Feeling stuck? Don’t forget that God has not left you. Despite financial struggles in New York City, Blessing remained dedicated to his music, and his story is an inspiring reminder of God’s faithfulness. Tune in to hear about his journey, the unique instruments he plays, and what he leaned on while living under $9 as a Nashville musician.
View this video with Blessing Offor, and other interviews with JOY FM artists videos on the JOY FM YouTube Channel.
Read this Conversation with Blessing Offor
Sandi:
We love talking with you. Whether it’s for a sofa show, whether it’s here on the morning show. So, okay, let’s just go there. So for those who don’t know, you play piano, guitar, guitar, anything else or any instrument you want to learn?
Blessing Offor:
It’s funny that you mentioned, if you guys go on my Instagram blessing offer, there’s this thing called a Harpa G that I just got built for me by the Meeks family outside Baltimore. This is kind of a thing Tim invented, and it’s like if you look at the guts of a piano, if you open a piano and you look at the strings, and yet they have frets on them, so it’s like a piano and a guitar had a baby, right? And it’s this flat kind of very, you would mistake it for a surfboard and it’s got these strings across it, and you literally are playing the strings with your fingers. So this is the last thing, the newest instrument I just picked up. I did my first session with it two days ago, and it’s called Harpa. You guys should check it out. It’s awesome.
Nick:
How did you hear about this?
Blessing Offor:
Well, Corey Henry, if you guys know who that is, your listeners probably know Stevie, Jacob Collier, all these guys play it. I’m like, what is this instrument? I must have one. Here we are.
Sandi:
It sounds like?
Blessing Offor:
It sounds a guitar initially, but it’s a guitar that’s manipulated like a piano, right? So it sounds like someone’s playing guitar like a piano. Wow. It’s so cool. And piano players love it. You finally get to bend and do cool guitar tricks, but with the awareness of a piano player, so I’m really excited to get into it. What
Nick:
Did you learn first? Guitar or piano?
Blessing Offor:
Piano first. Yeah. Yes, piano first, and then Funny story. I used to play alto saxophone.
Sandi:
Me too!
Blessing Offor:
Oh my God. Are you serious?
Sandi:
I’m totally serious,
Blessing Offor:
Yeah. Did you do high school? Yeah. Yeah. Me too.
Sandi:
Have I played it since? No.
Blessing Offor:
So I did middle and high school and some college. I played alto and man, I really thought I was going to be like, I mean, not Kenny G per se, but someone cooler, I think.
But I was really excited and I was like, man, this thing is so cool. And then eventually I was like, you can’t make money on Alto. The dilemma. I was like, man, I really want to make a living. I don’t have a family, but I was like, I’d hope to take care of my family when they’re with music. I was like, I don’t think alto sax is going to do that. So alas, I put it down and I said, you know what does kind of work is guitar. I picked up guitar and I was purely pragmatic decision. I was like, I got to be able to write songs and sing at the same time. I was
Sandi:
Just going to say, with an alto, you can’t sing and
Blessing Offor:
Play. No, you cannot. But I did learn to circle, breathe, and I was very proud of that. Whoa.
Sandi:
I know. That’s impressive. Wow.
Nick:
So on your resume, I mean, obviously piano, guitar. Yep. You sing trying to, you write songs, trying to you produce.
Blessing Offor:
Yep.
Nick:
If you had to let go of all, you could only choose one of those things like This is what I have to do from now on
Sandi:
And it’s not alto sex. What
Nick:
Would you do?
Blessing Offor:
Only one.
Nick:
Yeah. Would you just choose to be a songwriter and no longer perform or
Sandi:
Sing or what?
Blessing Offor:
Man, that’s tough. I can’t do it. Really? It’s like Sophie’s choice. It’s like Solomon, you know what I mean? That’s really hard. I would pick being a singer songwriter for instruments.
Nick:
Okay.
Blessing Offor:
Oh God, I hate even saying that.
Nick:
Okay.
