Rema and Selena Gomez's "Calm Down" continues to shatter worldwide records as it advances its claim for 2023's Song Of The Summer, and indeed for every other season—it has in fact completed a year on the Billboard Top 100 chart, and even now continues to chart in the Top 20. And as its impact has been far reaching, so also have the accolades. The most recent of these came only a few days ago, when the song officially crossed 1 billion streams on Spotify, crowning it the first African song to reach this feat, and also one of the 500 most streamed music tracks of all time. Before this was the MTV Video Music Award ceremony, where a charismatic Rema received an award for the maiden 'Best Afrobeats Song' category. Before calling on his co-creator to say a few words of thanks, he paid homage to Nigerian music icons that paved his way to the world's biggest stages—names like Fela, pioneer of Afrobeat (no 's'); D'banj and 2Baba, prominent figures who ruled through the 00s; Don Jazzy and D'Prince, his mentors at Mavin and Jonzing, his record labels; and of course Nigerian music royalty Wizkid, Burna Boy and Davido.
It is fitting that he makes such acknowledgements at a time when he too is progressing towards a career of this status. Nigerian music's growth, like he succinctly put, has come slowly but surely off the back of these creators, so that now, "Calm Down"'s worldwide acceptance does not draw the surprise it deserves from the Nigerian audience; exploits of the last two years appear to have numbed its citizens to what is possible. Two years ago, Essence, the Wizkid-Tems sultry collaboration that got a Justin Beiber touch for its remix, was having its moment in the sun with each new step applauded by the country, and it is important for context that Rema’s song has already amassed five times as many Spotify streams as its predecessor.
For many, this moment was always going to arrive for Nigerian music, the day when we would no longer need tags like "For an African artist" to qualify a new win; we would compete with parity against music from anywhere in the world. And for a tiny subset of these believers, it was always going to be Rema at the forefront of the vanguard effecting this cultural revolution for Nigeria. For the artist, born Divine Ikubor, has always borne a mark of divinity.
After catching the eye of D’prince, CEO of Jonzing record label, via a cover of his song, "Gucci Gang" that he posted on Instagram, the Benin-based singer got an invite to come to Lagos for a proper audition, after which he was signed to Jonzing, a Mavin record affiliate. At the age of 19 he made his entry via a self-named EP, a Mavin tradition, that highlighted in only four songs what Rema was set to bring to the industry. His euphonious vocals were for many the biggest and most prognostic highlight, but they masked other crucial aspects of his artistry—the depth of emotion he channels on "Why", and his dexterity in balancing this beside the fast-spinning Afropop bangers, "Dumebi" and "Iron Man".
A few months later, he made his reprisal, but in a new apparel—Trap music. His Rema Freestyle EP projected speedy delivery, snappy trap beats and rhymes about money, as Rema displayed another aspect of his artistry. Most noticeable was his sparsity of romantic themes on the new project, the substance with which he propped up his earlier effort. His third project, Bad Commando, found the balance between these two extremes, placing confident statements of self-aggrandisation (Dem know say I be bad commando”, he sings on Bad Commando) side by side with affecting professions of infatuation (The moment I see you na up NEPA, he begins on “Lady”), while he switches between Trap and Pop on the production side of things.
Releasing this project meant it was a very busy debut year for the singer, and at the 13th edition of the Headies he was awarded the Next Rated award—earmarking him as the next big star. In January he picked up a similar plaque at the Soundcity MVP Awards, and together with his City People Award for Revelation Of The Year, these plaques underscored how outstanding his debut year was. In 2020, though, it was time for the next stage of music release strategy, and this time he worked by releasing singles, as he tried to establish his sound as a balance of his Afropop, Trap and Arabian music origins. His first effort of the year was the two single pack of "Rainbow" and "Beamer", and the latter was the significantly more successful song, featuring Jamaican producer Rvssian who incorporated traces of the Dancehall genre.
