Close to a decade after her breakthrough, Teni is taking stock of who she is as a person and the journey she’s been on with her new project, ‘The Wellness Project.’ Her new project is a fluid suite of seven songs that captures her thoughts on growth, inner peace, and joy foregrounded by the Folk template that brought her to fame. Following creative detours with ‘WONDALAND’ and ‘TEARS OF THE SUN,’ the singer is finding her way to herself again. 

“It’s my personal experience,” she told Apple Music’s Africa Now Radio. “There’s the music and then the music business. I was at a point in my life where the music business was driving me crazy. I had to go through life, find myself, evolve and grow and become somebody. So, all these were just my experiences as I maneuvered life and found myself again. This is just my story of the things I went through at the time.”

This conversation has been edited for clarity

How did you make “Meditation?” 

I recorded the song in Ondo State, Ondo Town, where my mother was born. I was trying to figure a lot of things out and I just felt very vulnerable. I wanted to express myself. Music, for me, is not just a job. It’s like an escape. It’s a calling. It’s an assignment. So, I just needed to express myself and express how I was feeling. I got to find out about the things I could do that could help me release, not cheap dopamine, but dopamine that could really help me get in tune with my mind and help me sharpen my soul because music is beautiful, but it could also get really dark. I just needed answers to certain things I was feeling and that’s how that song came up. It’s really just medicine for my problems, and it’s medicine that could also heal and help other people that might not be going through similar things or the same, but could use my experience as a case study. If I could come out of a dark place, then they can too.  

Why did you choose to release “Zion” first?

“Zion” won because of the belief in the song by the person I collaborated with. Shout out to Olamide. He really believed in the song. He was like, “The people of the world need to listen to this song.” I started to listen to the song. You know how when you sing a song, you don’t even understand the depth of the song until other people start finding their own meaning of the song. Then you start to listen to it, and then you just start to find your own meaning. So, I was just like, “This song is speaking to me differently.” I was like, “Let’s do it,” and we did, and people love it. It spoke to their souls. It’s not just about love. It’s also about self-love. It’s like I’m talking to myself in that song. I have to learn to fall in love with myself over again and give myself grace. As much as I want more, I also have to be grateful for what I do have.  

Talk us through some of the songs on the project. 

Well, for “Wise,” I was talking to myself. I was mainly talking to myself about the decisions I was making and on the mistakes that I made. I was just telling myself, “Girl, you better wake up and be wise.” I made some mistakes and I made some poor choices. Not poor choices. I just had to walk through the valley to really appreciate the mountain. I was in the valley and I was telling myself, “Girl, you better wake up to be able to discern the wolves in sheep clothing.” As superstars, we’re surrounded by people that want everything from us and might not really wish us the best but the discernment and ability to be able to see through that, to stay grounded, to do good business and to really leave a good mark [is necessary]. 

How did you make “HTGT (Here Today Gone Tomorrow)?”

For “Here Today Gone Tomorrow,” I’d like to say when I was recording that song, it felt like I was so afraid to even say the things I was saying, because it felt like I was in the middle of the graveyard. Like, people from the grave were sending me on an errand to tell the living to enjoy their lives to enjoy the moment and appreciate the present. The people that don’t have the opportunity to be here with us today, they’re telling me to tell people here that you only have this one chance, so just enjoy it.