In the lead-up to the release of his sophomore album, 'HEIS,' last year, Divine Ikubor, better known by his stage name Rema, a Nigerian musician, has discussed the reasons behind his rebranding.
As part of his rebranding, the singer stopped using his trademark Teddy bear mask and started smoking and wearing darker hues.
He also got tattoos. His aesthetics and tone were also altered.
On Thursday, marking the one-year anniversary of his sophomore album, Rema addressed the perception that his rebranding—which included smoking—was a betrayal of his identity.
He stressed that it was just an expression of art.
He went on to say that the contentious album cover was modelled by Itachi Uchiha, a character from the Japanese anime series Naruto.
He inscribed "HEIS, the Anniversary" on his X handle.
In interviews for this project's release, I laid out a lot of the surface-level reasons for its release, but today I'd want to offer a few "SYMBOLIC" facts that encapsulate the project's energy that I had kept to myself.
"Think of this as a message from the author;
Itachi from Naruto served as the inspiration for the cover. The Truth concealed by deceit, Love concealed behind what you perceived as treachery (a change in appearance, smoking habits, style, and colour preference).
FONENERIK notes that rapper Shallipopi made such assertions last year, claiming not to smoke yet appearing in photos and videos holding cigarettes.
He asserted that he lights up for show.
Thanks for reading: Rema, I smoke as an artistic expression