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GRAMMY-winning singer, songwriter, and activist Angélique Kidjo joins Norah to talk about her roots in Benin, her remarkable career, her humanitarian work, and her new album HOPE!!, including a couple of songs from the new record. Recorded 4/27/26.
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This episode is also available as video on YouTube. You can visit Nora Jones' channel and be sure to subscribe while you're there. Hi, I'm Nora Jones, and today I'm playing along with Angelique Kijoe.
Hi, I'm Nora, and this is Sarah Oda.
Welcome to the show.
Today we have Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, performer, and activist Angelique Kejo. Over her career, she's collaborated with artists including Alicia Keys, Peter Gabriel, John Legend, Yo-Yo Ma, Sting, many others. And her latest album, Hope, came out in 2026 and features guest artists like Pharrell Williams, Charlie Wilson, and Nile Rodgers.
She's just like one of these performers who brings joy to the stage. I feel like whatever her performance, recording, she's just a joyful person.
Yeah, she's got such good infectious energy. It's just so fun to just hang out and watch her go, you know.
And her music is sort of genuinely.
Joyful as well.
Yeah.
She's also the founder of the Batonga Foundation, which supports education, leadership, Economic Opportunities for Girls and Young Women in Africa. So you're going to hear about that. You're going to hear about her background. You're going to hear about her family life and some of the big personalities in her family, which.
Maybe contributes to who she is.
Yes.
Stay tuned.
It's a good one.
Please enjoy Angelique Kijo.
Thank you.
So you can't live without the stage?
No.
Yeah.
I was born on singing, and I was on stage when I was six.
Really?
My mom threw me on that stage because she has the largest theater troupe that ever existed today in West Africa.
Wow.
So I would spend my time on there rehearsing, like, knowing all the lines, all the songs.
And I would say, no, that's not right.
No, that's not right. She's like, shh, let us work here. And I would tell her, why can't I play with the little girl in your play? I want to be that little girl.
I know the song. I can sing the song.
And the day the little girl couldn't sing, I was mingling with the costume, and I was sniffing. I mean, I was like, I want to know the nitty-gritty of everything. And then I felt somebody grabbing my ankle and dragging me from under the costume. And I go, you going on stage?
I say, no, I'm not. She put the costume on me.
Whoosh.
And I was in total panic, but I walked in on the stage, and I had the spotlight right on my face. I couldn't see anything. So I said, oh, the public is not here. I'm going to do as I do. I'm going to pretend I am the star on the stage. And I sang, oh, yeah, this is me. And I started singing, and people were like, what? What is this? I finished singing.
Here I am.
Walk out, and then standing ovation, and my mom said, You got to go back. I said, hell no. I ain't going back.
I didn't know people were there.
That's why.
So when they started clapping, they scared you?
They scared the heck out of me. I'm like, I've been stupid on stage doing all my, because I've been singing and doing all this clowny stuff and make everybody laugh. And I just make a fool out of myself right there. And mom said, go back. They're clapping for you. I said, no, mom. I can't go back. And the next morning I woke up, I went to my mom and I said, it feels so good, right?
She said, look at me. I said, you telling me now? What am I going to do about it?
So that's how I started.
Wow.
And I never stopped.
You never stopped.
I was playing with my brothers. They have a music group too. My older brother played the guitar, the organ, fa, fi, sa, whatever, all those stuff. And I was like, wow, what is that drum? I saw a drum kit like that. I said, how many people play on it? And there's only one person. I said, that person have to be crazy. How many arms and legs do you have to play all these drums?
And they say it's only one person. So I have been very intrigued by music since I was a little girl, pretty much. And it keep on growing on me. And when my brother would want me to sing a couple of songs that I know by heart, they play in a club that is owned by one of my father's friends. And No kids allowed because it's a club where there's alcohol.
My father would wake me up at midnight.
I would put my dress that my mom made for me, and they would snuggle me in from the kitchen and finish singing. And I barely see anything.
Boom, they grab me in the car.
I go.
Oh, man.
It was fun.
That is fun.
That's what for me, music is discovering things and never stop. I mean, trying to tap into everything out there. So that's what I love about music.
That's beautiful. I get the sense that you're always discovering things because I feel like every album you've put out is a whole other world. And, you know, I know as somebody who makes music, every album has its own personality. And sometimes you have a theme for an album. But I feel like your albums are very, they go very deep into a theme, right?
I mean, I can't get bored. Boredom is the thing that just makes me really miserable.
Yeah.
