Feelings First: SOUNDS OF 16 with WASÉ TAIWO
We sit down with Wasé Taiwo — co-founder of Freewater Festival, NTS resident, and a visual artist. In between programming Lagos's loudest underground room and writing songs called “hymn”, “faith”, and “teardrops,” Wasé is fast establishing himself as one of the versatile new creatives on the block.
Conducted by Tushar Hathiramani
Photography: Daniel Uwaga, Creative Direction: Daniel Obaweya
Part One: Lagos
Tushar: Your NTS sets move across alt-afro, left-field pop, indie rock, amapiano, trap, RNB — it's almost more about taste than genre. Where’s your palette from?
Wasé: I think it's mostly curiosity, I've never really listened to music by genre, I listen by feeling. If something moves me, whether it's an indie or alté, jazz or old RnB songs, it all exists in the same world to me. Growing up, I was always searching for music online, digging through blogs, SoundCloud, YouTube recs, movies, fashion, even visual art pieces. I still do that, for me it’s more of emotions rather than different categories.
T: Which older Nigerian artists, DJs, or scene-builders made you take producing and DJing seriously as a thing you could give your life to? And — separately — is there one person, alive or dead, you wish you could go play a set in front of?
W: I prolly think the alté movement had a huge influence on me, especially artists like Cruel Santino. It wasn't just the music, it was the world he was building around it. The songs, the visuals, making a manga, the storytelling... it showed me that you could create your own universe instead of fitting into someone else's. That made being an artist i wanted to be feel like a real possibility.
Beyond that, there are so many people ive got the privilege to work with and look up to who helped shape the culture in different ways. Seeing artists and collectives experiment without asking for permission definitely gave my generation confidence to do the same and create more.
If I could play a set for anyone, I'd probably say SOPHIE or Dean Blunt. They’re both pioneers and changed how people think about alternative and electronic music.
Part Two: The Artist Inside the Curator
T: Festival co-founder. NTS host. DJ. Visual Artist. All of that is one person, but they're very different rooms. When somebody asks "what do you do?" at a party at 2am, what do you actually say?
W: Jokingly I’d say I have no idea lol but honestly, I usually just say I'm an artist. Everything else kind of sits under that. Sometimes the medium is music, sometimes it's visual art, sometimes it's curating a party or building a festival. They're all different ways of creating experiences and bringing people together. I don't really separate them in my head, they're all part of my experience. Definitely, spending hours selecting music makes you pay attention to tiny details like why one song makes people lean in while another changes the energy completely, I guess that naturally influences how I also approach music
At the same time, making my own music has made me a more intentional DJ. I'm listening beyond whether a track works on the dance floor, I'm paying attention to songs thatd make me feel something if I was on the audience . Also learning to make tracks that I could play also. I think curating, DJing and making music all sharpen each other. They're different conversations, but they're speaking the same language.
Photography: Daniel Uwaga, Creative Director: Daniel Obaweya
Part Three: Building Freewater Festival
T: The festival in five years. Be honest — and be ambitious. A specific venue, a number of editions, a city it travels to, a record label? Or does scale ruin the thing you're protecting?
W: In five years, I'd love for us to have hosted editions in cities like Accra, Johannesburg, Nairobi, London or Berlin while still keeping Lagos at the heart. If we ever have the resources to do it, I'd love for us to support artists beyond the events. Whether that's releasing music or videos, funding installations or exhibitions, or just creating opportunities for young creatives who need that first push
Scale-wise we don’t want Freewater to just be the biggest, we want it to be the most meaningful. If we can grow internationally while protecting the intimacy, curiosity and community that built it, then I believe we've done our job.
T: The NTS residency — how it happened. NTS doesn't just hand out 6-show residencies. Take us into the room — or the DM, or the email, or the conversation — where Freewater became an NTS show. Who reached out to whom? When did you realise it was actually happening? And what changed about how you listen now that the city knows you're listening on a global stage?
Photography: Daniel Uwaga, Creative Director: Daniel Obaweya
W: It's funny because we've actually got a permanent residency now, which still feels surreal.
It all started from my school dorm room. Me and my friend VNTAGEPARADISE put together this little pitch about who we were, what Freewater was becoming, and the kind of music and community we wanted to share. We also attached a Spotify playlist with a bunch of underground songs we were obsessed with and just sent it off
We didn't hear anything for weeks, so we assumed it just wasn't happening. Then one day they got back to us, and it all started from there.
I think it's made me even more curious. I'm always digging for music, finding artists and djs that deserve more ears, or making weird connections between songs. It's nice knowing someone on the other side of the world might discover their new favourite artist through one of our shows. That's probably my favourite part.
T: The dream gig in Lagos. If you could put one Freewater-shaped night anywhere in Lagos, where would it be — what neighbourhood, what kind of room, what time of night? Who's on the lineup? And who's standing at the door deciding the energy?
W: I don't even imagine it as a traditional venue. It could be an open-air parking lot, a warehouse, or some unexpected outdoor space. Somewhere that feels less like you're going to a club and more like you've stumbled into the best hangout with your friends and your favourite artists.
The lineup would be a mix of musicians, DJs and visual artists I genuinely love, people from different scenes who are all bringing something unique. That's always been the spirit of Freewater.
And at the door? I want everyone who walks through those doors to feel like they belong. No judgment, no pressure to perform, just good music, good people and the freedom to be yourself.
Part Four: Sounds of 16, Playlist & Party
T: The mood of your Sounds of 16 playlist. What's the listener doing when they press play?
W: I think it’s for those moments in between.. Maybe you’re smoking with a friend outside the party, driving back home early in the morning, or you're just lying in bed with your headphones on.
It's not really about being happy or sad, it's about feeling everything at once. There's nostalgia, hope, loneliness, love... all existing together.
That's kind of where I've been this year. I've been slowing down a bit, reflecting more, appreciating the people around me and trying not to rush through life. So I wanted the playlist to feel like you're sitting with your thoughts without it being too heavy. Just letting the music keep you company for a while.