These songs, along with his June release, "Alien", were drawn chiefly from the Trap corner of his artistry, but to properly dominate a country like Nigerian, he would need to create for a dance-loving audience, and with his next two singles, the melodious, groovy "Ginger Me" and the explosive "Woman", he sought to do exactly that. With the latter, Rema’s material also took on a sultry turn—“I too like woman, me I no dey gboran”—that he reprised with his next single, the Don Jazzy–produced "Bounce". Already Rema’s profile was growing exponentially on a national level as he sought inroads into the global market.
2022, for Rema, was the time to crystallise this three-year dominance in Nigeria's industry into a recognisable global profile. He released "Calm Down" in February, melding Afropop, Arabian and Dancehall influences for a track that was still authentically Nigerian—"Girl you sweet like Fanta", he says, reworking a popular Nigerian children's rhyme into a missive of playful adulation—and yet lent itself to foreign acceptance. To advance its entry into foreign markets, a stroke of collaborative genius brought a Selena Gomez remix, pouring fuel into the fire of the song's momentum so that it sauntered into the next gear of its worldwide ascent. With this remix has come multiple broken records, a couple of awards (including one for Rema as Headies Best Male Artist), and certifications that continue to roll in by the day.
As Rema continues to break new grounds both historically and geographically,—as in his recently-completed Indian tour—the next sets of doubts will centre around whether he can extend this fame beyond "Calm Down", and insert himself properly in world stardom. But that should be no problem. A combination of his astute singing talent, evocative writing and undeniable star power should ensure Rema fulfils his promise as prince of Nigerian music.
This article was written by Afrobeats City Contributor Ezema Patrick - @ezemapatrick (Twitter)
Afrobeats City doesn’t own the right to the images - image source: Instagram - @Scrdofme
Adekunle Gold, the Lagos-born prolific singer, is one of the handful of Nigerian artists who can boast of a lasting presence in the highly competitive space that is the country's music industry. His was a journey of talent, consistency, invention and reinvention.
He was born Adekunle Kosoko, a member of the royal Kosoko family of Lagos Island, so when he chose to follow his passion in music, the name Gold readily appealed to him. Days spent riding to school with his father while they played Ebenezer Obey and King Sunny Ade, as well as lullabies sung by his aunt at bedtime, planted a love for music in the young Adekunle. With time, his love for listening to music spurred him to create his own. Like many other budding artists, he cultivated his talents first by joining the junior choir in his church and later, by forming a band with a close friend, Michael Bakare, before deciding to pursue a career as a solo artist. Michael remains a major musical pillar of Adekunle Gold’s career, his songwriting and production credits can be found as recently as Adekunle's latest album.
Nigeria's first introduction to the artist, however, was through his creative work as a photo editor. Prior to the release of “Sade” in December 2015, Gold had been given the title of 'King of Photoshop' for his creative editing of his images on pictures of actress Tonto Dike, OAP, Toolz and especially afrobeats queen, Tiwa Savage. A young Adekunle Gold had finished school with a diploma in Arts and Industrial Design and was putting his degree to good use, doing graphic design work for a number of YBNL artists, including Viktoh, Lil Kesh and even street-pop legend Olamide.
In 2014, Adekunle Gold released “Sade”, a cover of One direction's “Story of my Life”, and based upon a real life Sade who had turned his affections down. As the song gained ground, Pheelz, YBNL's in-house producer, saw there was more To Adekunle Gold's creativity than visual arts, and after conversations with label huncho, Olamide, Adekunle Gold was unveiled as a YBNL artist in March 2015. Then, he got a chance at a proper debut single, and "Orente" was born; a folksy Yoruba-supported love ballad, featuring distinct Yoruba instrumentation, which would grow to become his signature style. He followed this up with “Pick up”, which amped up production for a Juju-influenced song that would be an excellent fit for a live band.
All these built up to the release of his first studio album in July 2016, Gold that featured successes such as "Work", "Ariwo Ko", and another all time classic, "No forget", a duet with Simi, a friend and fellow artist who had previously mixed and mastered songs for him. His debut album was a critically acclaimed success, peaking at no. 7 on the Billboard World Album Chart.
