Jidenna. Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty
We know Jidenna to be a “Classic Man.” The Nigerian-American singer is also a polyamorous man. During the latest episode of Bumble’s Luv2SeeIt, Teyana Taylor and Jidenna sat down to talk about polyamorous relationships.
Jidenna said he was introduced to the lifestyle by one of his former girlfriends. It wasn’t a foreign concept to him though. His grandfather in Nigeria had six wives. He was more familiar with polygamy than polyamory, which many don’t know are different. According to Psychology Today, polyamory “means multiple loves and polygamy means multiple spouses.”
“Polyamory is a form of consensual non-monogamy (CNM) with emotionally intimate relationships among multiple people that can also be sexual and/or romantic partners. In its most common form, polygamy is actually polygyny, in which one man marries multiple women.”
Taylor and Jidenna spoke about how people often think the man initiates polyamory but that’s not true. Taylor said even when it came to threesomes in her marriage, she was the one who opened up that conversation.
“People be surprised by how the woman initiates a lot of stuff,” the Harlem native said. “I’m not poly, but when everybody heard that me and my husband had threesomes before, they were like, ‘She’s willing to do that to keep a man,’ but that was all me!”
This is because “men are looked at as hunters,” the “Classic Man” singer added.
He said when he first became polyamorous, he had his sights set on sexual experiences. This didn’t last long.
“When I first started I had the basic dream of threesomes,” he said. “But then I realized I really wanted to have a romantic relationship with another woman.”
Jidenna said polyamory has to be agreed upon in the beginning of the relationship. He said with his current girlfriend, they aren’t polyamorous at the moment but she is also into it. He’s in an exclusive relationship at the moment with a woman who had two boyfriends when he met her.
“Right now, people look at me and [my exclusive partner], and they’re like ‘Wow, y’all are monogamous.’ and I’m like – maybe! But we reserve the right to evolve. Our agreement has license to change; we can change whenever we want.”
Jidenna said he also feels more people are practicing polyamory but they don’t realize it.
“I believe that most of us are out here dating and if you’re not in like an exclusive partnership with someone then its like kind of a form of polyamory. It’s just not as explicitly put.”
Watch the full episode, also featuring Joey Bada$$ later on, below.