Blessing Offor:
Yeah. Yeah. I don’t know if I could pick. I really couldn’t because when I was kind of growing up and listening to music, I thought everybody wrote their own music. So I was like, I’d listen to the radio and I’d be like, my God, Brittany Spears is a brilliant songwriter.
Nick:
Yeah.
Sandi:
Did those words ever?
Blessing Offor:
Has anybody ever, max Martin is rolling around somewhere in Sweet and being like, what?
Nick:
Didn’t we all believe that growing up though? I mean,
Sandi:
Yeah, if you sing it, you wrote it. Yeah,
Nick:
Completely. I was like,
Blessing Offor:
Man, wow. That’s just, I mean, genie in a Bottle. God. I was like, wow, that’s so smart how she tied that together. And so I thought I had to also write everything I sang personally. So I started songwriting because I was like, I want to sing, so I have to start writing the songs I’m singing. And that’s literally how the two things are so intertwined in my head. I wouldn’t know how to just be one or the other.
Nick:
Yeah.
Sandi:
I can’t imagine you not writing songs.
Blessing Offor:
Yeah, me neither.
Sandi:
Because you have such perspective and voice. Right? And I’m not talking about vocal. I’m just talking about what you say and how you say it. Seriously, come on. I don’t know. Just we will listen to some of your songs and go, my heart needs to hear that, or our listeners need to
Nick:
Hear that. I remember the first time we played Believe in the Morning Show, and we both just say, and we were quoting different lines. Somebody like, oh, that’s so good. That’s so good.
Sandi:
Yeah. I was like, whoa. Why does that hurt and feel so good at the same time?
Nick:
Right. I’m singing along and I want to cry.
Blessing Offor:
That is everything I want. And everybody’s like, why does that hit me and just make me, yeah. All at the same time. It’s both hand. I love that.
Nick:
Is it hard for you to sing songs that are written by someone else? Yes.
Blessing Offor:
I mean, I do covers. I love a good cover. Some people will say to me, Hey man, I wrote this song, you take a crack at it. And I was like, it’s a great song, but I don’t know how to sing words that aren’t mine. You know what I mean? Because I think we all have a certain voice and a certain way we like to say things. So I definitely, I love songwriting because I want to say things the way I want to say them.
Sandi:
I love everything about that. Your songs have made their way into Grey’s Anatomy, Coca-Cola commercials. I mean, has there ever been any place you’ve been surprised?
Blessing Offor:
The Kardashians?
Nick:
Oh,
Sandi:
That’s when you know you’ve arrived, right? I mean, come
Nick:
On. You mean on the show or you’re like in the car with them?
Blessing Offor:
We were on season something, one of the first Netflix ones, or no, Hulu. The first season. That show was on Hulu. We were at the end of the last episode and they literally played the whole song. Wow. And it’s funny because when I do that song live, I always say to people, you don’t say this often when you play a song at church, but this song was on the Kardashians. And so inevitably someone goes, someone will find me and say, I love the Kardashians. No, they’ll say, I heard this on the Kardashians. And so my response is always like, wait, you watched the Kardashians? They’ll be like, I mean, I was just skimming
Nick:
Through
Blessing Offor:
The show. I’m like, no, you weren’t. That was the end of the episode
Nick:
Skimming through. I was waiting for the show after it to start.
Sandi:
Did you know before it’s going to appear that it’s going to appear, right? Yeah. Not
Blessing Offor:
Only that, we made a whole scene of it. Yeah, it was great. We don’t mind that.
Sandi:
I would imagine that.
Blessing Offor:
Yes. I love it.
Nick:
So you’re in a Coca-Cola commercial. Your song is?
Blessing Offor:
My song is, I would, Hey, Coke. I would love to be in a Coca-Cola.
Nick:
I was going to say maybe a silly question, but does anything come with that? Do you get free Coca-Cola products?
Blessing Offor:
I will be honest, no.
Sandi:
Are you a Coke guy or a Pepsi guy? I
Blessing Offor:
Am a anything guy. Honestly, if I’m in the mood for soda, I’m just like, hand me anything. I think bragging rights came from the commercial, and that’s okay
Nick:
Too. That’s a big one. Yeah, that’s good. Yeah,
Sandi:
For sure. That’s pretty good.
