Rhythm and blues singer Ogi, whose Instagram postings led to her contract with Atlantic Records in 2021, is one of the artists slated to appear at the 26th Annual Sundance ASCAP Music Café next week during the Sundance Film Festival.
“It’s a really cool opportunity and I love these moments where different artforms come together,” she said. “These sorts of intersections are really important, because it’s all storytelling and they inform each other.”
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, known as ASCAP, will announce the artist lineup and schedule next week. The ASCP Music Café is set to host two days of live music performances and interviews with top film music composers from 2-6 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 21, and Monday, Jan. 22.
“I’m excited to contribute my part and create an environment where artists are sharing their work,” Ogi said.
Another reason Ogi looks forward to playing during the Sundance Film Festival is because she loves movies.
“My dad is a huge movie buff, and some of my fondest memories are watching movies in the theater or going through literally thousands of DVDs with him,” she said. “Films, like songs, are storytelling, and I’ve always been enamored by how you can invoke so much emotion through the types of stories you tell. I also think escapism is such an important thing, especially as things get scarier and scarier in the world. Where can we find our respite? Where can we find moments to enjoy what the world can be like, and what messages can I create?”
Ogi also knows a couple of people — Allie Levitan and Ben Gautier — whose short, comedy film “Flail” is part of the Sundance Film Festival’s programming this year.
“I haven’t seen them for a while, and when I found out they were in the festival, I was like, ‘I’m so proud of y’all,'” she said.
The Music Café showcase is one of many milestones the Nigerian-American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has experienced in the past two years.
Among those events was creating her Instagram account while she was studying law at Northwestern University.
“I’ve always been musical, but it was always designated as a hobby,” she said. “I’m Nigerian, so with that, there’s always ‘You’re either going to be a doctor, lawyer or engineer.’ But I decided to do something with music after realizing I wasn’t ready to take the LSAT.”
Ogi deferred the test, and began filling her Instagram with song covers, including the tune “Alright,” by PJ Morton, who liked the version so much he reposted it.
“That got people’s attention, and he is an artist I really respect,” she said.
From there, people began inundating Ogi with messages.
“One of those messages got me to the producer, No I.D.,” she said. “He said, ‘What do you want to do? Because law school can wait.’ And I was like, ‘You know what? You’re right.'”
After graduation, Ogi moved to Los Angeles to work on her recording debut, “Monologues,” an extended-play album that includes songs she composed while in college.
“I was making the project during COVID, where everything was at an absolute standstill,” she said. “I had no sense of how things were going to be received. I didn’t even know if the world would continue to be going.”
Ogi released a single, “I Got It,” and, after signing with Atlantic Records, released “Monologues” in 2022.
That was when opportunity came knocking and knocking and knocking.
She made her television debut performing “I Got It” at the BET Awards, and toured with the likes of Paramore, Masego, Mahailia Snoh Aalegra and the Marias, to name a few.
“After the uncertainty of COVID, it was a relief for things to move quickly, because I’m someone who is a little bit restless,” she said. “If I sit for too long, there’s a large chance that I’ll ruminate on things I can’t control. So, this was like the best medicine.”
Ogi used all of these events as educational opportunities.
“I also feel like I learned so much so quickly,” she said “And while the next things I do are still uncertain, I feel grateful that I have a lay of the land and an understanding of possibilities.”
In fact, Ogi is working on new music now.
“It’s been a lot of trying to understand who I am as an artist,” she said. “Because now, I’m in this arena and feel like I can call myself an artist for real, and I have to (figure out) what I have to say and what the intention is. ‘Monologues’ was very much a starter plate, an appetizer, of what is possible. So now, I need to expound on that.”
While Ogi’s style comes from a blend of jazz, R&B and hip-hop, she finds inspiration for her own songs during quiet times.
“I’ll be on a walk and decide to not listen to music, so I can observe my thoughts, and something usually comes from that,” she said. “I can find fusions with the different things I have heard and come up with ideas that I want to write down, perform and sing. But ultimately, what comes out will be me at the end of the day.”
The idea for Ogi to start the transition from law to music full time was planted while she was a sophomore in college.
“I was studying political science and political economics and I had to take a math class,” she said. “I knew I could ace the class if I put the time in, but there was also an extra curricular event that was a musical improv thing with a band that was interesting to me.”
Ogi took the math class, but also participate in the musical improv.
“(During the improv) I met some of my closest friends who made me believe I could be a musician if I tried,” she said. “It was so fun that I stopped paying attention to the (math) class. I passed, but I wouldn’t change anything for the world. That was a real moment for me.”