Fireboy DML Tells Apple Music about collaborations with Ed Sheeran, Madonna, and Rema
- Fireboy DML on the numerous remixes of “Peru,” and working with Ed Sheeran “It was the Ed Sheeran version first, that’s the one that matters, that’s the first. That’s the one. Everything else was about strategic stuff and all that, but the collaboration was the Ed Sheeran one. My team reached out to me like, “Yo.” Jamal Edwards, rest his soul, very close to Ed Sheeran, played the song to him, sent it to him and he loved the song. He took his stance to write a verse, and then he sent me a DM, and sent me VM of his verse. I’m like, “Yo, Ed Sheeran in this record, this is it.” Ed Sheeran is someone I sonically connect to, I’ve looked up to this man for a long time, for as long as I can remember. He actually made me fall in love with the acoustic guitar, and it really meant a lot to me, not just for me, but for the culture as well, because I knew what it would mean for Afrobeats when the record came out. I’m glad to be at the forefront pushing the culture, pushing the genre, this is a record that will stand the test of time. Years later they’ll say, “Oh, Afrobeats opened up in the United States worldwide, internationally, and Peru by Fireboy is one of those records that made it happen.” I’m just really glad, that’s what we want, to open opportunities and build bridges.”
- Fireboy DML on how the song “Peru” has nothing to do with the country, and what it’s actually about
“[The word “peru” is] also an allusion to a friend of mine, also an artist, Peruzzi. He has uses this tagline in his songs, so I just use it as… it was like a pun, wordplay kind of thing…I was just really telling the story of a young boy who would find himself in a place that he’s never been before. I recorded that song because it was my first time in the United States