Nick:
We talked about you learning to play piano and guitar. How old were you when you first started creating music?
Blessing Offor:
Okay, I’m going to tell on myself. I wrote my first song at a third grade school assembly. If you guys remember elementary school, they’d always do those school assemblies. And it was called, do you guys remember that? I’ll hold the description. It was an interesting drink. It tasted like chlorine, if you like, that kind of thing. It was an orange drink, I believe it was called Sunny Delight. Oh yeah.
Nick:
Yes.
Sandi:
Every kid loves Sunny Delight and every parent’s like, what is
Nick:
That? As an adult, it’s not so delightful.
Blessing Offor:
Actually looking back, I’m like, wow, that tastes like illness.
Nick:
Terrible.
Blessing Offor:
My first song on piano was called Sunny Delight.
Nick:
No,
Blessing Offor:
And I vaguely remember it was literally four fingers doing this side to side thing on the piano, and it was really bad. But the school was like, this is
Nick:
Our very old blessing on for Please
Blessing Offor:
Every day I pray, God, please no one have that video.
Nick:
Oh man, you know, somebody’s grandma has that video. It’s going to pop up somewhere. God. So that was third grade. At what point then did you get more serious and think, you know what, this might be a career path for me.
Blessing Offor:
Okay, the first song that I still think I can play was Seventh. No, maybe it was eighth grade. I wrote a song called, it was a Christmas song. It was called Our True King, and it had this cool little piano thing I was getting just starting to kind of put together fluidity on Piano. I was doing all my tricks all in one song and it was like had some part motion. And that was the first song I played to this day where I was like, oh, there’s adult musicianship there. You know what I mean? So that was seventh, eighth grade. And it’s funny, I wrote it for a choir and I taught it to the choir, and as the choir was rehearsing, I was being really bad in the back of the room. So the choir was practicing my song and I was like, I don’t know, talking. And the guy that was teaching us, his name is CC Deville, he goes,
Nick:
Blessing,
Blessing Offor:
Get out of the room. And I was like, oh God. I was like, CC, you’re doing my song. He goes, I don’t care. Get out. I was like, alright. And so I left the room and was in the hallway listening to the choir, learning my song.
Nick:
I’ll never forget
Blessing Offor:
That memory. I was like, that’s my, you can’t learn my, I
Nick:
Have to be in the room. Well,
Blessing Offor:
I couldn’t stop talking. So here we
Nick:
Were. Oh man. So how old were you when you were on The Voice?
Blessing Offor:
Was I like 22, something like that? I lived in New York starving artist days. Guys, listen, TV makes everything look so cool, but living in New York, living in Brooklyn was 10 by 10 closet. Right? I am sure. We lived with creatures
Nick:
Once a thousand percent.
Blessing Offor:
I always tell people I lived on $9 a day. I was that kid where people would be like, for $9 a day, you can support a musician in Brooklyn.
Nick:
Okay. How were you getting your $9 a day? Were you working? So
Blessing Offor:
Here’s how I went. I would do sessions, I would play gigs, Greenwich, Connecticut, where I grew up in Connecticut. So Greenwich was right over the border. I’d go play for these really wealthy people. I would do their little cocktail parties, whatever you what? I mean, I would, so $9 a day was like two 50 to get on the subway and go into Manhattan and work two 50 to come back home. So that was $5 and the $4 left, it was a dollar 75 for a large New York pizza and a soda. So I would do that at 11:00 AM So that’d be like a brunch, a massive pizza and a soda. And another dollar 75 was a line, massive pizza and a soda, and that’d be about five or 6:00 PM and you maybe have 50 cents left over if I do my math. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you live at 22. Oh my goodness. You’re too dumb to go to law school. You’re entirely too stubborn to go to law school.
Sandi:
Yeah. What was the process to get on The Voice?
