Uwade's 'Florilegium'

Summary

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Podcast Summary: All Of It with Alison Stewart

Episode: Uwade's 'Florilegium' (Nov 27, 2025, WNYC)

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Episode Overview

In this richly engaging episode, host Alison Stewart welcomes Nigerian-American singer-songwriter Uwade to discuss her debut album, Florilegium. The conversation interweaves live performances, reflections on heartbreak, the influence of family and place, and fascinating insights into Uwade’s academic work in the classics. Listeners are treated to both music and candid conversation about creativity, identity, cultural heritage, and the ways ancient narratives still shape modern perspectives.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Florilegium and Artist Background

[00:28-01:13]

• Alison Stewart introduces Uwade and the inspiration behind her album's title, which is steeped in classical literature (Ovid's Metamorphosis).
• Uwade is not just a musician but a classics scholar, currently undertaking a PhD at Stanford, after studies at Columbia and Oxford.

2. Live Performance: “Call It a Draw”

[01:13-03:43]

• Uwade opens with a stripped-down performance of her album’s first single, “Call It a Draw,” written in the wake of a significant heartbreak.

3. Songwriting & Production Process

[03:43-05:46]

• Origin of “Call It a Draw”: Written during a difficult breakup.

  “I’d just ended a long-term relationship and I didn’t know what to do with myself. So I wrote this song and it really helped.” – Uwade [03:55]

• Improvisational Approach: Unlike her typical approach, this song uses a simple, repeated chord progression, focusing on raw expression over structure.

  “I’m just gonna see what comes with this as inspiration. Instead of trying to craft some kind of journey melodically…I was like, no, I’m just gonna say something.” – Uwade [04:34]

• Evolution of Songwriting: Shift from feeling pressure to innovate with each song, becoming more comfortable with repetition and simplicity.

4. Florilegium – Recording Journey

[05:46-06:54]

• The album was recorded over two years, across only a handful of sessions due to touring and school.
• Final recording in North Carolina felt like “the right time,” making the project’s completion feel organic.

5. Collaborating with Fleet Foxes / Rob Pecknold

[07:06-08:52]

• Uwade’s introduction to wider audiences began with her vocal feature on Fleet Foxes’ 2020 album.

  “Her voice is just so amazing... she sings with such confident ease…that was exactly how I wanted that song to be sung.” – Rob Pecknold (Fleet Foxes) [07:20]

• This collaboration opened doors: securing a manager, formal touring, and launching her music career.

6. Debut Album – Artistic Intentions

[09:18-10:05]

• Uwade set out to move beyond her signature stripped-down style, intentionally expanding her sound palette:

  “I wanted to deliberately beef up the production...so people could see the range, the possible futures that could come from my artistry.” – Uwade [09:32]

7. Live Performance: “Do You See the Light Around Me?”

[10:08-13:26]

• A vibrant, electronically-infused track that marks an artistic shift and is a favorite of Uwade’s mother.

8. Family, Place, and Musical Heritage

[14:05-15:42]

• Uwade’s family immigrated from Nigeria to North Carolina when she was two, and southern folk music influences her guitar-driven style.

  “I feel like I wouldn’t have become a guitar gal if not for...being raised around sort of folk and country music in North Carolina.” – Uwade [14:30]

• She recalls a childhood aspiration to be a singer—something she rediscovered looking back on old school assignments.

9. Academic Life in the Classics

[15:42-18:08]

• Initial interest sparked by high school Latin (helped by her father’s encouragement).

  “I read book four of Virgil’s Aeneid...and I felt such an instant emotional connection. I was like, what she went through thousands of years ago is what I’m going through right now.” – Uwade [15:54]

• PhD focus evolving toward literature and enslavement in the ancient world, particularly the writings of formerly enslaved people and their intersections with classical literature.

  “Slavery was a massive institution...but there were maybe more opportunities for enslaved people to be manumitted and then to end up working in literary forms.” – Uwade [17:07]

• Uwade sometimes writes songs inspired by classical texts, such as a yet-unreleased song, “Lady of Good Hope,” based on book four of the Aeneid.

10. Navigating Eurocentrism in Classics

[19:03-20:00]

• Uwade reflects on classics’ Eurocentric reputation, noting her introduction was through her Nigerian father—challenging the assumption that classics is a “white discipline.”

