Spotify has named Ṣẹwà its EQUAL Africa Artist for November, and the song it put forward with the November 6 announcement is “Lése,” a heartbreak record out since October 16, 2025. She wrote it from a guitar progression while sitting on a pile of unfolded laundry in her studio apartment, and she produced it herself.
EQUAL Africa is Spotify’s programme for women artists across the continent. When we checked the EQUAL Africa playlist on November 9, its cover credit read “Cover: Ṣẹwà,” and the first of its 80 songs was her newest single, “Do You?,” out since October 29. “Lése” itself is not on the list.
Ṣẹwà already holds four nominations at the 2026 Headies: Best Female Artiste, Best Alternative Album for Detox, and Best Alternative Song and Best Vocal Performance (Female) for “Lagos Lovin.” The ceremony has since moved to Toronto for April 2027. “Lése” now also sits on Detox and Detox (Deluxe).
The song is about someone she loved while she still lived in Nigeria. Now based in Canada, she has said the opening line, “I’ve been sitting on my own thinking about you from the other side,” points at that distance, “both physically and emotionally.” Another line is about becoming a different version of herself to please that person.
She built the arrangement remotely with musicians in Lagos, Dubai, New York, Canada and Australia, and describes it as jazz and Afro-soul with “a bit of rock, which you can hear especially in the drum pattern.” Apple Music credits Princess Sharon Awoyeni on 12-string acoustic guitar and as a songwriter, and Seyi Sax on saxophone. The Apple Music preview leans on strings and voice, with the refrain “you make me lose my mind” taking most of the clip. “Even though the subject matter is quite heavy, it’s a really fun listen,” she said.
Ṣẹwà is a largely self-taught multi-instrumentalist. Her father was a musician and conga player, and she started learning guitar while coming to terms with his loss; working out Aṣa’s “Bamidele” was one of her first steps.
Phiona Okumu, Spotify’s Head of Music for Sub-Saharan Africa, said Ṣẹwà “is an exciting artist with a clear sense of who she is and what she wants her music to sound like.”
Ṣẹwà was blunter about the industry. “Someone once even asked me when I’d be stopping my ‘hobby,'” she said in the Q&A that came with the announcement. Her hope for the EQUAL pick is simple: “I hope I can help make the path a little easier for the women coming after me.”
Listen on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ng/album/l%C3%A9se/1841648913?i=1841648914
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/16A8MHE1GrxMmn00oVWTqb