Blessing Offor:
So they actually called me. Someone had heard something somewhere. The good thing about the Voice is that it’s a really great exposure, you know what I mean? And so all of a sudden I was like, oh, blessing offer from the Voice. It gave you some weird legitimacy. But that show happens so fast and there’s so many people that it does not make a career. You know what I mean? So I remember I had friends I did that show with and they’d be like, guys, can you believe we made it? We are famous now America knows who we are. And I’d be like, I
Sandi:
Dunno, no, no, none of us wait until next week.
Blessing Offor:
And literally after the voice, the only thing that changed was I was able to get better gigs. People saw me on The Voice, but I didn’t get a record deal after the Voice for another six years. So I moved back to Nashville and they called Nashville the 10 year town, and God was gracious enough to let it happen in five years. So he cut the time in half for me.
Sandi:
So just to paint this picture, you, I don’t want to say got rejected from the voice. You didn’t win the voice. I did not. You didn’t win. Oh, no. No, not at all. Your back life had to feel very similar to what it was before. Absolutely.
Blessing Offor:
Oh yeah. No. How
Sandi:
Do you hang on for five more years?
Blessing Offor:
I love songs and I love writing, and I loved the life I got to live. Here’s the thing about doing music or doing anything we do here is if there are people that wake up and say, I want to be famous, I’m going to do it through music. Those people, the worst thing that could ever happen to them is that they actually get famous because realize how pointless it’s, and that’ll be a tragic life for them. Or there are people that go, oh man, I really love writing songs and playing music. I hope I can do this for a living. And that’s me, and I hope everybody that wants to do this for a living. I pray that what you want is the actual job, not the outcome of the job. That makes
Sandi:
A ton of sense.
Blessing Offor:
If of this had happened, I would still love playing music.
Nick:
When you were living off $9 a day, having pizza twice a day, were you content with that? You’ve kept going for a while? I wake
Blessing Offor:
Up every day and go to my keyboard.
Nick:
Yeah, because doing what you like,
Blessing Offor:
I wanted to play music. So in the five years post the Voice pre-record deal, six years, I would wake up and go to my piano and play music because ultimately that’s the goal. And so now that I get to do it in front of all you guys, it’s still the love. But now I just have a lot more friends about it, so that’s
Sandi:
Good. Did you always see yourself doing the kinds of songs you’re doing now? Did you ever think you would do a different genre or anything?
Blessing Offor:
I never grew up saying I’m going to be a Christian artist. And even to this day, I don’t like that label because there’s a certain ism stigma. I tell people I’m an artist that’s a Christian. I think when you hear Christian artist, you have this idea, I grew up in New York City, I grew up in Connecticut. I’m from Nigeria. The music I make, I would like it to reach more people than the term Christian artist allows for. You know what I mean? Yeah. Whether that’s right or not, I just think saying to someone, I’m a Christian artist, shuts down a lot of conversation, but I want to make the kind of music that’s just music. So I want it to go into Brooklyn, into Nigeria. I want it to go into the northeast into places that Christian artists don’t tend to go because the church isn’t there very heavy.
I don’t want just make music for the church. I want to make music for the world who needs the church? So that’s kind of always been my goal. So it was always going to be weird. I would do showcases for labels, country labels, mainstream labels, and they’d be like, there was always a hyphenate. They’d be like, well, you could be the sole blank. You could be the country blank. The thing I do was always going to be different, you know what I mean? And I’m super happy to be doing it right here, right now. And I always tell people that the adventure is only going to get bigger and broader, and I would just want you guys to join me,
Sandi:
But you’re going to be who you are through the entire journey. Yeah. I
Blessing Offor:
Couldn’t change it if I
Sandi:
Tried. And that’s the beauty is, and we’ve gotten a real glimpse into who you are. So I love the fact that you’re not defined by the music you’re saying. You’re who you are.
Blessing Offor:
This is who God made me.
Nick:
That’s good. I love your perspective and your attitude about things. And just like you just talked about, you’re doing what you love, you got to play music, but things always look better when we look back on them. So I’m going to say in the middle, were there times where you just got discouraged? I’ve been doing this for five years, and where’s this going?
