MEET THE PERFORMER
• Bio - Xylaa is a Afrohouse artist, born and raised in Ibadan. Rooted in culture, she blends cultural house rhythms, feminine vocals, emotion-rich lyrics, and honest storytelling based on her experiences to create music that feels unapologetically hers. I grew up in Ibadan, in a house surrounded by music, Yoruba culture, language and storytelling; with my mom always singing at every chance she gets. Yoruba culture, language and storytelling, and that shaped how I hear the world. Music became the place where I could say what I couldn’t say out loud.
I started because I had things to say and wanted to say them honestly. I didn’t want to sound like anyone else. My songs come from my own experiences, and I write them the way I lived them. “Her” came from a realisation that took me a while to reach: the woman I was working so hard to become had been me all along. “Ìyá Ni Wúrà” is my tribute to the woman who birth, raised me and shaped who I am.
There’s a lot more to being me, and music is how I’m letting people in.
• Goals - My first goal is to build a sound that people recognise as mine. I want Afrohouse that carries Yoruba culture without sounding borrowed, and lyrics that make a stranger feel seen.
Beyond that, I want to grow my music into a global career: stages across Africa and the diaspora, collaborations with producers, directors and artists who respect the craft, and ownership of my work along the way.
I’m also building beyond music. I’m working toward a modeling career and a sustainable crochet fashion brand, because I’m more than one thing. I want to create a body of work, across sound, style and craft, that tells the full story of who I am.
And I want to open doors for other young women from where I come from who’ve been told to pick one lane.