Apple Music Home Session: Fireboy DML

“Recording the stripped-down Home Session was a humbling experience for me,” Fireboy DML tells Apple Music, describing his experience tackling our series where we challenge artists to record intimate versions of their own tracks—and classic songs. “In some way it afforded me the chance to find my way back to that dreamy young man I was a couple of years [ago]. I wanted to show a bit of vulnerability while still maintaining raw emotion, and I think I managed to do just that.”

Though the journey of sharing his monumental 2019 debut album Laughter, Tears & Goosebumps was interrupted by COVID-19 lockdowns, it introduced the Nigerian’s R’n’B-infused “Afro-Life” sound, which quickly resonated far and wide—“Jealous” became an international hit in 2019, while “Vibration” was one of 2020’s most streamed Nigerian songs. “We were planning a tour; I was going to travel the world and share what my music means to me, but the pandemic happened,” he says. “Instead I sat at home and started to work on my sophomore album. Amidst all the madness, the pandemic has actually humbled us all and made us realise how much we need each other.”

Here, Fireboy (born Adedamola Adefolahan) performs an acoustic cover of “Again” by fellow Nigerian singer-songwriter Wande Coal—“a man I consider my idol, and a song I consider a modern classic.” From his own catalogue, he’s chosen three powerful and compelling tracks from the 2020 album APOLLO that each reveal sides of his personality he’d previously kept hidden. “‘Airplane Mode’ talks about my reclusive nature and how I have managed to deal with fame,” he says. “‘Tattoo’ shows my sensual and intense side, and ‘Champion’ is the inspirational song about a young man who won, despite the odds against him. Nothing sums up my life better than these songs at the moment.”