And because I grew up in a household where my father played the banjo and sang, my mom played clarinet, does theater, my brother does music, fair sport. My brother was a champion of table tennis. But it's always something that I am. My brain absorbs so much, and everything evolves around music. So for me, going to anywhere music takes me, It's a safe place for me. You know, I don't question if there's going to be any humiliation or any agenda that being together to tell a story.
So I'm not afraid of any genre of music.
I mean, I.
Remember going to a movie. We had movie theaters in Benin. And the only movie we would see were karate music or Indian music. So versus the movie I loved so much when I was a kid. because of the dance, because of the singing from India. And the song, I love the song so much, but I could not remember the words, but I remember the melody. And every day I would go, every Sunday I'd go. One day my father said, you know what? Every Sunday I give you money, you go to the, I can't see that movie anymore because it's the same thing you went to go and see.
So at one point, there are some things that stays with, When image come with it and it give you so much joy that it never goes away. So I be bugging my family. You remember that song from that Indian movie? I'm like, I can't remember. And then my brother that work for an airline say, I'm going to India. I have some friends, Indian friends. And if you can sing the melody that you remember, just send it. And I say, the melody, yeah, definitely I'll remember. But I don't understand.
And I sing the melody.
That's all I did.
And they find the music.
I bet.
They gave me the lyrics. They explained everything.
So I have one.
Of my best friends is from India, Tina. And I went to Tina and said, hey, you're going to have to explain this and teach me because I don't want to make a fool of myself.
Yeah.
And that's the thing that I do with music. I just... It stays with me, and the sound of the language also is something that is really fascinating for me.
Yeah.
That's so cool. How many languages do you speak?
Oh, man, don't stop.
So many.
Many more than me.
I speak four from my country.
Okay.
Even though in my country there's like 50-ish languages. Oh, yeah. I managed to learn four.
But as a child?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I speak French, English. I studied German for five years. I'm learning Portuguese right now. I can speak Portuguese.
I love singing in Portuguese.
Me too.
That's really fun. And the songs are so good, too.
You see? Yeah, I get it.
You know what I'm talking about.
I mean, for us, it's easy.
But people, you say that, they go, but how? I'm like, I mean, there's no word to explain.
We just like it. We just do. It's pleasing.
That's easy for us.
They go, it's really easy?
I say, yeah, it is easy.
Period.
Period. But I said something that you can't explain to people that are not musicians or write music. Sometimes they ask me the question. I just struggle with my head. I'm like, how can I explain this for somebody that is not in this thing that we're talking about and makes sense?
So sometimes I don't have the words. I say, I just don't know.
That's it.
I can sing it.
I can sing it, but I don't know anything about it. I don't know how to tell you. I'm not a really good teacher. I mean, I have no patience to teach people.
Same, same.
You do?
Yeah. My mom had me teach lessons to her friend when I was a kid, just for fun, beginner lessons. And she came back and said to my mom, no, she's mean. She wasn't patient enough with me.
You know, it's the talent.
Yeah.
We all have our talent.
Yeah.
Being a teacher is also a success for us because it's hard work.
It is.
Good teacher stays with us, you know.
Yeah.
The one that really impact our life positively, they stay with us.
Mm-hmm.
The one that we don't want to remember, we just put them somewhere around. But music is not like that. You like it or not like it, it still stays with you somehow. It doesn't go away.
Teachers, you can forget.
But teaching is another skill that you and.
I don't have. Exactly.
And we ain't ashamed of saying it. Thank you.
Yeah, exactly.
Do you want to play a song?
Oh, whatever you want. Would you sing a song?
Yeah.
I was wondering if we could do a song from your new album and then we can talk about it after. But this is the song You Can.
Yeah.
And what language is it that you're singing in in the beginning of this?
I start with the language of my father. My father is Fong. And it's a song of lust. Lust.
But also.
Looking for what you can do out of that lust. And this song, You Can, it started with my daughter. I think it was October, November last year. She came down at breakfast, and then she said, she said, Naima was wrong. And then she said, Mommy, you know, I just realized that I have to mourn the world that had been promised to us.
And I said, no, you can't say that. She said, Mom, spare me the words.
I know exactly what you're going to say, but I don't believe in it because this world is not what we can do. And it's just like my daughter never speak like that. So it's just like my guts was just like, She doesn't want to hear what I have to say. And I said to myself, the only thing I can do is to sing to her. Not only for her, but for all the generation of young kids that we're raising today. For them not to lose hope.
