that's what I do for my projects basically.
In summary,
I create the beat > write the lyrics > record > mix and master > release
What are some of the tools you use when creating music?
This is more of a secret because a lot of people who listen to my music don't know. I do most of my production on my phone, I use Caustic 3, do the beat on my phone which cost me almost nothing except for maybe my phone's battery and the energy I use but I do it majorly on my phone and write the lyrics and melody and then pay for a studio session. I use Caustic 3 for the beat, paper, pen, and possibly notepad on my phone for writing the lyrics. We use Cubase for recording in the studio while the mixing and mastering are dependent on the engineer but most times my engineer uses Studio One, or ProTools. I usually do my graphics myself using Canva or Photoshop but in recent times I do contract it out to someone. For the release of the music, I used to work with FreeMe Music but I am shopping for other distribution platforms.
How would you describe the impact of Covid-19 on you and your work as a creative?
I remember I was set to go on a radio tour when the lockdown happened. I had big plans at the time, as a matter of fact, I had a schedule for the release of a track which I had to just release without the tour and other campaign plans.
As regards me staying at home to do stuff, I was able to write a whole album of about 10 songs during the lockdown which is ready to go to the studio because I have not recorded them. I was able to dedicate time to a project whether or not it was released because it has helped sharpen my skills. I can now sit down and write a song in 30 minutes - 1 hour. I would say the lockdown was a good time for me because it also helped me build my finances and now I have a larger budget for my releases.
Have you ever felt like quitting?
Yes, of course!!!
The reason for that is because you look at a song and believe it's going to be a hit but you don't have the resources to push it to the level where it can become a hit song and there are only a few people that are willing to invest in music. My location is also a big factor, I'm not based in Lagos and I don't have much connection to people in Lagos because the only people I know that are in Lagos are also creatives so when it comes to finding investors for music, it's a big deal if you're not there because you have to be ready to go out and be on the ground. Lagos is the federal capital of entertainment and if I am not in the space there's little I can do. What has kept me going is that I'm not doing this majorly for profit but to fill a void.
What is/are your favourite project(s)?
I can't say that I have a favourite because I am always hyped about every single one but based on the result I will pick Spiritol. It was the first official release and the response to it was massive and till today, it still has some crazy attention that anytime it comes up anywhere, it still resonates with people and they dance and jump to it despite the fact that the genre of music it was made in was a timely sound which happens to be out of the market now. People still tend to vibe to it and enjoy it. I have had other projects after that that people like but not as much result as that.
How do you stay creative? What keeps you creating?
I get most of my vibe and inspiration to write music when I am listening to messages, so I am in church listening to a message and my pastor says something or cracks a joke and I see how that joke can translate into a song or chant that people can resonate with. Sometimes I get melodies listening to messages. The other way I do get inspired is when I listen or follow other creatives. Also, I can be at home and just have the urge to create.
What do you do for fun? How do you relax when you're not actively creating?
What I do majorly is hang out with friends. I visit my people, friends, and close associates. Being someone that used to be financially limited at a time, I do not have many things I do for fun because my mind was always on the goal.
One interesting thing is that I don't play football which is something common for every guy to do. I don't follow sport, I don't do a lot of things, so what I do basically to have fun is hang out with friends.
Who are the creatives you would love to work with or collaborate with on a project?
From my side of the divide, the person I want to work with the most right now is Limoblaze. I have been looking forward to working with Gaise Baba. I would love a collaboration with Johnny Drille, Gawvi, and Ace Harris of Reach Record.
I have been dreaming of a collaboration with Kanye West.
What brand(s) would you love to work with?
That will be the Coca-Cola company. I like a lot of products in their range especially the Smoov Chapman. I love Chapman and have been a fan since 2014 when it came out.
Other brands I would love to work it are Chivita, Ashluxe, BitSika, and Wema Bank.
I also want to work with Music Business Africa Academy and Rox Nation Empire.
What advice do you have for someone looking to start their music creation journey?
The first piece of advice is that you should be led by the Spirit of God because there will be frustration on the way and only God can get you out of that and it is only if He sends you He will provide funds for it.
There's a popular saying that there's provision for His vision.
I would also say you should be consistent and be ready to learn as many skills as possible because it will not produce money for you at the beginning and you will need to invest in it and if you don't have the money you will have to be able to source for these skills. You will have to be resourceful to be able to put out projects. For example, I do graphic design, I can edit videos, I can produce my music and I can even mix and master. I have a project, an EP, I mixed and mastered myself. It’s not the best quality but it gets the message out. You have to learn a lot of skills and by the time people meet you and get to know what you do, they are seeing value in your person and appreciate you, it is important for every Christian creative.
Who would you like us to interview next?
Virus the Viper, Fave, Olu peller
How can people reach you?
People can reach me across my social media handles: IG, Twitter, TikTok
Do you have anything you will like to promote?
I have a project that is in the works and I want people to watch out for it.
Hint: It’s an Amapiano vibe.
Thank you for sharing with us!!!
Takeaway Nugget: Be led, be consistent, be resourceful, and ready to do the work.
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See you next week!!!
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This is amazing Josh 👍👍
Multi-talented music artist. So much love, Brother!