SCHICK Magazine has announced the launch of its debut publication, SCHICK Youth Magazine, and they are not easing into it quietly. The inaugural cover star is Qing Madi, Nigeria’s fast-rising singer-songwriter, and the first issue has been fittingly titled The Audacity Issue.
It is a bold choice for a bold launch. Qing Madi, known for her distinct sound and disarming emotional honesty, is exactly the kind of artist a magazine called SCHICK Youth would want to open with. She represents something that feels genuinely new in the Nigerian music conversation: a young woman who is building a career on her own terms, without apology, and without performing a version of herself that the industry finds more comfortable.
In the defining feature, she reflects on her rapid ascent, her creative independence, and the emotional honesty that underpins everything she makes. She also says some things worth sitting with.
On success, she offers a quiet reframe:
“I’ve had to unlearn that success is noise or validation. Success, for me now, feels like peace, like creating something honest and still feeling like myself after it’s out in the world.”
On how she knows when a song is ready:
“I know a song is honest enough when it scares me a little to release it. If it feels too safe, it’s probably not the truth.”
On staying grounded in a world of loud opinions:
“Perception is loud, but truth is quiet, so I spend more time with myself, in silence, just to hear what’s real.”
And perhaps most simply, most powerfully:
“Don’t lose your softness, girl. That’s your strength.”
The Audacity Issue of SCHICK Youth Magazine will be available digitally from 30 April at SCHICKMagazine.com.
Photography: Sunmisola Olorunnisola
Styling: Demilade Osanyintolu
Assistant Styling: Damilola Leha
Makeup: Essenza Nigeria
Hair: Patrick Omale