Wavy the Creator first came to limelight in 2016 with her androgynous style. An accomplished fashion designer, producer, filmmaker, photographer and now a musician, Wavy is one artist that defies the jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none logic; owning two fashion brands (AZIF and Very Rare Vibes) and a production house (Wavy Films), this young woman has continually demolished boundaries.
Wavy was invited to Nigeria in 2016 after a meeting with rapper Olamide and she has not looked back since: ‘I lived in Houston and I met Olamide when he was on tour, was filming for a friend who was touring. He liked my work and wanted to fly me to Nigeria to work, from there I met other people in the industry’ as she told More Branches.
Wavy the Creator has demolished the notion of a “norm” with her unique style
Wavy shook the creative scene in 2016 with her androgyny and unique style, putting her imprint on every art form from modeling to film, photography and visual art. The artist had everybody guessing ‘is Wavy a boy or a girl?’. She tells Pulse NG “I think it is the one thing that is intriguing about me when you see me or see me walk by. I like it because I don’t like to be figured out all the way. So I think it adds to whatever brand I am trying to create“. In a society where many expectations are set by virtue of one’s gender, Wavy the Creator has done a lot to kill gender constructs just by being. Her gender neutrality is one that proves to young women and girls that they can be anything. Her controversial editorial BFFs for magazine A Nasty Boy (which was also featured internationally in Dazed) did its part in destroying the constructs of what masculinity should look like.
Wavy is destroying gender constructs just by being
Coming to Nigeria in 2016, Wavy was supposed to spend just a month, but the richness of the Nigerian creative scene holds her back as she told Pulse NG “When I came, the vibe and everything was just like lovely so I just decided like why not and stay a little bit longer. For the longest time, I didn’t want to come back. Just because of that fear of ‘I don’t want to come and it’s just like one way’ and people just trying to follow all of these rules…I felt like me being here is the right moment, it is the right time. For anyone doing stuff in the creative world, it is the right time to be here. There is so much happening right now“.
After stimulating visual senses in 2016, Wavy poured all her mastery of the arts releasing her debut single H.I.G.H (Her In Greater Heights). That wasn’t the first time in the booth though; In 2015, the artist recorded a song called Purple Dank, though we don’t know if it was released, we do know that that encounter gave Jennifer Ejoke the name ‘Wavy’. The release of H.I.G.H in 2016 declared crowned Wavy Nigeria’s new House sensation. The H.O.D-produced track samples no prior music and the incredible sound of the 90s feel-good song was created from scratch and the visual for the song was no less impressive, with its psychedelic vibes; we were introduced to the alien enigma that is Wavy the Creator.
Wavy’s official debut single samples no prior music. This young woman’s creativity is beastly.
Wavy is a creative with a bank of age-old inspiration. The singer cites Michael Jackson as her one celebrity inspiration for the love of the Pop King’s expressiveness and artistic genius and the rest of her inspiration she says is gotten from friends. Wavy didn’t sing in the church choir either; of her sojourn into music, the artist tells MTV Base “When I was ready for music, it found me and I followed“. Wavy the Creator is a rule breaker with a cool that is genuine. Her perspective on art and her refreshingly shameless expression of self has seen her earn a quite a reputation in such a short time: “All of my art is an extension of myself. If I was filming, recording or making an artwork it’s all influenced by anything I’m experiencing at that moment“. The artist is big on vibes and has repeatedly said she doesn’t ‘write’ her music as she lets the vibe lead her to create.
Wavy the Creator continually proves that unbridled self-expression is the purest art form
Since releasing H.I.G.H, Wavy has performed at the 90s Baby Soundoff, The Basement Gig, The Lemon Curd 2.0, OLIC and a bunch of other note-worthy shows in Nigeria and Ghana and was featured on rapper AQ’s Lekki Expressway. She released her second single Stay late last year, introducing her audience to her more vulnerable side and this year, she’s featured on Fresh L’s EP See You Next Summer (on the song Sweet Talk), given her own unique vibe to the shaku-shaku movement with the Le Mav-produced track Shaku and recently released the self-directed and edited Stay visuals.
Wavy the Creator’s short stint so far on the Nigerian creative scene has seen the opening to many conversations concerning self-expression and as this artist continues to break rules and destroy boundaries, we will continue to enjoy her deliciously diverse creativity.