His next studio album, About 30, was released in 2018 after exchanging amicable farewells with YBNL. He assembled a team of instrumentalists into a live band, named the 79th Element (Gold), and headed by Michael Bakare. As a result the album drew chiefly from his unique upbeat trad-style music which he christened Urban Highlife, and it housed a number of memorable songs like the energetic "Money", the evocative "Ire" and the sombre "Fame".
Until 2019 Adekunle Gold had operated firmly within the boundaries of his self-styled Afro Urban genre, where live instruments could meet with intoned delivery to channel some of the essence of Yoruba Juju music in a more modern setting. For the next step, though, it was time for an artistic refresh, and to achieve it, he will have to sacrifice some of his folksy essence for better mainstream appeal. And so he braided his boyish afro into a macho cornrow, while he discarded the Adire shirts for brightly coloured jackets and flowing kimonos, left unbuttoned to show his new buff physique, completing his look with tinted glasses and loose fitting pants. His switch in music was a lot less acute. For "Before You Wake Up", his first solo single of 2019, he maintained a similar delivery but production was different, employing more studio-made Afrobeats rather than the live drums and keys he was more popular with. Also subtle was his use of English and Pidgin for the entirety of the single, in the past Adekunle Gold had relied chiefly on Yoruba.
It was in 2020 that he properly donned the artistic personality he would take for his next era. First came "Jore", a duet with Kizz Daniel that leaned into Kizz's brand of casual afropop that was backed by catchy lyrics and a flowing beat. Then he released "Something Different", which was as it was named, a continual of the sonic detour he was making towards the mainstream. In mid 2020, “AG Baby" was released, the manifesto for his artistic vision; on the track he alludes to being the "street boy popping on the mainstream shit". “AG Baby’ was homonymous with his new persona, and on his next album, “Afro-Pop Vol. 1”, he delved properly into who he was now and what to expect of him. A song like “Okay” handled this orientation nicely, as he spun the mid-tempo pop groove into a song deriding his haters.
While AG Baby was morphing into the popstar, Adekunle Gold was settling into family life. His marriage to Simi was for many a bolt from the blue, but insiders into the couple’s lives knew they had been an item even before either of them made their debuts in the industry. Simi had produced, as well as mixed and mastered a chunk of Adekunle Gold’s Gold album, and Adekunle has gone on record to credit her with helping him find his music style. The pair had collaborated across a number of tracks over the years, each time bringing amazing chemistry that most fans did not know was the product of real life love they shared. On January 17th they released “Promise”, a tribute to their new union and the first official announcement of it. A little over a year later, in May 2021, “Happy Birthday”was released; a love letter to their daughter, Adejare on her first birthday.
2021 also saw him release three successful singles that would appear on his next album, “Catch me if You Can”, “Sinner” and “It Is What It Is” followed the laid back, less-is-more delivery of his newly perfected style. But “High”, featuring industry heavyweight Davido, was a different dish altogether; an Amapiano heavy hit, foreshadowing another shedding, or perhaps more accurately, an extra layering of personality that would lead AG Baby to give way to Tio Tequila. The lover boy Adekunle who had withstood the transition from Adekunle Gold to AG Baby evolved to another man for whom “Love is not enough”.
His latest project, Tequila Ever After, is named after this new persona, and here he slows down his Afropop cadences to take in parts of Dancehall and RnB. By far his biggest project, Adekunle Gold assembled RnB megastars like Pharrell Williams and Khalid as well as budding Nigerian street stars like Zinoleesky and Odumodublvck. He has already hit the charts with two singles, “Ogaranya” and “Party No Dey Stop”, so he will be hopeful others can quickly follow suit. More importantly, though, he will hope his new project, and the persona he introduces with it, can significantly advance his global intentions. Adekunle Gold has described his latest project as a celebration of his wins so far.