Because they can. They are the ones that can rebuild what is being broken today.
So.
For me, it's a tough song, but we have to do this.
It's beautiful, though, and really, I mean, I was thinking about my kids when I was learning it, so it makes sense, yeah.
But if you don't have kids, you don't understand sometimes, and it's difficult to see your children trying to figure out things. And even if you have the right words, you don't really get to the feeling that they, that's what I understood, that I could say anything. She understands intellectually everything that I have to say. But her guts is just messed up.
And also, she's in a different place than you.
Yeah.
And you can't change that.
We just can try to do the best we can.
Yeah.
So that's what we're going to do today. Go for it.
Okay.
Toli e ocejo, tode maru na tinwe akwalele Toli e ocejo, tode kundo na tinwe vovo Dace rukweru, fiwe na wale nume akwalele Dace nyapara, kuwasa.
Singu ducele.
I know you think I'm a superhero One day you're gonna.
Learn the truth.
One day you're gonna see that good only conquers evil.
In the fairy.
Tales I read to you.
So you'd keep trying to do The impossible So you keep trying to change What they say you can't.
I believe you.
Can gonna get.
To opposites to hold each other's hands.
I believe you can Your.
Turn I'm so sorry you deserve much better Than.
This world you were born into I've been fighting a real good fight to bring us together And I hope you do.
Better than I could do.
You can.
I believe you can.
If anyone is gonna get to opposite to hold each other's hands. impossible keep trying to change what they say.
You can't keep trying to do the impossible keep.
Trying to change what they say you can't I believe you.
Can It's hard for me to sing and you should have seen I let you sing it.
It was beautiful.
Oh, boy.
I messed up a little.
No, the song, it's not a matter of, you do what you feel with it. I know. But that's the power of music. I know.
I know.
You go where it takes you. That's what it is. The song is, that's the thing that people don't get. A song is a storytelling. And we all tell the story differently.
Yeah.
The way it touches us.
Mm-hmm.
You can't do something that I do and I can't do what you do because I'm not in your soul. I'm not sitting on your soul right now. So I like the way you sing it because it gives me another perspective on that song. That means the song is going to have a life.
It's a great song. I mean, it's very universally.
It's always hard.
Yeah.
For parents, it's hard.
Exactly.
It's very hard.
Because you know what? That's what we have to give. That's what we have to give. We just do it.
Yeah, yeah.
You don't have the choice.
I know, it's true. And the new album is called Hope.
I wrote this album, it took me five years since my mom passed. So it's just like, I just have to give time to it and sit on it and let it just take me wherever. And through the process of doing it, I felt my mom all the time.
Yeah.
So.
She has helped me get out of the hole I was digging to myself.
She's like, come on, you got to sing.
Get out of here.
Yeah.
So that's her spirit.
My mom is always like, that's power of energy, of positivity, of doing things.
You got to do things. Don't sit here. Just go for it.
And that's what I wanted to celebrate because her magic word was hope.
Really?
She's always said to you, what will you do without help?
Yeah.
How do you leave the house.
To go do anything out if you don't have hope that you're going to come back? Or you have something, you're going to achieve something. Without hope.
Why do anything?
Exactly. Why do anything? I mean, and it's one thing that we keep on forgetting in the era of technology. And we lose hope it's going to be difficult to come back.
Well, yeah, because we're assaulted all the time with information.
Exactly.
Too much.
And bad news.
Too much.
And there's lots of bad news, but. We're not meant to retain all of it all over the world. We're not meant to know everything that's going on that's bad all over the world at all times.
Yeah, that's what it is.
I mean, for me, it's an assault on human spirit.
Yeah, it's true.
And we cannot let it happen. Because when internet came, we thought it was going to be a good thing all the way.
The world is.
Going to become... closer to us, we're going to come to know each other, we're going to be a better listener, better, I mean, accepting people. And it turned out to be a space of counseling, bullying, everything but really human-like. And I thought during the pandemic that if you get out of this pandemic, We're going to be better. There's something good that's going to come out of it. I'm still waiting for the good.
It's going to come.
I never want to lose hope. I believe in us more than anything else because I know that there's no me without us.
Yeah.
It can be. There are things that are bigger than us. Why you and I are singers? We could have been doing anything else.
Yeah.
Why?
That's the question I can't answer because if you can't answer it, just live up to it.
Mm-hmm.
And move on. And whatever you can do with your music to bring people to accept who they are is already a huge achievement.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We are privileged.
