Yemi Alade lifts lid on sexual harassment during early days of music career

LAGOS – Nigerian Afrobeats star Yemi Alade (36) has opened up about her unpleasant experiences at the hands of music executives during the early days of her career.

Speaking during a podcast interview with Adesope Olajide on Swift Conversations hosted on OkayAfrica, the singer says she was sexually harassed by music executives, often during business meetings and studio sessions.

Alade claimed that on countless incidents she was subjected to inappropriate touching and advances from older men who had powerful positions.

She said: “In those beginning days, all I thought I needed was just my talent because that’s what I have. I didn’t have a bank account full of money I could use to sponsor myself.

“I just had a talent and a zeal, and a promise that I made to myself and a promise I believed God made to me. So, I always tried to show up. I was told that I needed to work harder and so I worked harder, and it wasn’t enough.

“There were doors I needed to walk up to and when I walked up to the doors, they didn’t want my talent, they wanted something else.

“Many times from business meetings to studio sessions to even winning certain awards and you meet maybe the managing director or any other executive and they are trying to rub your thighs under the table. And I was just a teen.

“My grandpa is rubbing my legs and I can’t speak because I’m in shock. We are having an actual business meeting. Why are you rubbing my thighs? I had to speak to myself and decided if music was what I wanted to do because the sexual harassment was becoming too rampant.

“But something in me told me to keep pushing my talent. So, I still showed up. If door was left open for me, I would walk in. If it was shut in my face, I would walk away.”

She said the experiences led her to a turning point where she realised that she needed to take control of her own destiny and “stop walking through the doors” and instead “break down the walls” that stood in her way.