Bracket no longer need an introduction. The Enugu born duo brought together by music at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where they are still students, have locked down Showtime Charts for six straight months, and in fact the entire music circuit, hence the reason for this rerun.
Nwachukwu Ozioko aka Vast and Ali Obumneme aka Smash debuted in 2006 with ‘Happy Day’. Their second album, ‘Least Expected’ has revealed other hits including, ‘No Time’ and ‘Ada Owerri’’ even thought Yori Yori remains undisputably the most popular song on the album.
Emphasizing the word, ‘Sweetness’ as meaning of Yori yori, again the boys speak of their unexpected fame and status. Enjoy your read and Happy Weekend.
Did you guys grow up in Lagos?
We grew up in Enugu but moved to Lagos because it is the centre of entertainment. We’ve been here for cl about two years now.
How many years have you spent playing professional music?
About 8-9 years. We had an album before called ‘Happy Day’. Then we could come down to Lagos from school to do our stuffs and go back. ‘Happy Day’ was released in 2006. Before the release, we had been underground, working, played several free shows in school. Because we’re trying to promote ourselves. We were at Star Quest in 2002. Though we conceded to Nig.g.a Raw, we learnt our lesson.
What does Yori Yori mean?
It’s a slang we use to convey the way we feel when we see something we like. It’s a good feeling. I remember way back in secondary school, and I did not know much about women then. I fell in love with a girl. Each time I saw her, I’d feel something inside.
Bracket… yori-yori
That feeling is what we tried to describe in ‘Yori Yori’. We created the slang but lately, we’ve discovered that ‘Yori yori’ actually means something in Igbo language which is ‘sweetness’. We never knew until recently.
How did the song come?
We didn’t plan for the song. When the third member ‘Bistop’ left the group for academic reasons, it became a big challenge for us who decided to stay back. So, we were looking at a commercial song that would be a bit dance able, and at the same time, we wanted something unique. We didn’t know ‘Yori Yori’ would get so big.
We thought ‘Happy Day’ was a happy song. ‘This time, let’s do a love song that can be general’. So, we went home seeking for ideas.
Vast: One day, I was coming back from lectures, when some lines came into my head and I recorded it on my phone. Initially, we were going to entitle it ‘My Love’ but people kept saying they liked that flavour ‘Yori yori’. So, we took the advice and entitled the song ‘Yori Yori’.
It was the chorus that first came. Then we took our time and wrote the verses. Meanwhile, we had other songs we had already done and were contemplating to release as singles before ‘Yori Yori’ came. It sounded like a single, and that’s why we released it first.
How long did it take to finish production?
We voiced the chorus one day and came back in about a week to voice the verses. On the whole, the song took us about two days to complete. It wasn’t like we couldn’t voice the verses same day but the studio producer said someone else had booked the studio session. We went on to record the chorus. That was in Enugu.
How did you come about the beat?
Normally we have skeletal beats to every song. It gives the producer an idea of the feel we want a song to have. And then he (the producer) adds whatever he needed. When we finished recording, we saw it (the song) as a tight song but we didn’t see it as a hit.
Today, we’re surprised at what is happening. Everywhere we go, everybody is ‘yori yori’ (sic). Interestingly, if you listen to the album, there’s a track titled, ‘Ma ro nu mo’. That’s the song we thought was going to blow in Lagos because of the way Yoruba is spoken here. But…
What do you think is the attraction to the song?
I’ve heard different things from different people. Some will tell you it’s the intro. For some its the rhyme; some, the chorus; some say the lyrics is tight; some even say it’s the outro. So, one can’t really judge where the sweetness is coming from.
We wouldn’t say the song is perfect but it’s close to perfection. And I’m saying all of these from all the comments we’ve heard so far on the song.
Which part of the song were you hoping to get people’s attention while recording?
To be honest, we thought it would be the verses. But people are not really saying anything about them.
What is the message in the song?
We were looking at passing a love message. We didn’t sing the song for any particular girl. It is directed at every girl out there.
How is the album doing in the market?
It’s about a month old and it’s doing wonderfully well. We never expected all of these just like we entitled the album ‘Least Expected’. The album title was given by a friend and that has been our experience. We’ve gotten positive calls from London, America, Dublin about how much people like the album.
What informed your choice of director in shooting the video?
We met several cinematographers. And after listening to the song they’d said, ‘this is a classic song. So, you have to shoot a classic video for it.’ But the charges they were coming up with were not what we could afford. So Keke Ogungbe introduced us to Igho and he (Igho) gave us what we have today.
The video is worth about a N1m- I don’t need to call figures- but what the other directors were telling us was so high. Igho gave us a tight video that today people ask us if we shot the video here or in South Africa.
Where is the destination for your music?
It’s the topmost top, and by the grace of God, we’ll get there. We just arrived in the industry; we’ve not even started. We need to do songs that are even better than ‘Yori Yori’ so that people can say these guys are talented indeed.
How easy is it combining music business with academics?
It’s been hectic. But we’re very industrious. So, we’re able to combine both without problems.
Song Title: Yori Yori
Song Producer: Dercumzy
Video Director: Tosin Igho
Artiste(s): Bracket
Album Title: Least Expected
INTRO
Love love, ai mh mh mh; well well, yori yori
ai, chineke meh; am with you ma, love love
mh mh, well well; ape planet, yori yori
bracket le; am with you ma love love
Chorus
Ma love love, with you everything is well well
Your love dey make my heart do yori yori
Nobody can love you the way I do
Am with you ma love love. 2x
Verse 1
Same thing, same thing way dey make me feel like say you go be my wife
Na the same thing wey been dey make others dey say I dey waste my time
Na because I dey respect you girl, spending for you every night and day
I dey pray for you, because of you I dey fly like butterfly, my love love
Refrain
Na this thing make people dey say, I don lose my sense my brain
But nobody can stop me from loving you, am with you ma love love
Chorus
Verse 2
You see the all the things dey flow, some surprise to see how I dey love you so
Girl I dey suspect say them no know say na you be the person we dey make me flow
Uuh I tell them say you are a blessing and that’s why you are so interesting
Nobody is understanding the way you are, oh my beautiful girl
REFRAIN CHORUS
Bridge
Your love dey affect my brain and two e dey make me go insane
E go make sense if you come my place if you no hear am I go talk am again
Your love dey affect my brain, oh my love I dey go insane
Just leave am the way e be, the way it is oh my love.
REFRAIN
Outro
Love love, iya iya, yori yori iya iya, yori Decumzy lee e e eehe
Ai chai my love love my love love uh my love love
Nobody can stop me from loving you, am with you my love.