I mean, the power we have, we don't... I'm starting to realize that music is something that is a gift of nature that allows us to be free.
Really.
To just go.
Yeah.
Just go for it.
A gift of nature. I like how you put that.
It is.
Because I always think of music as such a weird phenomenon because it's sort of in our bodies and what is pitch and what is rhythm. It's just whatever it is.
It's in your DNA.
Yeah, it's already there.
It's there. I mean, imagine when the prehistoric people, I mean, our ancestors way back, they went on both their hands and their knees and then they stand and walk.
Yeah.
They walked. They were surrounded by an environment that had music. The trees, the wind with the trees, it had different sound. The sound of the wave is different. The sound of birds is different. So for them to live in that world, they have to decipher, is this a dangerous sound or is this a friendly sound?
A joyful sound.
A joyful sound. So step by step, they start, their heartbeat becomes the first rhythm. Because they can't walk against their heartbeat. So when people tell me, I don't have rhythm, I say, then you're not alive. So you're walking backward with your body. Our heartbeat is our first rhythm. So everything is there. We just manage step by step to find the notes, to start writing the music. But intuitively...
We can sing. When your baby was born, he cries. And when your baby is crying somewhere among other kids, you know.
You know it.
How do you know that?
I mean, I thought I was never going to know.
But I know distinctively when my baby was crying, I know.
So we are part of nature.
It's something that's deeply engraved in me through my mother's mother. She was a herbalist. She always dealt with plants. Since I was a kid, she would wake me up at 5 o'clock in the morning. Let's go grow some plant. I'm like, this is summertime. It's holidays. I don't want to wake up at five o'clock. She goes, get up, I said.
I'm like, oh, grandma, I just want to sleep.
Get up.
So I would get up and she would talk to the plant. She would tell me, this does this. This plant is not good. And even when I was half asleep, I would pay attention. And At the very early age, I was aware of the fact that my body was also part of the nature. So once you understand that, you take care of it differently. We just don't want to give into that sense that we have of belonging to this earth where we want to be seen like something special.
Nobody is special.
No, but we're all just part of this planet and just.
In our DNA, the rhythm is already... Yeah, the DNA is there. Why do you groove?
You don't know why you're grooving.
It's there. Even in the rhythm, you never heard it here, but before that rhythm, something in your body moves.
Yeah.
No, it's true.
I love that.
Yeah.
I love it so much.
I love it. I want to go dancing with you.
Yeah, let's go, girl.
Come on.
Okay.
Let's start the party, man.
Let's go.
Guys, let's put the DJ on.
Please.
You and I don't need nobody to play music and dance and sing, so we can do it by ourselves.
Let's do it.
In fact, you give me a car, but I just put it on.
Yeah. Do you play?
I like percussion.
Percussion, yeah.
And I remember when I was a little girl, I was playing percussion.
You were a girl.
You're not supposed to play percussion. And my dad say, who say so?
Oh, nice.
That's good, dad.
My dad say, who say so? Don't say that. If she grow up, she marry somebody, when she cook, it won't be cooked. My father say, if the husband can't cook, then let him die of not having food.
My daughter is not cooking for nobody. That's funny.
So can you cook?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I bet you can.
I love to cook.
Yeah.
Especially when somebody tell me, don't do this. Oh, you can't do this because you're a woman.
Oh, I say okay.
Okay.
I take my time.
I see.
I try.
I look at it.
I'll do it.
And I do it better than you.
That's right. So did you grow up with a lot of brothers?
Seven.
Seven brothers?
Three girls.
And are you the baby?
I was the baby girl.
Oh, my gosh.
And I have three brothers after me.
Oh, my gosh. Are you serious?
Yeah.
That's a lot. Yeah, and then they tried to rule my life. I'm like, hey, dude. Big, big family.
I got four, four.
I've already given headache.
You?
Nah.
Yeah. I'm your bigger sister. You start messing up with me, I'll mess with you.
Good.
So does everybody in the family have a big personality?
Oh, everybody has personality. My mom and dad, both of them are single kids, which is very rare. Wow. They don't have brothers, so they live in their heads.
Okay.
And then they had a big family.
Yeah, everything has to go over.
They process in their head all the time. But the thing that was really interesting was the commitment to education, both of them.
Mm-hmm.
My mom and dad said, there'll be no one in this house sitting down not going to school. You got to learn. Yeah.
And understand it's for your good, my father said.
Not for me. You've been educated for yourself. And me, I just like, I hated it. I had to go to school.
You had to sit still.