Blessing Offor:
I’m going to tell you a funny, so we’re making a documentary, and the documentary we’re making is literally just about everything we’re talking about right now. I came to the states when I was six, hadn’t seen my parents in 25 years, just saw them for the first time three months ago, went to Nigeria, visited home again for the first time. And so there’s been a whole journey story here, you know what I mean? And there was a time, and I think artists, what we’re trained to do is make it look polished. I hate that. You know what I mean? So I always tell people, listen, whatever an artist is showing you, it’s not true, bro. Seldom do. They just give you the truth and listen, there are reasons we can’t or whatever. But I really try to be as authentic as humanly possible because I’m not, I don’t want to be anybody’s idol.
I think that’s terrifying. I just want to be me, because if you and I sat and we got to know each other enough, we would disagree on things, but that’s okay. That’s still community. You’re allowed to disagree on things. So it’s like I don’t ever want to look too polished because I think that sets up really awful expectations that you might have of me or that I might have of myself. And that’s not healthy. So there was a time when my film crew was coming to my apartment to film, and they came in and I’m a super hospitable guy, if you’ve ever known Nigerians, we’re just like community people. So they walk into my house and I’m like, guys, lemme make you coffee. And I’m getting excited. I’m going to help make my friend some coffee, and I go to turn on the kettle thing, the hot water, and nothing was happening.
And my director goes, blessing, can we cut on some lights? And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, no problem. Flipped the light switch, nothing’s happening. I couldn’t pay the bill. That month, the electricity was shut off. And that was three years before record deal. And it wasn’t that, I literally think at that point, maybe there was a hundred dollars in my checking account, and I was probably like, okay, I’m going to wait for this other check to come in, so there’ll be 300 and then I’ll pay a hundred towards this and still have 200 left. And I was probably just a day short on the juggling, you know what I mean? And so they walked in that morning and there was no electricity. And I was like, Michael, we can’t film this. And he goes, oh yes, we can. The documentary, you will see. He walks into my apartment and there’s no electricity.
And he was just like, how does this feel? And I was like, cold, not good. You know what I mean? But that was real. And that was probably 2018. So in the middle of that moment, I was like, alright, God, I get it. Can we move on from this point? You know what I mean? And he said, no, there’s two more years. But still every day I woke up and I went to the piano because that’s what I love doing. So again, it’s like the trick is to not make difficulty look glamorous. You know what I mean? Stuff was hard. Don’t mean stuff was hard. And that was just the reality. But the joy, that kind of season is what contentment is born from. You know what I mean? So yeah, that’s it.
Sandi:
Well, everything that you just said, I love, not only because I love that how much you value authenticity, but when we try to glamorize or put on something that’s not what we really are feeling or who we really are, that’s not good for our souls. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. And so we’re not doing anybody any real favors. And I feel like in the time we’ve spent together that that’s one of the things I value about you is you are honest about it all. And there is, like I said, there’s just a richness to you being comfortable with who you are and also comfortable with the uncomfortable. Do you know what I
Blessing Offor:
Mean? Have to be.
Sandi:
Yeah. Right. There’s a lot
Blessing Offor:
Of therapy, guys go to therapy. It’s really good for you.
Nick:
The authenticity though, I am huge on that too, right? I just value somebody who’s real, even if they’re kind of a mess. And just reading your bio on your website, it comes across because it mentions the artist that influenced you. Like Stevie Wonder and The Commodore. It’s not like, oh, he grew up listening to Michael W. Smith.
Blessing Offor:
I love Michael.
Nick:
I’ve done gigs with him. Yeah, no, it’s not a slam against anybody, but it’s like there’s this thing, I think Christians in general, not just Christian musicians, but you got to fit this mold. And so I appreciate you pushing back on that a little bit
Blessing Offor:
With much joy and love. We will push back on that. Yeah.
Sandi:
You talked about seeing some of your family after decades. Can you just, I don’t know, we will wait and watch the documentary, but is there one bubble up thing that you’re like, man, oh my God, I
Blessing Offor:
Would start crying right now
Sandi:
That God showed you or that was just a heart thing, man, my heart needed to be here.
