Cynthia Morgan recently received the wrath of Nigerians who felt the cover for her Baby Mama single, where she carried a baby while a cigar dangled from her lips, was irresponsible. In this encounter with DGossip247, the singer explains that she didn’t feel sorry as it was all for the arts.
What did you try to achieve with your single cover that has generated a lot of mixed feelings?
A whole lot of people actually got it wrong. I tried to pass a message and some people did get it right while others got it wrong. In a way or two that song right now passed message to the younger generation and my generation. It was a picture where there was a small girl and another picture where I was standing with a baby and a cigar.
I am an artiste; I can decide to pass positive or negative message with my song but at that point I was thinking of what would benefit the younger generation coming and my generation. There is a lot of teenage pregnancy here and there without thinking of marriage. These young people don’t even know what single parents actually go through. I am from a single home; I was raised by my mother.
How did you come about the concept?
I have a friend who is really young and gave birth to a child. She is on drug too. She is now pregnant for another man she is not married to and she still feels cool about it. So, I said to myself that this is happening in the society and people don’t even look into it. Even celebrities endorse the fact that being a ‘baby daddy’ or ‘baby mama’ is cool. I decided to do a song along that line since I grew up without my parents together. Though it is a dance track, you can still do dance track and pass messages across to people.
How was it like growing up without a father?
I think the first time I met my father was when I was seven years old and I know what it feels like. There is the psychological effect that comes with growing up without your parents together as a kid. It is only few people like me that came out normal and I became determined to be successful in life so as to make my mother proud.
Some people use that as an escape to be wayward and turn out to be a single parent just like their mothers gave birth to them. They forgot that no woman wishes to be a single parent if they really knew what they were going into. Everyone wants the best for their kids and having a father is one of those things.
Those days in school, parents came to pick their kids and my friends often told me how they went on vacation with both parents. I felt bad because I didn’t have such experience. It is only few kids who experienced what I did would understand because it goes a long way in shaping one’s life even when you become an adult.
You feel alone and lost. I came out to touch that part people didn’t see. This is as serious as rape, child abuse and domestic violence. I have met a couple of young people who told me they won’t get married; they just want to have babies. This is actually what prompted me into writing the song, Baby Mama.
But don’t you think you could do without the cover and still pass a strong message?
I didn’t want to just drop a single without people understanding what I was trying to say. So, I did that cover but obviously we all have different ways of seeing things. People decided to mock the picture of me holding a baby and a cigar. I was playing two characters; one part was Cynthia carrying the baby properly and the other was a young lady who had a bay but lost. You have a baby or not, there are things you do and you don’t know the kind of life you are putting that baby through. That is what I was depicting in that picture and some people took it badly.
I am an artiste and 100 per cent creativity should reflect in what I do. I can do whatever I desire to do depending on me. The Baby Mama song is like a campaign for young ladies right now. It is an awareness to make young people understand that because your parents did that doesn’t mean you should do the same thing.
The song is actually talking about ladies who are already married but still need to hold their men. Despite having the ring, you still have to be cool and keep yourself presentable for your husband not to look outside. But some ladies tried to take me down with the whole thing.
I think they are those people who don’t understand the whole idea and they have their opinion. I think when you see things like that you should take your time to study it well. We are all humans; it is only an insane person that would carry a baby with smoke and see it as swag. She must have an intention.
When you act movies of being a bad mother or witch, you are passing a message to the public and people will learn one or two things from it. As an actress you should understand the arts or where the person is coming from, but everybody got their opinions. Like I said I am an artiste; this is my job and there will always be critics. Criticism even takes your work far.
Does that mean the cover gave you more popularity?
I am a successful artiste of course; Baby Mama has nothing to do with my popularity. But it made many people to be aware that there is something coming up. And the more the critics the more everybody wanted to know or hear the song. Everything is good publicity actually if you know how to handle your business. People get disturbed a lot but as an artiste it is what you’ve signed up for.
But why do you think being a single parent has become fashionable?
That is the question you should ask people. Nobody is shedding light on it; people are not aware of the impact on their kids. They are just young people; they see how their celebrities do it so there is nothing wrong about it. It is a trend like you just said, but is it a good one?
What should we expect in the video?
It is exclusive; I am going to keep that to myself. Just expect that video will educate more people that bringing kids to this world means a lot. You are bringing a life and kids are very vulnerable; what they see at young age stick to their head. My grandma told me that you can hurt a grownup man and he would forget, but you cannot hurt a kid and expect him to forget. So, it is whatever you plant in them right now they would hold on to.
Men that treat girls rudely must have taken after their fathers; perhaps they saw the way their mothers were treated. Some women cannot love too because they saw the mothers suffering in the hands of their fathers. I am a victim of that actually; I keep reflecting that to what my mother, aunty and people so close to you went through. Kids are very vulnerable and you have to let young people get aware of that fact.
When do you intend to release your debut album?
It would drop first quarter of next year; I am actually working on it. In the album, I would have collaborations with artistes like PSquare, Burna Boy, Tuface, among others.
Your style is strange?
I am a different artiste and everybody knows that. My sound, my music and as a person, I am very different. Just like the cover, people might not understand my style but I am an artiste and it is a brand. I am a strong brand right now in the industry because I have been able to stand on my lane and let people understand that this is me. They should love who I am and my music. It is entertainment and business at the same time. I have a very distinct and strong sound the same way my look is. For me, I just try to be comfortable and I am always Cynthia Morgan.
But it seems you are calm inside?
That is why I am human; this is arts. I am actually calm; I love family; I am humble and a homely kind of girl. But I am different when it comes to my music. You cannot live the same life off and on camera and that is what people don’t understand. You have to understand that art is arts; entertainment is entertainment.