I can't stay still. And then I was so little and everybody was picking on me. And the worst part of it is that Because I was this low. Every grade, my sister and brother had been to, I was curious enough to understand where the stuff are. When I come to school and the teacher is talking gibberish, I'm like, this is not right.
So I get punished all the time.
So I'm like, ah! So I was hyperactive. But we don't know any of those in Africa that if you're active, your family is happy. Because at least you're not sick, you know? You're running around, it's okay. But the thing with school was that I realized that going to school is going to serve me more than my parents, whatever they're going to say. Because it's true that when you are educated, you live in a world where you can use your critical thinking.
Yes. You can decide.
Exactly what you want to do. That makes sense. And my father always used to say, the world we're living in now where we are home, it won't be the same tomorrow, let alone tomorrow.
In a year or 10 years from now.
So in order for you to be an adult, really when you grow up, to make decisions based on the change you're going to be facing, is to take the changes that come as an opportunity. Not against you, but an opportunity for you to be able to grab and do something with it. You've got to be flexible. You've got to be fluid. You've got to be able to fall deep below ground.
You can't sit there.
Within a second, you have to come up and say, okay, next, am I turning left, right? Do I have plan B, A, C, D, whatever it is.
Yeah, you have to scan the room and figure it out. Yeah, that's good advice.
That's what education does to you because you see.
It's a great way to see it, yeah.
And then you can also find, if you don't know, you can ask.
My father always used to say, there's no shame in asking you don't know. What you know is what you know, but you don't know it, somebody know it. Go find it.
Yeah, that's great advice. Yeah, I'm going to use that.
But it's simple like that, but not all parents do that. So I'm sitting here talking to you as it was easy for me to accept all those. Sometimes I'm just like, can you stop, stop talking, telling me what I got to do, please. Yeah.
Yeah.
It's hard to be told what to do.
But parents do that all the time.
Exactly.
That's why the kids just go, whatever.
I know. My kids don't like being told what to do.
Oh, me too.
Yeah. I'm like, but you can't say whatever. I mean, you say whatever, somebody's going to smack your mouth.
Yeah.
I'm like, oh, man.
That's right. That's not true. That's not good.
So you took five years to make this album. Did you still perform that whole time?
Yeah, I was still doing something else.
When I come back, you know, studio is not a very easy place for me.
Really?
Really.
Because everything was so instantaneous when I was growing up. You want to play music, you grab the drums, everybody comes in, in the whole place, the whole street, the whole family, the friends. It's the shbang. I mean, it's the party. And music for me was that. And when I arrived in 1980 or 81 to do my first album, I was still a student. I took my student loan to do my album. And I found myself in a studio.
with an engineer, and I was singing to the tape because the producer is not there. I just have to put my voice in there.
I was just like, huh? That's how you do it in Europe? This is not human.
But I spent the whole night singing it and never knew how it's going to be mixed till the album was released. And I was like, okay, I got to figure out the studio part of it.
Like a disconnect.
I'm going to continue going on stage.
And that's what I did even when I was in jazz school. I was still touring at that time. To make sense of school, I need to be able to put it in practice. I mean, I have to be in the making of it. So it was difficult for me to really adapt to the studio. My husband will tell you, he prepares everything and he tells me it's going to take 10 minutes.
And after 10 minutes.
I'm out.
And do you ever, are you ever able to go in just like with the whole band and when you just do it live and.
Then you capture that? That's what I started doing since 2000.
That sounds like your thing.
That's exactly what I started doing.
Just do it live in the studio with the whole band.
And I love it so much. Yeah. And then sometimes you listen to the tape back, my voice in the microphone, the drums, I say, I don't care.
Yeah, but the energy, you can't replace that.
No, and I don't want perfection. Perfection is sickness.
Yeah.
It's a disease. It sounds good. It makes me happy and I can sing it. I can go on stage. Anywhere I go, I'll be happy singing it. That's all that matters.
Also, I think the energy when you're recording live and the energy between you and the musicians in the room, it translates in a way that touches.
People that's much different.
It's AI can create that.
No, never. And then that's what I like about this album because we start home writing.
With my husband and a friend of mine called Shunguzu. She's from Zimbabwe. She can write. Oh, my God, that girl is so talented.
Oh, she can write the words simple, but right to the point. And then I came to Los Angeles and have the drum, horn, cello, everything. I mean, people recording everything. Then I continued recording in Paris. And every time, for example, let's say, Ira Starr's song. She sang it. We were already master... mastering pretty much so we say stop we're gonna wait and the song arrived within a week we did it the same with diamond platinums the song that of that diamond platinums actually he sent that song to me around five years ago okay and the funny thing.