  “I never really thought of it as like a white discipline because the only person I knew who was teaching...was my dad...North Africa was such a huge part of the Roman Empire...half of these writers...were coming from North Africa.” – Uwade [19:13]

11. Album Title: The Meaning of “Florilegium”

[20:13-20:53]

• The word comes from Ovid's Metamorphoses and denotes a collection (a “gathering of flowers”); it metaphorically connects her scholarly interests and eclectic artistic influences.

12. Live Performance: “Harmaton”

[20:56-25:11]

• Inspired by the West African season of Harmattan, the song meditates on longing, presence, and memory, showcasing Uwade’s poetic lyricism.

  “Will you sway with me when my voice gives out?...Will we be forgotten?...Never mind, doesn’t matter at all.” – Uwade (singing) [21:50-24:00]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I wrote it in the middle of heartbreak. The things that happen to us all...I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I wrote this song and it really helped.” — Uwade [04:00]
• “I hear my voice as the thing I've heard my whole life. So it's really amazing to know how much he (Robin Pecknold) appreciates it.” — Uwade [08:04]
• “Little kids know.” — Alison Stewart [15:25], on childhood aspirations.
• “What she (Dido in the Aeneid) went through thousands of years ago is what I'm going through right now.” — Uwade [15:54]
• “I wasn’t...I think that’s what sort of kept me inspired to interrogate this idea that, like, oh, it only focuses on Europe.” — Uwade [19:13]
• “I feel like I wouldn’t have become a guitar gal if not for...being raised around sort of folk and country music in North Carolina.” — Uwade [14:30]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:28 — Alison introduces Uwade; explains Florilegium
• 01:13 — Uwade performs “Call It a Draw”
• 03:43 — Songwriting origins: heartbreak and improvisation
• 05:46 — Recording timeline of the album
• 07:20 — Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold on Uwade’s voice
• 08:35 — Impact of Fleet Foxes’ collaboration on Uwade’s career
• 10:08 — Performance: “Do You See the Light Around Me?”
• 13:34 — Why that song matters to Uwade and her family
• 14:23 — Family, roots in Nigeria and the South, folk influences
• 15:07 — Early dreams of singing, academic ambitions
• 15:54 — Latin, the classics, emotional resonance
• 17:07 — Research focus: slavery and literature in antiquity
• 18:08 — Cross-pollination of academic and creative work
• 19:13 — Pushing past Eurocentric narratives in the classics
• 20:13 — Album title origin: “Florilegium”
• 20:56 — Performance: “Harmaton”

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Overall Tone & Style

The conversation is warm, thoughtful, and curious—balancing intellectual inquiry with creative candor. Uwade’s humility, curiosity, and sense of artistic experimentation shine through, while Stewart’s questions draw out both personal and cultural context, making the episode engaging for music lovers and culture scholars alike.

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Transcript

[Alison Stewart]

Foreign.

This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart. Happy Thanksgiving. Good evening, everybody, and thanks for spending part of your turkey day with us. Let's get back into some music. Florilegium is the title of the debut album from the Nigerian American artist Uwade. The album's name comes from Latin, which makes sense when you learn that Uwade studied classics at Columbia, then Oxford, and is now in a PhD program at Stanford. She explained that floralesium is a word that comes from the classic story of Metamorphosis by Ovid. So let's hear a little more about the ancient Greeks and the works of a thoroughly modern singer songwriter. The conversation began with a performance. Here's Uwade to introduce the song.

[Uwade]

I'm going to play the first single off the album called Call It a Draw.

[Uwade (performing)]

Hold my head in a pillow.

[Alison Stewart]

Carry.

[Uwade (performing)]

Me to all my friends. You were never meant to see me this low. I was never told how to pretend. I've been trying hard to save my breath. Praying this is just another test. But I was trying to melt into your arms. I never knew the arm. Never knew the arms. Call it a draw, call it a draw, call it a draw, call it a draw, call it a draw, call it a draw, call it a draw. And in the distance makes it easier to see. Sense of omission on the mantelpiece. I'd risk it all to save you. You sleep in clothes I gave you. I've been trying hard to save my bre. Seeing all the signs I must have missed. When I was trying to melt into your arms. I never knew the harm, Never knew the harm. Call it a draw, call it a draw, Call it a draw, call it a draw, call it a draw, call it a draw, call it a draw.

[Alison Stewart]

My guest is Ua de. When did you write that song? Call it a draw.

[Uwade]

I wrote that song in November, December of 2023.

[Alison Stewart]

And what was going on in your life when you were writing it?

[Uwade]

Ah, well, the usual. Heartbreak. Heartbreak. The things that. That. That happened to us all. Yes. I just ended a long term relationship and I didn't know what to do with myself. So I wrote this song and it really helped. Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

Did it really help y'?

