When did you start making music?
I have been into music all my life. As a little girl, I sang in churches, doing special numbers. I have always been a singer in the church. I love to sing and worship God. I actually joined an adult choir when I was 14 and that was unusual. At a time, I was the choir mistress before I became a minister. But as a gospel singer, I’m making music for everybody, not only for people in the church.
A few people started out as gospel artistes, but had to go in other directions. Don’t you think that can happen to you?
Basically, I’m a born-again Christian. I’m a child of God and I have a relationship with Him. Besides, my primary calling is to be a worship leader. I lead people in praise and worship for God. Basically, my music is meant to draw people nearer to God. I have some tracks in the album that talk about how big God is and how you are unshakable when connected to Him. I have tracks like Gidigba and Na You Hold Me. The message is that wherever and whoever you are, you cannot separate yourself from God. You can only deceive yourself to an extent by saying ‘oh I can do this and that on my own,’ but there must be a point in your life when you will realise that you can’t run away from God.
Is this your first album?
Yes, it is my first album. It is the most anticipated album this year because I have been in music–officially–for seven years now. People have been wondering why I had not released an album despite featuring at successful music concerts. I organise a minimum of three concerts every year. The thing is that I have a passion for reaching the people directly, and I have been consumed by that. God wanted the album to come out at His appointed and that is why we titled it Beautiful. There is no track called beautiful in the album, but a lot went into it. I had made efforts to release it three times and failed. I can’t really say why those attempts failed, but they did. So far, the response from Nigeria and abroad has been so encouraging.
How many tracks do you have in the album and who is marketing it?
We are still talking to marketers, but so much is being done through individual efforts and some other channels. I would not want to mention any marketer now, but definitely the album is up for grabs and people can get it. I have eleven tracks in it. The video of Gidigba is on air too.
Now that you are officially in the gospel music sector, who do you see yourself competing with?
Sabina is Sabina! I have a background that takes care of things like competition. I’m unique and different, so I’m not competing with anybody. The gospel acts that have been there are doing great jobs, but we are called to be different people in life. I don’t even see anybody who will compete with me because my delivery is different; my style of writing and singing is different. So there is no room for competition. I’m just doing my thing and praising my God.
Has gospel music in Nigeria improved or not?
This is a question I always like to avoid. There are many things I like about gospel music and there are some I don’t like. One of those things I don’t like is that radio stations don’t give gospel music the same amount of airplay they give to secular music. I keep saying that these artistes go to the same studio, contract the same producer, and also spend the same amount of money, so why deny them the airplay when their song is good? Some gospel musicians also need to step up their game, anyway.