Is he was thinking about the song at the same time i was saying he may sending him a dm saying what are we doing with the song and then he.
Said I'm about, let's do it. Let's do it. So we did the song, boom, like that also. And we've nice, I mean, we've been talking about working together for so long. And we had a friend, a common friend called Philip Says. I don't know if you know Philip Says, he plays piano. So we work on the song. I'm like, oh, this sound like carnival stuff in here. Let's get to Brazil.
And find somebody else.
And then we find Isa.
And then the song, it's like, I was not in a hurry. I didn't have a schedule. I didn't have the pressure of the record company said, we got to do the album this time. And it all worked out fine. The same thing with Pharrell. Pharrell, I met Pharrell in Rome because he was doing the Grace concert for the Vatican.
We were rehearsing in the afternoon before the show. No, the day of the show.
Afternoon, we were rehearsing.
And then he was sitting exactly as you're sitting there.
Behind the grand piano.
And me, I was playing with the house band. I was singing the song from Celia Cruz, La Vida Es Un Carnaval. And then he came in, straight from that chair, go, Angelique, do you have some music? Are you releasing some music right now? I said, yeah, pretty soon.
He said, I want to write something.
No, that's great.
I said, okay.
I'm like, really?
Okay, okay.
And then we exchanged songs. our phone numbers with his team, and two weeks after in Paris, I went to his studio, and he was already working on the song No Stopping Us.
And I arrived, I looked at him.
I don't know the machine where he's working, I don't know nothing about it. And I'm like, this is sounding like dope. This is good.
And then he was, I'm like, is he done yet? And he continued doing the stuff.
I was sitting down there, right looking at him, I'm like, I wish I could be in his head to hear what he's hearing.
Oh, I bet.
Because every time he put this and then the next step, I never heard that.
Yeah.
I didn't even expect that, you know? And then we did that song. And then I said, oh, I can write the lyrics for this one. I know somebody that can help me write the lyrics. And then he stood on the microphone and he was having melody in his head. And I go, and he go, and I want you to know, yeah. And then you can, I said, Don't do more. I work on it. And then he said, but I have a couple of songs. You want to listen to some of my songs? I said, hell yeah.
Bring it.
So he started playing it. And then he played for me, the song for me.
I go, that's it. That's my song. I want that song.
You picked it.
I want this song. Can I have it? He looked at me and said, I want it. Please, please, please. Okay, okay, okay.
You're going to have it. So I left with the stems, the two songs.
Oh, my God. It was paradise.
And then he sent me Bendo. And I didn't look at my phone. Me, I'm really bad with my phone. And then my husband was looking at something, the message somebody sent to me, both of us. And he couldn't find his. And then he looked at my phone and said, did you realize, did you see that Farrell sent you a song three days ago?
I'm like, oh, shoot.
He's like sweating.
My husband, you're just a mess. You know that, right? I said, well, sorry. Let's listen.
And we listened to Bando. And I'm like, oh, man, this is going to be something.
We recorded.
We sent it.
And then two weeks after, he sent us the horn section, but played by his piano. And then ask if I know a horn section in Paris.
I found one.
My keyboard player did the arrangement and we recorded that and we sent it. And he was working on that. And I have the weirdest dream ever.
The week after.
And I woke up in cold sweat.
Panic, total panic. So in my dream, I was on stage with Eminem. You see, you start laughing. And then he was singing, my name is, and he invited me on stage and give me the microphone and say, take it home.
I said, hey Jude, I can't rap.
I am making a fool out of myself.
He said, no, go on.
And I said, no. And I woke up. I said, please, God, never put me in that kind.
Of situation where I'll make a fool out of myself.
Do you have those dreams a lot?
Like anxiety?
No, that's the first time it happens to me.
Oh, I have them all the time.
Oh, no, please.
No.
This is too scary, man.
Where I'm only in my underwear and I have to go on stage.
Oh, no, shoot.
Or I have no set list or I can't remember the lyrics and I have no makeup on.
Or like, you know, you don't have your armor.
And then slowly people start leaving the audience.
And I'm like, I don't know.
It's terrible.
It's terrifying.
It's an anxiety dream.
Jesus.
And I woke up and I'm like, oh, no, please, God, no, no, no.
I can't rap. No way.
So I texted him. Farrell, I said, I think our song, Men Don't Need a Rapper, like, I mean, I'm like.