Blessing Offor:
I remember getting, oh my God. So it was a whole staggered situation. So my brothers, we saw my brothers first, then we went home. There was literally a film crew. I brought a film crew from America. We hired an on the ground film crew in Nigeria. There was military escorts blocking the streets. It was a whole scene. And so meeting my parents for the first time since I was six, I will never forget because it was me and my three brothers and we were walking into their yard and I could hear this woman sobbing and she goes, she says, is that my son? And I said, is that my mom? And we ran like prodigal sun style ran and no words. And then my dad comes running, and then my sister peace comes running. And it was just this full on reunion that I’m not saying all that time was worth it, but I’m just saying that’s a great, that’s only God could close the circle like that. You know what I mean? It was the heart. I think I went, oh, okay. Good stories, worthwhile stories deserve telling. And whatever time it takes to tell them is the time it takes. You know what I mean? It was really wonderful.
Nick:
How much time did you have there with them?
Blessing Offor:
Three weeks. Wow. Yeah, three weeks.
Nick:
I bet it still didn’t feel like enough
Blessing Offor:
Time. Oh my goodness. I got to go back immediately.
Sandi:
I’d love to know what, from your mom’s lens, what does she cherish in her heart? You know what I mean? It’s
Blessing Offor:
So crazy. Yeah. I’m really excited for people to see that because, and not just because it’s me. I hate to be that guy that’s like, my story’s really great, man, guys. The story I have to tell you, amazing. But it was very moving, even for me being in it, I was just like, my director who is not a crier, was like blessing. I’ve cried four times. It’s only been like an hour and a half. I’m sorry, buddy.
Sandi:
Were you able to just be in the moment and forget the fact that there were cameras capturing it?
Blessing Offor:
The crew was so good about being flies on the wall and nothing else. You know what I mean? So yeah, it was wonderful. It was really, really good.
Nick:
Alright, so we’re not going to top that experience of the past couple years, right? There’s no topping that. But thinking back to your career, I mean, it’s only been a couple years since Brighter Days came out, and then, I mean, so many songs after that, right? Your love, belief, the Goodness with Toby Mac, you’re all over Joy F him. What over the past couple years just felt like from your perspective, what are some of the highlights of the past couple years? You
Blessing Offor:
Guys? I, with all due respect to each and every one of you, I am pretty sure I’m God’s favorite here. I love you all, but I’m so sorry I couldn’t fathom any of this. You know what I mean? I’m so happy. Dare I say blessed, no pun intended. And it just feels like pinch myself. You know what I mean? There’s so many things coming up that I have been sworn to secrecy about that I can’t wait for you guys to see. And they are amazing. And it’s, man God. I always say to people, he do it, won’t he do it? Or I’ll say, look at God because won’t
Sandi:
He do it,
Blessing Offor:
Won’t it? It’s craziness. I was born in a village in Nigeria, and that’s kind of half the, you know what I mean? None of this was supposed to happen. The probabilities are infinitesimal. So here we are.
Sandi:
Have you ever asked your mom or dad why they named you?
Nick:
Blessing?
Blessing Offor:
The story is funny because in Nigeria, blessing is a very common name. So I was at the airport and someone goes, blessing. And I’m like, what? And it was like a 6-year-old kid who
Nick:
Also went, what? I was like, oh,
Blessing Offor:
Got it. Okay. My parents, my name is Blessing. I have a sister named Peace, and I have a sister who we lost a year and a half ago named Mercy. And so these are our names. And I think my mom and dad would tell you that naming somebody is a really beautiful thing. And this is what people get to speak on your child every time they call ’em. You know what I mean? So yeah, when I was a kid, I did not appreciate being called Blessing because I was like, that’s such a weird tape. All my friends were like James
Nick:
And
Blessing Offor:
Peter, and I got to be blasting. So I didn’t appreciate it. I wouldn’t change my name for the world. Now, I remember when I went to school, we’d done this artist development thing, and so we sat in front of panels of people and they gave us tips on our artistry, and they said to me, you should really consider changing your name. It’s never going to work.
