Jidayi was six when he noticed that sound behaves like a puzzle. “I was fascinated by the way individual sounds could come together to create something greater, much like connecting the dots or piecing together a puzzle to reveal a bigger picture,” he says. Years later that same idea is operating at a much larger scale, and it’s shaping a show he’s currently putting together in Leicester.
The keyboard became his first instrument and his first real connection to music. During high school he was appointed Music Prefect, a role that put him in closer contact with his music teacher, who introduced him to the theory behind what he’d been doing by instinct. It gave “structure and understanding to what I had already been experiencing instinctively through sound,” he says.
Immediately after completing high school, he released his first song, which he counts as the beginning of his professional career. He hasn’t slowed down on output since. “No Apologies,” “Slide On Me,” “Story” featuring OWMS, “KINVER Freestyle,” “Count My Blessings,” “Let Me Talk,” and “Shiloh” are all out now, part of an ongoing process of working out what his own sound is.
To a first-time listener, he offers “melodic and fruity,” then adds that it’s “dreamy some feels, but still grounded.” His influences are Blaxt, Tory Lanez, Chris Brown and Wizkid, and what draws him to all four is the way they blend melody, emotion and rhythm. “I love music that can be catchy and feel effortless, but still has depth and personality,” he says. “They all have their own sound, and I think that balance between melody, feeling and individuality is something I try to bring into my own music.”
What he’s after from an audience is less a reaction than a state. “I hope listeners get a feeling from it more than anything, a sense of escape, but also something they can connect with and feel grounded in,” he says. “I want the music to feel like a little world they can step into, whether they’re listening closely or just letting it play in the background.”
Two projects have his attention right now. The first is the Yellow Feva Project, a mixtape he’s excited about. The second is “Leicester with Jidayi,” a show he’s organizing himself in the UK city, and it’s built around more than his own set. The night includes an open mic session for artists based in Leicester, which he sees as a chance to connect with and discover more of the people working there. “Leicester is somewhere I haven’t explored much since being in the UK,” he says, “so this is also a way for me to build a genuine connection with the local creative community.”
There will also be an art exhibition. “Artists use paints, brushes and canvas, while musicians use words, melodies and a microphone,” he says, and he wants the evening to celebrate both. He’ll perform his own music to close it out, after everyone else has had the stage.
Which brings it back to the six-year-old at the keyboard. Then it was separate sounds turning into a song. Now it’s separate people and separate art forms being pulled into one night in Leicester. The scale changed. The instinct didn’t.
You can follow Jidayi on Instagram and TikTok, and stream his catalogue on Spotify and Apple Music.