That's so funny.
And if he say yes, what am I going to do?
And then he said, I think I know somebody that can do this. And then he invited Cuevo. That's how we did it. That's amazing. The whole album have been like that.
Yeah.
We're just kind of all over.
Yeah.
Organic, whatever.
I said, if it feels good, it's going to be okay.
That's great. That's it. That's the way to do it.
Yeah.
It's like rendezvous.
Yeah.
And you're right on time. You're supposed to be where you have to be at that moment.
So that's this table.
I mean, that's my mom.
My mom pushing buttons here and there. That's nice.
So.
That's beautiful.
Yeah.
Thank you.
I got a feeling it just won't let me go it's deeper than you know I promise I got a feeling.
Surrendering my soul is something that I can't control.
It's a feeling of the sunshine. When I get it, then I'm all right. I'm just bracing for the good times. I know.
I'm taking nothing but a good fight.
I put my.
Hands up for my eyes because it's finally going right. For me, yeah I got.
A feeling It just won't let me go It's deeper.
Than you know I promise I got a feeling Stirring in my soul It's something that I can't control.
It's a feeling of the sunshine. When I get it, I'm all right. I'm just bracing for the good times.
I know I'm taking nothing but the good vibes. I put my hands over my eyes because it's finally going right. I woke up feeling different and I want to share it I'm alive again I woke up feeling different and I want to share it I'm alive again I woke.
Up feeling different and I want.
To share it I'm alive again I woke up feeling different and I can't compare it I know you gonna throw shades, will wanna see.
Me be lonely, but it's working out for me. I know you hate it, you might have made it, but I'm celebrating, I'm celebrating me.
It's a feeling of a sunshine.
When I get it and I'm alright I'm just bracing for the good times I know I'm taking nothing but the good vibes I put my hands over my eyes Cause it's finally going right.
For me, yeah For me, yeah For me, for you, for me.
For you and me, yeah I woke up feeling different and I want to share it.
I'm alive again.
I woke up feeling different and I want to share it.
I'm alive again. I woke up feeling different and I want to share it. I'm alive again.
It's stirring in my spirit and I can't compare it.
One more. I'm alive again.
I woke up feeling different and I want to share it.
I'm alive again.
I woke up feeling different and I want to share it.
I definitely want to go dancing.
With you now.
Oh, okay.
Let's go.
Well, be careful what you wish for because you better have a great dancing shoes.
I know.
And have a good siesta before.
Oh, my God.
That's so fun. And wait till I get off.
My jet lag and then you'll see how.
Good it is.
That was fun. Thank you.
I love this song.
Thank you so much.
I love we share these two songs for me. Those two songs means a lot for me.
They're really beautiful. Yeah.
I mean, we have to celebrate ourselves to be able to celebrate others.
Yeah, it's true.
And we live in a world where we just forget about us before getting out there and give. We always give because we are musicians. That's what we do. But sometimes we have to celebrate ourselves.
Yeah, it's beautiful. Well, thank you so much. You're here to do some promotion for your record. Are you doing a concert?
Yeah.
That's awesome.
A lot of expectation and a lot of excitement from my side.
That's good.
Because I just want to feel the urge and the need To bring some positivity.
In this world.
Yeah.
Right now.
I definitely think you do.
We need to.
Yeah, we need to.
That's what we have to do.
Yeah.
Because we have privilege that a lot of people don't.
Yeah.
So if we can touch people, let's continue doing it, Nora.
That's great.
We can't stop.
I love it. And you're always doing other things, too. You have foundation. You have humanitarian stuff you do all over the world.
You know what? That also inform and inspire with the work I do. Because when you don't get out of your comfort zone, you think that everything is all right.
Yeah.
And next door, somebody's suffering.
And I think that the purpose of us human beings is to be here to serve one another. And the work I do, basically, the people that I try to help, they are the ones that help me stay humble.
And to see what is possible to do.
They inspire you.
They inspire me with great more than any way that, I mean, I get into this without knowing what the journey is going to look like. Because when UNICEF asked me in 2002 to become the Goodwill Ambassador, I said yes. And then suddenly I'm like, hold on a minute. What does that mean? What does it entail? So if it's political stuff, I don't do, I'm not good at it.
So they say, no, what you want to do? And I said, I just want to see how we can help the young girl and the young boy and the family, and especially the mothers. And it was an eye-opener for me because even though my parents were always going out of their way to help other people, the needs of help around the world is out of this world. And what is really painful for me that I struggle with, that I still continue struggling with, is how we cannot be there for our children. How can we create a world in which In our selfishness, the kids, some kids don't have food.