[Uwade (performing)]

All?

[Uwade]

It did. It did. It gave me a place to say what I. I didn't know how to. For. For a long time.

[Alison Stewart]

So it's interesting because in one article you said that you. That song relied less on structure and more on improvisation, which is understandable.

[Uwade]

Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

Given it's about heartbreak. Where do we hear that in the Song.

[Uwade]

Oh, I think I feel like. I think I usually like to have sort of a variety of chord progressions in songs, but this one was just basically the same thing throughout, except this sort of breakdown at the end. And so, yeah, I just let myself pick some chords that I liked. I'm like. I'm just. I'm just gonna see what comes with this as inspiration. Instead of trying to craft some kind of journey melodically and thinking of taking people somewhat, I was like, no, I'm just gonna say something.

[Alison Stewart]

Has that continued with your writing, or is this sort of a unique situation?

[Uwade]

I think it's continued. I think the more I do sort of logic and sort of, like, computer production, the less I feel like I need to be not innovative. Because, you know, I think I still tried to do things that I feel like are original to me, but, like, I think when I was just relying on the guitar, it felt much more like I had to do something different each time to keep people's attention. But I think less and less, I feel. I feel that. Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

Can you tell us what the timeline was for recording this album?

[Uwade]

Oh, it was, I think, two years total, but only three or four sessions in those two years.

[Alison Stewart]

Oh, that's interesting.

[Uwade]

Yes. So I started recording it in December of 2022, thinking that it would become, like an EP. I had only a few songs, and then time went by and there was no recording, and I was writing new songs. I was touring, and I was going to school. And then in 2024, last winter and spring, I had the opportunity to go into a studio in North Carolina and record at, like, breakneck speed. Ten songs or like, well, seven songs, and then a couple more in New York were mixed together. So it was sort of stop and starting over the course of two years.

[Alison Stewart]

How did you feel about that?

[Uwade]

It felt. It felt good because it felt like when I finally got to set everything down, it was time, I think it wasn't necessarily time for me to Release anything in 2022 when I recorded, because it wasn't complete, and it felt complete when I started in 24.

[Alison Stewart]

So I'm speaking with singer songwriter Uede. She's here in WNYC to perform live her debut album. Let's hope I say it right.

[Uwade]

Florilegium.

[Alison Stewart]

Florilegium.

[Uwade]

Yes.

[Alison Stewart]

We first learned about you from the Fleet foxes album in 2020. Robert Pecknell came on the show, and I want to play a clip of him talking about how he got you to perform on his album, let's listen.

A friend of mine, a Year or so ago, sent me her cover of Fleet Fox's song Mykonos. And it was, you know, better than the original to me, because her voice is just so amazing. And it's just, you know, I do. I feel like I have to use my voice in a lot of different ways across the course of an album to kind of have some variety and, you know, without kind of devolving into impersonations, you know, but then just hearing her, I don't know, you know, just her voice is just so distinct and so. So such a beautiful texture and so. And she sings with such confident ease, you know, that it was like. That was exactly how I wanted that song to. To be sung.

[Uwade (performing)]

I wish you could see your face.

[Uwade]

Oh, my God, she's so sweet. Oh, she's crying.

[Alison Stewart]

First of all, what did you. What did you think about what he said?

[Uwade]

I mean, I'm. Every time I hear him say anything about me, I'm sort of so flattered. I mean, I've spent time with him now for several touring seasons, so he feels like a friend. But, yeah, I just. I think of myself as just myself, and I hear my voice as the thing I've heard my whole life. So it's really amazing to know how much he appreciates it.

[Alison Stewart]

It's interesting to think about it, but what opportunities came out of your.

[Uwade]

Oh, everything.

[Alison Stewart]

On everything.

[Uwade]

Yeah, pretty much everything. Getting a. A manager, a team, touring for the first time, officially. What happened after? Yeah, the record came out and it was just like everything. Everything came from that.

[Alison Stewart]

That's really. Must be a very interesting thing for your life to be one way one day and then it just to flip quickly.

[Uwade]

Yeah, it flipped, and it was sort of gradual in some ways because of everything that happened during the pandemic. The record came out, so I didn't have to, you know, go on the road immediately, but, you know, it was like, oh, this record has come out and now I have to do something about what's happening in this week, so.

[Alison Stewart]

Well, it's interesting because debut albums are sometimes considered an introduction. Even though you released music before, how did you think about the impression that you wanted to make people. Hi, I'm Uday. Yeah, this is what I want to be.