Nick:
No.
Blessing Offor:
And I was like, really? They’re like, yeah, it’s just, and I’ll never forget this. It sounds like a Christian rock band.
Nick:
Wow.
Blessing Offor:
Blessing law for it sounds like a Christian rock band. And I was like, oh man, maybe they’re right. Maybe I should change my name. What do I change it to? And then the question was like, okay, well what do I call it, Peter? And eventually I was like, man, I can’t do it. And I’m really glad I didn’t do it. And I’m sure those gentlemen meant well, but I’m really glad I ignored them. So sometimes you got to ignore that. Did
Nick:
You just try to start a Christian rock band instead? Like, well, I’m just going to, I’m not changing my name.
Sandi:
That’s one of the secrets you can’t
Nick:
Say that’s coming up. Come on now. Starting a Christian rock. The kingdom is signed up.
Sandi:
He has to be who he
Nick:
Really is, right? Yeah. Yeah. This summer skillet and blessing offer. Guys, can we please correct me if I’m wrong, you have some ties to St. Louis outside of J fm,
Blessing Offor:
Right? I do have some ties to St. Louis. Yeah, Caroline is probably listening. Hey Caroline. Hi Will. I’m going to just shout out my random friends. My friend Katie used to live in town. Who did we? Me and Zach. I did a show here. What last May?
Nick:
Yeah. Zach Williams. Yep.
Blessing Offor:
I’m going to randomly shout out Hartford Coffee. Hi guys. You guys are like, wait, can you do
Sandi:
That? No, you can totally do it.
Nick:
You’re jumping ahead here. We were going to ask, when you come to St. Louis, are there certain things you like to do or places you like to go?
Blessing Offor:
Yes. Tower Grove is awesome. I love the park. You guys have parks everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. There’s like I said, the community element is so palpable. I got introduced, is it called Taco Sushi? You guys ever hear this? No. Okay, guys, listen, I’m not making this up. Somewhere in St. Louis there’s taco sushi, and I’ve had it, what it was towards Tower Grove. Somebody please, when you hear this, call the station, tell them busing isn’t crazy.
Sandi:
Bryce, have you heard of It’s a root. I’ve heard of sushi burritos.
Blessing Offor:
Oh, maybe that’s what I meant.
Sandi:
I think the same
Blessing Offor:
Thing. Yeah. Yeah. So it exists and I challenge you to go find it because it’s really good. I’m on
Nick:
The hunt. That sounds good.
Sandi:
I’ve
Blessing Offor:
Seen pictures. Yes. Okay, good.
Sandi:
Well, before we let you go, I don’t want to say bucket list just professionally. Yes. Right? You could have never predicted, your life would be here, as you just said, just so unpredictable. But are there some things you hope that are mile markers ahead, whether it’s community, family, I don’t know, just what do you hope are some mile markers that are in your future?
Blessing Offor:
So I’ve got a second record being worked on at the moment, and I want that record to my goal for it. When I sat with all of my people that helped me do this, I said, guys, I want a record that is as global as anything can get, right? It’s not, oh, we’re doing pop music. It’s not even categories. I just want a record that touches the world. That’s a big goal. But if we don’t dream big, what are we doing? So it’s like I want it to move beyond the categories that we like to box ourselves into. I want to make music that’ll reach Nigeria and Connecticut and New York and Nashville and LA and London and St. Louis and St. Louis. I want that because my dad said to me, blessing, God gave you this gift. You can’t use it to put anything in the world that would not honor him. He’s like, even if you’re not singing about Jesus, you got to put things in the world that are good, especially with the gift he gave you. So that’s kind of the dream, and I think it can be done, and I trust that’s going to happen. So y’all say a prayer and let’s do it.
Nick:
If there’s anyone that could do it, I wouldn’t bet against you.
Blessing Offor:
Don’t bet against
Nick:
You. Defy the odds in a lot of ways.
