About Bemyoda’s Always Video

February 23, 2016

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Recently, we had the pleasure of interviewing Bemyoda and he told us about the inspiration for his song Always.

“At some point, when I was at university, I had a friend I used to sing with. His name was Daniel. Was because he is late. We formed a group, when I was in my fourth year and we were going to start recording together…Always is a song I wrote for him.”

I miss you, it’s true

They say that you know

Make me stay in that place

Where there’ll be some of you

Always, Always, Always

Send me postcards, Yes

Write me letters, on big paper

Draw me pictures of angels with flapping wings

Oooh strange machines

Cuz after darkness is sunrise

And finally Bemyoda released a video to accompany the song.

It must have been a difficult decision—how best to illustrate what he felt for his friend without making the video dreary or soppy, whilst also doing justice to the friendship that was nurtured but cut short.

Having watched the video, I find it to be tasteful and moving. Bemyoda chose to use animation. The colours in the video are predominantly brown and cream, giving it a sense of being set in the past. The movement in the animation itself is minimal, and so our focus is on the friendship that is struck between the two young boys. We watch them as they meet, swim together, muse together, play the guitar together; it is simple and touching. And yet, despite the fact that the animation is not flashy, you can still appreciate the attention to detail. In one of the scenes you can see a wall gecko climbing up a tree, in another the leaves rustle gently in the breeze.

I also love the use of the translucent door in the video, which is in almost every scene with the two boys. Whenever the second boy passes the door, it opens, seeming to invite him to enter. Further along the video, the second boy walks through the door, while the other never does. Until finally the boy enters the door and it closes behind him, becoming opaque while the other boy is left staring at the door and waving goodbye.

Bemyoda has always stood out as a Nigerian artist with a unique voice and distinctive perspective. He has struck gold with this video that can be appreciated by the young, the old and those who are just tired of seeing girls throwing themselves at the artist.

If you haven’t seen the video yet, check it out below:

Oyinkan Braithwaite

Oyinkan Braithwaite is a graduate of Creative Writing and Law from Kingston University. Following her degree, she worked as an assistant editor at Kachifo and has been freelancing as a writer and editor since. She has had short stories published in anthologies and has also self published work. In 2014, she was shortlisted as a top ten spoken word artist in the Eko Poetry Slam.