Adekunle Gold’s Ire: a triumph in gratitude and self realisation

Adekunle Gold’s Ire is a life lesson packaged in a powerful ballad accompanied by colourful visuals. The result is the crisp and intense combination of traditional Yoruba drums and dense choral harmonies. Does anyone showcase a love for the romance of what it is to be Yoruba quite like Adekunle? I doubt it. He makes adire and ankara look like they’re spun from gold. Through his eyes, pottery, thatched roofs and earthen clay are the stuff of dreams. For this singular reason amongst many others, he is a star in my eyes.

According to Adekunle Gold, “‘Ire’ is a symbolic summary of my life experiences and my journey to becoming Adekunle Gold.”

Unlike many of his songs, this was mostly done in English. One can assume that this is because he did not want the message to be understood only by a handful of people. Indeed, the video is subtitled so that the message is clear:

If I had known the life I was searching for was looking me right in the eye oooo
If I had known the life I was searching for was already my own…
I didn’t know I already had the answers

This song speaks to self realisation: everything you need to be great already lives within you. All of your efforts and paths are leading to who you need to be. Adekunle shows clips of his past – his skills in Photoshop and mastery of pottery – as they lead him down the river to the fantastic singer we know today. None of it is knowledge lost or wasted. His stream was one of creative excellence, and they built the man we know today.

The Aje-directed video is a beautiful aesthetic. There are scenes played in reverse, alluding to Adekunle Gold’s self reflection. The sombre mood of the video is also all the more understandable when he revealed that he dedicated the video to his late sister. The scenery and aesthetics makes this video captivating and definitely worth watching.