Last month EyiTemi released her new album NO LIMITS LIVE, an album this filled with passion and love, wisdom and emotion. EyiTemi is a performer who gives so much of herself to her music allowing audiences to really connect and feel every note. World Heart Beat Studios had the privilege of recording all but one of EyiTemi tracks on her new album and we sat down with to talk about her process of bringing this album to life. 

Hello EyiTemi, an honour to get this time to talk with you, and before we start, congratulations on the release of your new live album No Limits Live, how does it feel to have your new album out there in the world?

Exciting! I am relieved it is out. It has just been this thing I wanted out in the world but had to take my time before recording and then releasing it. I can’t believe I actually made it happen.

Ahead of the release was there any nerves are was you just eager to get the music out?

Yes there were nerves…because it is a live album.

When one is in the studio, you have time to calmly record, think about it and then try again if you want to. Not so much with a live album. You start, go for it and trust the result would be releasable. I just want people to be able to feel the music including how special the atmosphere was on the night. The perfect imperfection that comes only with a live album is a beautiful thing.

How long had you been thinking about releasing a live album?

The idea for doing this kind of a live album I came up with in 2024, just after my London Jazz Festival performance that year. 

Was the approach to writing and recording No Limits Live any different than previews album recordings?

Definitely different. There are 10 tracks in the album. 4 of them had never been released but were already written. For the previously released 6 tracks, I wanted something ‘different but the same’ from them. It was an interesting experience looking at these tracks from a different perspective – re-introducing them.

Did the added bonus of this being a live album give your performance some additional authenticity?

Performing live is 100% authenticity. I always have an intention for my performances. It is almost a symbiotic relationship with the audience. A bond and connection created on the night which affects how you perform, the energy in the room and with the band. There is just a special magic. The music gets to breathe in the way it is meant to. 

What makes a live album so special to record?

It is special because you capture moments born out of elements that only occur once. The energy, the people. Some of these moments are out of your control.  A one off. I love that. It makes it special.

For me, the recording on the night was secondary. The people in front of me mattered more. I was performing to the people in room and my consideration (along with the band) was firmly fixed on them. The result of that kind of focus means that you create that intangible real relationship which comes out in the sound. It has a pulse that is connected to something. Doing music live is the best way of connecting honestly as an artist to your audience.

Before recording No Limits Live at World Heart Beat Studios how clear was the vision you wanted for the album?

I was very clear as to what I wanted because the recording at WHB was the first of a 3-part special series celebrating and incorporating sounds of my youth into my music in any significant way really, for the first time.

You and your band looked like they had a great time during their soundcheck before recording your album, what was the experience for you getting to record your first live album with such an amazingly talent band?

We had an incredible time recording at WHB. I pulled together a special group of people including guest musicians with world stage experience.

Recording in World Heart Beat was no coincidence. It was integral to the sort of recording I wanted and the final product. A recording studio that has a live room to allow me to get incredible sound quality that worked for both the people in the room AND for those outside the room through the recording. When I described to a producer what I wanted, he said ‘I know just the place’ and recommended WHB. I was not disappointed.

What were some of your fondest memories from the recording session?

Too many fond memories, from the incredible tech team, headed that night by Lucas, to the front of house team. Performing in a place that had thought of everything was such a pleasure. The space was beautiful, intimate and created the right atmosphere and set the stage for what for me was an incredible night of good music.

Can you tell me a little bit about the tracks on No Limits Live, how did you go about selecting the music that ended up on the album?

The tracks broadly cover deep themes around Pain (Alone, Better, Impossible Possible, Busy Bee), Hope (In Quiet Moments, One in A Million, Vision Blurred), and Courage (Fighter, Just Do It, Face On). My life journey really to date. 

I have written so many songs and my life has been such a journey that it was difficult narrowing down the tracks that would make the live performances and then be available for selection for the live album. The initial intention was an EP but there were so many tracks that turned out great that it rapidly graduated to a full album. 

Any apprehensions about making such a personal album?

I tell stories with my music. It just happens to be about my life and experiences so I am used to writing intimate details about myself, but yes apprehensive. I seem to be letting more and more people into my personal space. 

Has it been liberating in a way to be so open with your music?

I feel quite vulnerable letting people in but this is the way I choose to express myself and my art. 

Is it liberating? Getting the words and experiences out of me in a safe and productive way is healing. The way people respond to what I sometimes think are just my experiences, but I find out that it isn’t just me, is liberating. I love to connect and commune with people on deep matters and this is a beautiful way to be able to able to do it. To know we are not alone living this human experience.

Was there any one song that was particularly tricky to record?

Better was tricky to record because it is one of the newest songs in the album so the experience that drove me to write it still had fresh echoes of the pain. It was honest, deep and that made people connect much more to it. It was also the only track in the album that was rehearsed just with the guitarist and a vocalist before the night, yet on the night the full band locked in and the result…spontaneous, emotional and victorious, all at the same time. 

From a technical point, Just Do It was rather interesting because of the time signature and how steeped it was in the Nigerian rhythms of my youth. The band though were stars and we were through! Both songs were performed for an audience for the first time at the gig. 

Did any song turn out differently than what you had perhaps been expecting?

Impossible, Possible my spoken Word piece was magical on the night. I loved the familiarity of delivering what I had rehearsed but the surprise of how it was elevated by all on the night. Because it was a spoken Word performance, it was never going to be exactly the same so I relished that element that was left to spontaneity and improvisation. 

Of all the songs on the album do you have a favourite? I know a tough question.

This one is difficult. I have more than one fav but love all the tracks for different reasons. 

Better because of the emotions, the way the song grew on the night and the spontaneity of it all, Impossible, Possible because of picture perfectly painted by the words and music…the eeriness, Fighter because of the baddass’ness of it all (is that a Word? Adding the ‘ness’ I mean) with the rhythm section going dirty on it and Vision Blurred because of that beaut of a solo guitar in the middle by Jamie Pye. 

Love them all! No one should ask me to choose between my babies.

What drew you to jazz?

Jazz is my heart. Once I heard it, the first time through my mums’ records, that was it!  It speaks to me in a deep way and in a language that is purely soul based and inexplicable! I can’t explain but jazz chords are like finding water in the desert, my thirst, abated.

If you could duet with another jazz artist, alive or passed on, who would you pick and why?

Nina Simone. The voice, the passion, the authenticity, the integrity, the range (Jazz, Fok, Blues, Gospel…etc)…the list goes on. 

In awe.

“Believing in yourself enough to take the chance.”

What makes jazz such a special musical genre?

It is music of the heart and soul. Music that can meet us where no words are required, thereby enabling it to cross boundaries that many styles can’t. It is also the base/foundation to many other music genres.

What do you think your music says about you as an artists?

It says I shoot from the heart. It says I am flawed. It says I am genre agnostic. It says I am a storyteller. It says Jazz is somewhere in my blood. It says even in my pain and fear, I am optimistic. I seemingly embody parallels.

And finally, what would you like your audiences to take away from new album No Limits Live?

Musically, it is in my opinion a beautiful piece of work that is free from vanity. Steeped in honesty, and vulnerability.. There is a rawness to it that live music should have. You are in the room that represents, courage to jump even if you are not quite sure where you would land. Believing in yourself enough to take the chance.

Do not limit yourself, you are capable of much more than you know….hence the albums title, NO LIMIT.

NO LIMITS is out now.