[Uwade]

Yeah, I thought. I mean, I'm used to being sort of very stripped down acoustically. I usually just play when I'm opening with a guitar and my voice, and it's very simple, no effects. But I wanted to deliberately kind of really beef up the production and the styles that I, you know, recorded and Wrote because I wanted people to sort of see the range, the possible futures that could come from my artistry and sort of be excited to. To listen to more.

[Alison Stewart]

Well, let's listen to more from u. What are we going to hear next?

[Uwade]

This is do youo See the Light Around Me? An old song of mine from 2022. So.

[Uwade (performing)]

Do you see the light around me? Well, I don't see the light around me most days. Do you see the good about me? I don't really think about it. I spend my waking hours dreaming of you Honey eyes None of this is in my power Should I even tell you all the time I'd spend by your side Inside your mind? I'm afraid of what I'll find But the sun is setting on me Do I make you see yourself clearer? I don't even think we need the sunlight don't bring anybody else near us if I could I'd drown them out I'd spend my waking hours Swimming in your honey earth Wasting days in ivory tower I don't wanna say goodbye your side inside your mind I've been looking all my life but the sun is setting on me. If I disappear this summer Find myself in mother moon Then I'll re emerge another I won't ask you if you do Cause I know oh I'll see, I'll try I'll be, I'll know oh. Sing with me under fading trees and will live forever and find it together There's a reason I'll believe in faith Please don't make me wait.

[Alison Stewart]

That was do youo See the Light Around Me from Uede, my guest. What made you decide to perform that song?

[Uwade]

It's one of my favorites and it was one of the first songs. I think it was like maybe the third or fourth song I released. And it really felt like a shift into a different direction. The recording is kind of more electronically produced and has a bit more drums. It's kind of like a hot song, as my mom says, and she loves, you know, when I write more upbeat music. So she was very excited about that song. And so it feels like a kind of mark of a transition that I. That I really appreciate.

[Alison Stewart]

Where are your parents right now?

[Uwade]

My mom is in the air on the way here right now. Yes, she's coming tonight.

[Uwade (performing)]

So she's here.

[Alison Stewart]

That's exciting.

[Uwade]

Yes.

[Alison Stewart]

So you grew up in North Carolina. When did your family move there?

[Uwade]

When I was 2 years old from Nigeria. Mm.

[Alison Stewart]

Growing up in North Carolina. Where do I hear North Carolina in your music?

[Uwade]

Where do you hear North Carolina, I think, in the guitars, honestly, I feel like I wouldn't have become a guitar gal if not for, you know, being raised around sort of folk and country music in North Carolina. But I also think, you know, I lean into some folk. I think there's some folk there. There's like a folk fusion. And I think it's because of. Yeah. The music that I heard growing up along with the music, you know, I listened to from friends, etc. Etc.

[Alison Stewart]

When did you first realize that you wanted to be a professional singer?

[Uwade]

That's such an interesting question. Oh, no, no. I mean, I think I was in, like, maybe like five or six years old, and I wrote it on the. An Answer for an Assignment. And I sort of looked back on it in high school and I was like, ah, it was so silly. What was she thinking?

[Alison Stewart]

Little kids know.

[Uwade]

Yeah, I guess I knew, and I guess I've been, you know, kind of doing it in some way for some time. But I never. In my adult life, I've never had, like a. This is the only thing. But maybe I should. Maybe today's the day.

[Alison Stewart]

Today's the day.

[Uwade]

Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

But you're. Well, you are in school. Yes. You're getting your PhD at Stanford. Congratulations, first of all.

[Uwade]

Thank you.

[Alison Stewart]

How did you become interested in the classics?

[Uwade]

Oh, I was just talking to Simon about this. I was in high school taking Latin because I thought, you know, learning words and vocabulary might help me with my SATs, among other things. My dad was a fan. But then I read book four of Virgil's in the End, where Aeneas betrays the queen of Carthage, Dido. And, like, it's very dramatic. It is dramatic, but I felt such an instant emotional connection. I was like, what she went through thousands of years ago is what I'm going through right now. Because the guy I like didn't ask me to prom. So it's sort of that kind of. That empathy is really what drove me to continue to search for that in these ancient texts. Because it's so exciting to find that people were so similar so long ago. Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

So what's the focus of your PhD?

[Uwade]

I'm still figuring it out. Okay. I've been interested in fables in the past, Aesop's Fables. But now I think I'm kind of interested in the relationship between literature and enslavement in the ancient world and the writings of the formerly enslaved. So I think that'll. That'll be the category that I.

