Yemi Alade Explains Why She Rejected Stage Names and Kept Her Birth Name

Award-winning Nigerian singer Yemi Alade has opened up about why she chose to build her music career using her birth name instead of adopting a stage name.

Speaking during an interview with the BBC, the Johnny hitmaker said she experimented with different stage names early in her career but eventually realised they gave people preconceived ideas about her before they even heard her music.

According to Alade, one of the names she considered was “Electra,” but she abandoned it because it suggested she would always be “electrifying.” She also thought about using “Ginger” but decided against it after realising the word is commonly associated with energy in Nigeria.

“One of the names that I had played with in my early days was Electra, but I changed my mind because I felt that the minute you hear Electra, you already expect me to be electrifying, and I didn’t want people to see me coming or overexpect. I wanted them not to know what’s coming,” she said.

The singer explained that after praying for guidance, she felt convinced to embrace the significance of her given name instead.

“I honestly just reached out to God and just asked, ‘Please lead me,’ and the reckoning that came to me was that I needed to stick to my birth name because it had a huge meaning behind it. Opeyemi means ‘thanks be to God,’ and Alade means ‘the one who holds the crown.’ I feel like that embodies who I am, so I held on to it.”

Alade also shared that her decision to record and translate her songs into different African languages was inspired by the love she received from fans across the continent. Despite language barriers, many connected deeply with her music, encouraging her to make it more accessible to audiences in different African countries.