There is a kind of music that demands your attention. It arrives loudly, announces itself confidently, and asks you to keep up.
PAA3K’s music does the opposite.
It waits.
It doesn’t chase the listener. Instead, it creates enough silence for them to meet it halfway.
The Nigerian independent artist has quietly built a catalogue rooted in acoustic guitars, restrained production, and diary-like songwriting. His songs don’t promise resolution. They rarely offer easy answers. Instead, they linger in the uncomfortable space between feeling something and understanding it.
Throughout our conversation, he returned to the same ideas again and again: peace over perfection, honesty over expectation, simplicity over spectacle.
In a cultural moment that rewards certainty and constant performance, that quietness feels almost radical.
Maybe that’s the point.
INTERVIEW
1. Your bio says you make music “for people who find comfort in the quiet.” What does quiet mean to you beyond just sound?
To me, quiet means permission—not having to respond or explain myself. It’s where I get to exist without an audience.
2. PAA3K feels like a very intentional name. Why that name, and what part of yourself does it represent?
PAA3K, pronounced Patrick, is a name most people have forgotten I used to go by growing up. It represents a part of me I tried to bury, but instead I’m choosing to embrace it now.
3. Your songs feel less like performances and more like pages torn from a journal. Have you always found it easier to express yourself through music than conversation?
That’s a beautiful way to put it because most of my lyrics come directly from my personal diary. Music is my way of saying things instead of doing them. It lets me be messy with words and still be understood. Conversations usually want answers, but songs just need honesty.
4. Your lyrics sit with uncomfortable emotions instead of trying to solve them. Do you write to understand yourself, or do you already understand the feeling before the song begins?
Usually, it’s both. I write to understand, not to fix. I rarely begin with the answer—I sit with the feeling because solving it too quickly feels dishonest.
5. Many artists chase catchy hooks. You seem more interested in capturing a feeling. Has staying emotionally honest ever felt like a disadvantage?
It’s also the reason I’m still doing this.
6. Is there a lyric you’ve written that still surprises you every time you sing it?
Yes. There’s a line from Peace for the Road: “Protecting my energy while the world turns loud.” I wrote it a while back, but now it feels like I was predicting my own future. A lot of people doubt my work because it isn’t generic, but I’ve learned not to let that disturb my peace.
7. Your music explores love, loneliness, identity, and growing up. Which of those themes has changed the most for you over the past few years?
Identity. I stopped needing it to be perfect. Instead, I’ve learned to embrace many emotions at once.
8. What’s something about becoming an adult that no one prepared you for?
The quiet responsibility of choosing yourself over and over again.
9. You’re making indie music from Nigeria, where Afrobeats often dominates the conversation. Do you ever feel pressure to fit into expectations of what Nigerian music should sound like?
I don’t make music to meet expectations—I make music to express myself. My therapist once told me I should talk more, and music became my way of doing that.
10. Do you think audiences are becoming more open to alternative and indie voices, or do artists like yourself still have to build that audience from the ground up?
I think audiences are open to alternative and indie voices, but the industry is still afraid of the change. Most people want to belong in the Afrobeats scene because it feels safer. For artists outside that space to receive the same level of support, I think it comes down to consistency.
11. Your production is intentionally minimal. How do you know when a song has enough, and when adding more would take something away?
I believe simplicity is perfection.
12. What’s the first thing that usually arrives: a lyric, a melody, or simply a feeling?
The feeling comes first, then the melody, then the lyrics.
13. As an independent artist, what’s been the hardest lesson you’ve had to learn that has nothing to do with making music itself?
The world is yours. You can achieve anything you reach for because the human mind has no limitations.
14. Have there been moments where you questioned staying independent? What keeps bringing you back to that choice?
Peace. You get to decide what works for you and learn from your own mistakes. I guess you could call it self-growth.
15. What do you hope people feel after spending three minutes inside one of your songs?
A reflection of what they couldn’t find the words to say.
16. If someone has never heard your music before, which one song would you ask them to begin with, and why?
Ask Me. It’s minimal, it’s personal, and it tells you the kind of person I am. I’m not troubled—I’m just very self-aware.
17. Your music doesn’t ask listeners to escape their emotions—it asks them to sit with them. Do you think vulnerability is becoming a form of rebellion?
Absolutely. The world constantly tells us to be productive, be aesthetic, be fine. So when someone gets on a microphone and says, “I don’t have it figured out,” or “This hurt me, and I’m still living through it,” that becomes unusual. It’s okay not to be okay.
18. Finish this sentence: “I hope people remember PAA3K as the artist who...”
...gave people permission to feel everything without rushing to fix it.
· Morning or midnight? Midnight
· One album that shaped you. What Was I Made For? by Billie Eilish
· A song you wish you’d written. Listen Before I Go by Billie Eilish
· A sound you could never remove from your music. Acoustic Guitar
· Tea or coffee? Tea
· If your music had a colour, what would it be? White
· One Nigerian artist everyone should be paying attention to right now. PAA3K
· What’s something you’re currently unlearning? Letting environment define me.
listen to PAA3K on all streaming platforms
Spotify:
Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/ng/artist/paa3k/6785984462
YT Music:
https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCWw_AGqlBzMqHQoH76j7BJg?si=zU-Lz01Z_-8w6qF4
look up PAA3K on social media
TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@paat3ck?_r=1&_t=ZS-97sAVcRuEnA
IG:
https://www.instagram.com/paa3k__?igsh=MWhwYmhlc3NiZmg3ag%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
What is RADIO?
RADIO is The Culture Republic’s music and sound platform. It exists to document and celebrate the artists shaping contemporary music culture across Africa and the diaspora—from emerging voices to established acts. Rather than focusing only on releases, RADIO explores the people behind the music: their inspirations, creative process, influences, and the communities that shape their work.