With a solid discography encompassing five successful projects, a recently bagged contract with an international label in Def Jam Records and a career about to reach the 10 year mark, a celebration is much needed and well deserved. As the artist readies himself to consolidate his position in the Nigerian market and expand his wings even further beyond the shores of the country, he can take a shot of Tequila and toast to his wins so far, because it only gets better from here.
This article was written by Afrobeats City Contributor Ezema Patrick - @ezemapatrick (Twitter)
Afrobeats City doesn’t own the right to the images - image source: Instagram - @Adekunlegold
Afropop sensation Teni is back with a feel-good anthem titled "Lanke".
Produced by BlaiseBeatz and directed by Syx, the empowering video for "Lanke" was shot in Accra, Ghana and is full of colour, cultural richness and diversity. Perfectly capturing the joyful spirit of the song.
Speaking on "Lanke", Teni said: “Life has ups and downs. Enjoy the moment either up or down. Feel good, regardless of what life throws at you. Always feel good. Omo Lanke is someone that owns a wheelbarrow. You never see a person that owns a wheel barrow drive straight. Good or bad, we stay pushing, we don’t stop, we keep going. We appreciate the good, we learn from the bad.”
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Massive Congratulations to Tiwa Savage who earlier announced that she has signed a global record agreement with international music corporation Universal Music Group (UMG).
The new deal means that Tiwa Savage’s future music will now be released and promoted internationally through UMG’s operation in 60 different countries worldwide.
This is big news for Tiwa Savage who has become the first female Afrobeats to sign a major deal and we can’t wait to see what the future has in store for her!
Burna Boy has dropped the visuals to one of our favourite songs taken off the African Giant album.
Titled “Pull Up”, the video was directed by Meji Alabi and shows Burna Boy riding around with a crew of beautiful black women having fun as each of them bring their own sense of style and character to the video.
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First premiered on Beats 1 radio show, Ycee is back with a brand new single titled “Your Love”.
The single is hot off the heels of a headline show in London which included appearances from Wizkid, Falz, Basketmouth, Eugy, Bella and the warm up single, “Say Bye Bye” featuring Eugy which premiered on BBC1Xtra.
The young star says, “Your Love was created with the sole inspiration of celebrating love in its entirety (imagine a wedding on a Valentine’s Day)! The major inspiration I’d say for this record is a long lasting memory of a loved one which in this case I am telling “I just can’t forget Your Love”
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Benita Onuelu announces the release of her anticipated new single “Jidenna” via the online music digital distribution platform Strictly Digital Music. This love song is an Afro-contemporary ballad fusing the “Igbo” dialect (a Nigerian language) with Pidgeon-English (a Nigerian form of broken-English.)
The song written and arranged by Benita and produced in the UK by Emmanuel "Manny" Abiola-Jacob, describes the beauty of love and the magic of finding and connecting to another soul and the make-up of that experience.
Currently based in Manchester UK, Benita who was originally born in Lagos Nigeria (from Delta State) started singing at the tender age of 8 in her church choir, however it was not till her mid-teens that she decided to take it seriously. A former member of the renowned Manchester Sing Out Choir, her early works included performing as a session singer in various top studios in the UK as well as participating in live performances as a vocalist in both Major and Local community events in Manchester.
Benita has appeared at numerous high profile live events organized by the likes of, MTN Mega Concerts, Star Music Fusion Concert, Comite d'Organization des jeux Africaine (COJA) - the opening ceremony of the 8th All African Games Abuja, Nigeria.
She has also worked with Nigerian music legends such as Majek Fashek and Blackky to name a few. Her recording experience includes mostly her own material along with some work from other artists in the UK and in Nigeria.
"An expression of a lovely and indebtly constructed Melody. It appeals to the soul heart and the Spirit of Nature". Benita Onuelu
Her singing style draws its influences from Jazz, RnB and Afro-Soul fused with contemporary Orchestral arrangements creating a whole new experience to the current global Afro-music invasion!
CLICK THE LINK ABOVE THE PHOTO TO LISTEN, DOWNLOAD & PURCHASE "Jidenna” or CLICK HERE NOW
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