Nigerian singer Spyro has opened up about his childhood struggles, saying some of the words used by his father while he was growing up made him feel useless and contributed to his struggles with self-confidence.
The singer shared the experience during a podcast interview with Nevon HQ, where he reflected on his upbringing, the pressure he faced as a pastor’s child and the effect his father’s words had on his perception of himself.
Spyro said his father would often make certain comments to him, although he acknowledged that his father might not have intended the words to have such a damaging effect.
“For me, it was terrible for me because my own father would usually just say some things to me, even though I think it doesn’t mean that, but he would constantly tell me that, you know, he would use some words to me,” he said.
The singer said there was little positive reinforcement for him to build on while growing up, leaving him feeling like the black sheep of his family.
“There was nothing to build from because there was no positivity. You know, I was like the black sheep of the family,” he said.
Spyro said the experience affected the way he viewed himself, as he began to see himself as a failure and developed a fear of what the future held.
“So thinking, when I think of myself, I think of myself to be a failure already back then,” he said.
He added that the fear followed him through school, making him anxious about whether he would complete secondary school or even graduate from university.
“And when I got into secondary school, the fear was there that ‘Can I even graduate or will I even graduate (from) university? The same thing,” he said.
According to the singer, some of the words his father used made him question his own worth.
“Because of this fear, I mean, from some of the things that my dad would say and the words that he would use, I kind of felt useless, you know,” Spyro said.
He also spoke about the pressure often faced by children of pastors to conform to a particular lifestyle expected by their parents.
“Pastor’s kids always face this thing where there’s so much pressure on them to conform to a certain kind of lifestyle that their parents want them to live,” he said.
