Walking Backwards Into the Future – Of Adekunle Gold’s “Ire”

When I first heard the song “Ire” by Adekunle Gold, it was from a friend just a day after it was released. He told me that the song was awesome and already had so many hits and so, he downloaded the song and we listened to it together. It was so inspiring and we decided to make a video on Instagram of ourselves listening to it  using the hashtag #Ire and tagging Adekunle Gold. And guys………he saw it and posted it on his story!!! How cool is that? You guys can’t be talking to me anyhow again; we’re not on the same level o. Lol. I even took a screenshot for record purposes but I can’t access it again *tear, tear*

But to be honest, I didn’t really understand the importance of the song’s message until I downloaded the video some days ago. In some scenes, Adekunle Gold was walking backwards and I wondered so much about it that I went online to search for “what walking backwards represents” because I felt it meant something more than meets the eye.

My search led me to find that the concept of “walking backwards into the future” depicts the value we can get from remembering and comprehending our past, so as to adequately prepare for a better future. Now, when you listen to the lyrics of the song and watch the video, you’ll see that the entire song basically describes this.

“The grass is greener on the other side.

That’s what I thought before I took the ride.

I burnt my bridges so I’d never look back.

Chorus:

But if I had known, the life I was searching for was looking me right in the eye.

If I had known, the life I was searching for was already my own.

Ire n be nile o (Goodness is at home)

 Ire ayo (Goodness)

Ire [x5] ayo

O n pe mi o (Goodness is calling out to me)

O n pe mi ki n ma bo (It’s telling me to come)[x2]

O ni ki n ma bo (ire) [x2] nile (It’s telling me to come, to come back home)”         [x2]

The grass is greener when you water the ground

That’s what I found when I took the ride

I realized the mountain I’ve been climbing is nothing but sand o

I didn’t know I already had the answers (Oh, I didn’t know)

[Chorus]

-Adekunle Gold

Personally, I see the song and video as being symbolic of the term “walking backward into the future”. So, for those who probably want to ‘forget’ their past because of some gruesome or unsavory experiences they had, this is a call to walk backwards into the future in order to fully appreciate the beautiful future that awaits you. Don’t fight the memories, face them and overcome them so that you’ll see the value in what is to come. And to those who look at others and wonder why they lack certain things that those people have in their own lives, stop wishing to be more like another ‘imperfect’ human or to have what he/she has, you don’t know the full story or how they got to where they are today. Focus on your own journey, and put plans in motion to achieve goals unique to you and you’ll realize that you don’t need to be like someone else to find value, it’s all in you. Believe in yourself, you are more than awesome.

“Our model is not another human; it never was, because we are called to a higher standard of living in Christ. Peace”

Thank you, Adekunle Gold for this song. I won’t be forgetting “Ire” in a long time. It’s definitely one of the best songs I’ve heard this year.

-GraceOla

P.S: You can get the video I made with my friend from my Instagram, @_grace_ola. Special thanks to @damioluks for telling me about this awesome song.