[Alison Stewart]

Wait, say a little more about that.

[Uwade]

Well, I mean, slavery was a Very massive institution in ancient Greece and Rome. But I think there were maybe more opportunities for sort of enslaved people to be manumitted and then to end up working in literary forms. And quite often for writers like, you know, Cicero and other greats, like, their slaves were the ones who were doing, like, the edits and the revisions and teaching their children. And there were whole categories of enslaved people who were also educated and educated others. And so I think there are lots of writers from the ancient world who were formerly enslaved. And I want to just see how that shows up, if at all, and what, you know, what comparisons can be drawn to other cultures and times.

[Alison Stewart]

That's so interesting. I'm wondering if your creative side, your musician side, if it ever collaborates with the academic side of you.

[Uwade]

I think not as much as I would like it to. I do write songs based on the things that I read sometimes, so I like. I've written a song inspired by Book four of the Idiot, so that is in my catalog. What's the name of it? Just curious. It's not out yet. It's called lady of Good Hope. It was recorded in 2020 and is in the vault. But one day it might be released, continue on.

[Alison Stewart]

Just want to make sure.

[Uwade]

But, yeah, I think I just. I like to give myself space from things. So, like, I feel like sometimes academia can be space from, you know, the stresses of creativity, but then sometimes I. I just need the release that writing and performing brings. So I don't know, I think maybe they should combine, but I'm not interested in ancient music, so I don't know.

[Alison Stewart]

Well, it's interesting because the classics. When I think of the classics, I think of them as being Eurocentric.

[Uwade]

Yes, they are.

[Alison Stewart]

How do you. Is this something that you address on your album? Is it something you address in your academia? Is it something that you address?

[Uwade]

Yeah, it is. Because my introduction to classics was from my dad, who was a, you know, black man, grew up in Nigeria, raised in sort of colonial Nigeria. And so I never really thought of it as, like, a white discipline because the only person I knew who was teaching. Yeah, it was my dad. And then like, eventually a bunch of other people. So I wasn't. I think that's what sort of kept me inspired to sort of like, interrogate this idea that, like, oh, it's only. It's only focuses on Europe and also North Africa was such a huge part of the Roman Empire. People just like, forget half of these writers, you know, were coming from North Africa. And probably even deeper that we don't even know about. So there's so much there. There's so much to explore.

[Alison Stewart]

My guest is Uede. I'm speaking to her. She's in WNYC Studio 5 performing. It's ahead of her debut album. Let's see if I can get it ready. Flor. Floregium.

[Uwade]

Florilegium.

[Alison Stewart]

Florilegium.

[Uwade]

Perfect.

[Alison Stewart]

Florilegium. Florilegium. Her debut album, Florilegium. Where does Florilegium come from?

[Uwade]

It comes from this work of an author called Ovid, and it's in his Metamorphosis, I think. And he's talking about these bees that. That come from are born from like carcasses of bulls. Quite gory, but I think they carry flowers or something. Or they like. I don't know, they. They bear the seeds of. I don't know. But it's from. It's from my. My readings.

[Alison Stewart]

Let's hear a final song from your album. What are we going to hear?

[Uwade]

This is Harmaton, inspired by a season that affects West Africa. Harmaton season. This is.

[Alison Stewart]

Ooh, A day.

[Uwade (performing)]

Talking up into the. Dreaming of things that we wanted. These days I cry for flowers crushed in bloom But I'll believe for you. Living through every moment Letting go all I've been holding on to Portraits and terrible visions and me when will you decide? Are you happy with your love? Will you sway with me when my voice gives out? When the harma comes around? Will they know us then? Will we be forgotten? Never mind, doesn't matter at all. When it's brighter and it's time to be I feel lighter with no eyes on me look away now I can't bear the weight always to it. Will you sway with me when my voice gives out? When the Harma comes around Will they know us then? Will we be forgotten? Never mind, doesn't matter at all now the night has come O the mountains wait for dawn with me laughing. I don't mind, I don't mind I don't mind.

[Alison Stewart]

That was Harmaton, a track from Florilegium, the debut album from singer songwriter Uwade. And that is all of it for this hour. We'll have more after the news, including a live performance from Sammy, new album Bloodless, and choice tracks from the cast of the new musical the Seat of Our Pants. That's coming up on all of it after the news. What are you doing in a meeting?

[Uwade]

That could have been an email.

[Alison Stewart]

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