They can't eat. And we have.
Places where people throw food away without thinking about how it can save somebody's life. And all those little kids, they are the ones that hold my hand. Sometimes I will arrive, I'll be crying. And they will look at me and say, we want this song. We want this song. I think you have to just gather yourself together because.
You and other, they are looking up to find meaning to their lives. And it is hard for me to find words sometimes, especially when you're in front of a little boy and the conflict is over, the camp, but they can't go home. There's no family anymore to go to because those kids was forced to kill the family to become child soldier. And you have that 12-year-old little boy there And the only thing he's giving you is disturbing drawing. And you're like, I've been a 12-year-old girl.
What he's saying in his drawing is just not acceptable. As a mother, it was difficult for me. And adults around, they're trying their best, but everybody was a little bit lost. So I don't know what went to my head, Nora, and I started singing a lullaby. And I see that little boy start smiling. And you see the gasp of the social worker, everybody that was there. And I just keep singing the song. And I said to myself, for this reason why we do what we do. And there are many things I can talk to you about here.
But those kids are always there. They want to be kids. They don't even think that they might not have a future. They already have it there. And they are forcing you to seek. There is something that you can do. When you have a four-year-old boy, orphans of parents, both parents died from HIV and AIDS, and that little boy come and sat on your lap with fever like, I mean, he was so hot I could barely touch him, right?
And then he said to me, I have a message.
Can you tell the world that the children, us children of this world, we have to be the priority of adults?
You have a four-year-old child.
Wow.
And you walk out of there, I was numb. I was angry. But at the same time, they were still kids. As soon as I finished singing in there, everybody was hanging out on me. Come on, sing more, sing more. And I'm like, all those orphans there, they were all HIV positive.
Wow.
And you start in your brain going, what kind of adult life they're going to have? They do nothing. They just were born, and that's it.
Mm-hmm.
So I said to myself, if I didn't have music, I would have been in a psychiatric hospital. It's too much. Too much pain that we inflict upon our children. But at the same time, if you give them something to hang on to, they run with it. And they do great things. That's the only thing that keeps my hope up.
I've seen it myself. And it's just like, it doesn't take millions. Just the fact that you were there and they talk to you, you listen to them. And you tell them, okay, from right here, what can we do? What do you want to do? And you empower them to do what they have to do. It's not only one person you touch. You touch the community, the family, and the country. So that's what keeps me going. All I'm writing about is I can't talk about hope if I haven't seen and witnessed hope.
Well, that's the thing is you can be a witness to what they're going through and you can reflect it. You can be inspired by them and write songs about it.
Especially those kids.
You know what?
When I arrive, they go, I'm like, I'm like, what is that? What does that mean?
What is that thing?
And then the little boy goes to me and says, it means children first.
Oh.
I say, okay. So, can I write a song with your rallying cry? He goes, wait a minute.
He went to the other guys. He's like, they have it. I don't see them.
He came back and said, yes, you can write a song with a rallying cry as long as the song is not a sad one.
I'm like, that's the mission you gave me. I said, I promise I'll do so.
That's sweet.
That's it. That's it. I mean, well, Kids will be kids. There's nothing you can do about it. You just have to accompany them. That's all it is.
Beautiful.
That's all we do.
Yeah.
We are mommies, you know.
Yeah.
Thank you so much. That was beautiful.
I like being with you.
I like your stories.
I like the place.
I like you.
I like the good vibes.
I like you.
Me too. I like you.
I know why you do the music you do because you have the right place to do it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you so much.
Aw, she's so fun.
She's so cute.
What a character. She's so awesome.
She's incredible.
Yeah. The songs we did today in this episode, the first one was called You Can from Angelique Kidjo's new album, Hope, released in 2026. The second song we did was For Me, which was also from the same album. And the album version features Charlie Wilson and Pharrell Williams. Special thanks to Angelique Guijo for joining us today. Nora Jones is Playing Along is a production of iHeart Podcasts. I'm your host, Nora Jones. This episode was recorded by Matt Marinelli, mixed by Jamie Landry. Audio post-production and mastering by Jamie Landry.
Artwork by Eliza Fry. Photography by Shervin Lenez. Produced by Nora Jones and Sarah Oda. Executive Producers Aaron Wong-Kaufman and Jordan Runtog. Marketing Lead Allison Cantor-Graber. Thank you.
