🎄 Merry Christmas!! 🎄

This song is a soulful Christmas song about learning to move on! It's a love project intended to warm your heart on a cold Christmas night.

Inspired by the feeling of “Miss You Most at Christmas Time”, this track sits in that same bittersweet space — but instead of staying in the hurt, it gently pushes you forward. Even if you’re walking alone this year, you’re still moving, still growing, still here.

Created by a global team:

Prod: Bernie (Timothy Reid)

Instrumentation: Aya Taniguchi

Electric Guitar: Takeru Yamamoto

Mix & Master: Justin Hunter

Vocals & Lyrics: MayowaSensei (Tokyo-based singer-songwriter)

We made this to warm your heart, even if your Christmas feels a little cold this year.
If it resonates with you, please leave a comment, like, or repost so it can find more people who need it.

Merry Christmas, and keep going. 💫

— MayowaSensei

Winter Wondering

A sexy house & RnB song about love at first sight... and how it felt to lose it all.

MY FAULT

EYES, the first single from MayowaSensei’s EP, is a powerful afrobeat-house vibe that takes the listener on a journey from the very beginning. The elusive pads and immediate rhythmic introduction begin to paint a picture about the experience of what love feels like. The song speaks to the moments of first catching feelings for someone. The chorus introduces a powerful beat and bass section that is almost impossible to resist. The peaks and valleys in the song are a mirror to the waves of emotion felt in the first stages of falling in love. "This song and this EP was made to be used: I feel like music is a part of life, and songs like this just feel like a part of the soundtrack. I hope it becomes a part of yours, too. I hope I see a LOT of people dancing to it, haha!”

EYES

Zuma and I were surprised by how inspiring EYES was, which pushed us to create more afrobeat music. I vividly remember Zuma pressing a few keys and crafting this jungly beat that reminded me of a tiger lurking through tall grass. AWAY is a song about seeing the person you love going through a rough time and wanting to take them away from their troubles to somewhere far away together. Continuing the elevation of our sound, our goal is that as soon as the beat drops, you can’t help but move your body. I'm really excited about this release and genuinely believe everyone is going to love it. Let the melismas, melodies, and ethereal elements take you in this moment to somewhere far AWAY.

AWAY

This song was another natural progression in the MayowaSensei x Zuma sphere, the instrumentals were so inspirational it was so organic to write. I love that afrobeat songs tend to have this uplifting, almost homey feeling, so we decided to make an encouraging Afro-house song. Specifically inspired by a black woman, Japanese and black, I wanted to make a song that accurately expressed the magnitude of greatness I felt from her in every single thing that she did. It evolved into a song that is a song of self encouragement to any individual as a reminder. And as they sing the song to their friends or look in the mirror, the feeling will grow and spread around to many people. We are all uniquely distinct, and in that way, no one compares to you. You’re one of a kind. I hope people feel that while they’re dancing to the song.

Most notably and my favorite part of the song is the bridge, written in 3 languages: English, Japanese and Yoruba (a Nigerian Dialect). 
The Japanese translates to “I will live as I am”, while the Yoruba translates to “stay true to yourself”
This bridge serves as a connector of the song, for the listener to connect to themself, but also as a representation of the bridge of my own life: creating music as a Nigerian-American in Japan. It isn’t just the bridge of the song, but the bridge of my life, in my eyes.

MayowaSensei is an R&B, neo-soul, soul singer-songwriter known for his smooth riffs, delicate harmonies and warm, inviting vocals. Based in Tokyo, Japan, MayowaSensei blends R&B with influences including house, afrobeat, and much more. Drawing inspiration from artists like Mac Ayers, Snoh Aalegra, Brandy, and H.E.R., MayowaSensei's music explores themes of introspection and express strong messages about searching for universal truths in this life through the lens of personal experience. Most of all, it’s about vibing and feeling the music.
Once a science PhD student, Mayowa dropped out of grad school and decided to move to Japan and ended up becoming a singer on his own. Based in Tokyo, he met the producers, musicians and songwriters that would eventually help begin his career as a professional singer and songwriter. This 2024 rebranding is to allow for expansion into a higher level of musicality that listeners can enjoy in their everyday life.

His first fully produced release with Zuma. titled “EYES” sonically expresses the captivating moments of first falling in love.
The second release, “AWAY”, is a smooth, sexy afrobeat vibe with an instantly contagious beat and synth sounds. The afro-influenced EP (Ojú Inu) is laden with addictively catchy melodies and drums.

MayowaSensei’s hope is that these projects can reach wide international audiences and encourage them to feel music in a special way

MayowaSensei

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