My name is TÖME and LÖV (A.K.A Love Over Vanity), my third official album is an improved range in my sound. Diverse in every way, yet still catering to genres we all know and love, blended effortlessly.
This project was made in a span of 6 months. Five of the songs were composed in Atlanta, Georgia with the guidance and help of Bankulli and J-sol. Whereas the other five songs were made last Christmas 2021 in Nigeria.
When it came to the creative process of the album, it made itself. I wasn’t necessarily intentful with creating this cohesive story for the album initially, more so than creating great songs. By the time we sat down and looked over the catalog, I started creating the track list in order of sonics and backstory.
By the time I looked at everything, the first seven songs were about love and the last three were a lot more about self-indulgence and vanity. Hence why the title made the most sense to be called “Love over Vanity” representing that 7:3 ratio and making the acronym ‘LÖV’ which could easily be read as “Love”.
The meaning of love over vanity is that you can love yourself as much as you love someone else but don’t let it get over your heard that you only see the vanity in love and not the essence of love itself.
The creative process was different for a few of the songs, four of the songs were A&R’d by Bankulli, I had a lot more help with songwriters; “Wait”, “Good life”, “Please” and “Dangerous”. For the song “TOME”, which he also played a part in A&Ring, J-Sol wrote it together with me, and he came out with the catchy hook referencing my name which was dope.
For “Nobody Else”, Yung Willis, myself and Tobi, a songwriter, were all very involved in the writing and we all came out with different melodies for different pockets of the songs and its lyrics. For “Be There”, both myself and Tobi were involved in the writing.
For “MAD?”, Toby and I worked together but I came up with the catchy hook because at that time in December, a trending artist called Portable was going viral for a small feud he was having with a popular dancer called Poco-lee. Which is where I had the inspiration to sing “are you mad or something?” to start the song. It was so much fun to make, we just played around.
For the most popular song from the project so far, “Hold You” featuring Yaba Buluku Boyz, I met up with them in December and they were so welcoming and such kind people. We familiarised ourselves with each other and then we worked on the song.
Nelson was very involved in bringing out the best of me but allowing me to write what I felt. Tarico was the second hand to make sure it sounded nice. Although we couldn’t have the deepest conversations because of language barriers, we were still able to create such great music and bond. It was one of my favourites recording experiences from the project.
The album is a beautiful representation of my growth in my journey, which is primarily my intent with music. I want the period of the music to show what stage I’m at and where we plan to go.
One thing is for sure, there were many songs we didn’t add and so much more diverse sounds we did not explore on this project, but I’m sure will be relevant in the projects to come. I am very unpredictable when it comes to my music but one things for sure; no matter what I make, I do it great.
Listen to my LÖV album below and purchase it here.
