Thursday, August 25, 2022

REVOLUTION IN THE NIGERIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY

 


Change they say is the only constant thing in life. This also applies in the music industry-musical fame doesn't last forever.

The music industry is a journey which goes through different seasons and generations.  Every generation of musical artists has their peculiarities and has produced frontline popular music. 1960s saw a number of Nigerian musicians growing in the booming music industry. For instance, Haruna Ishola dominated the apala style of music. Also, the early 1970s saw some of the biggest names in the history of Nigerian music at their peak, including Fela Kuti, King SunnyAdé and Ebenezer Obey.

In the last two decades, the Nigerian music scene has evolved exponentially, giving rise to a number of young music stars. These young people have evolved in their musical careers, eventually becoming some of the greatest voices in music in Africa. Kennis Music, a record label founded by Kenny ‘Keke’ Ogungbe and Dayo ‘D-One’ Adeneye. Both OAPs in the Ray Power radio station at the time signed on artists such as The Remedies, Wale Thompson, Eedris Abdulkareem, Tony Tetuila and Sound Sultan.

 In terms of production quality, international recognition and the forms of music that are classified as popular, there is an obvious fact that it has changed from what it was to what it is now. The 21st century saw another generation of youths standing out in the Nigerian music industry for their talents and achievements in genres like rap, hip-hop and Afrobeat. Musicians like Davido, wizkid, Burna boy, Olamide, Tiwa Savage,YemiAlade, Adekunle Gold and so on are breaking boundaries with their music while  taking Nigerian music all over the world.

The inspiration from these reigning music stars has challenged others to take up singing career. Recently, we have new artists breaking the waves and releasing hit songs back to back. One if which is all the way from YBNL camp, Ololade Mi Asake. His single sungba wasted no time to take the top spot on Apple music Nigerian Top 100.

Sungba," "PBUY (Peace Be Unto You)," "Sungba Remix", and “Pallazo" were one of the biggest hits we have listened to this year and felt convincing about the young lad’s art. Asake has in his bag right now with five hit songs that top the Nigerian music chart in just six months.

Undoubtedly, we can all agree that Asake is the rave of the moment, taking afro-street pop to the world and a moving train that is hard to stop.Asake dropped a song the same day Burna Boy, and many others dropped theirs, but Asake topped the charts.

Tems is also an outstanding artist currently breaking the waves. Tems' music has earned several deals and honorariums from concerts that have boosted her net worth.Tems is attaining remarkable heights and is fast becoming the poster girl for Nigerian music on the international scene. She has become the first Nigerian female artist to debut on Billboard hot 100, in general she's the second Nigerian artist to debut after Wiz.Tems was nominated three times at the 22nd BET Awards. The categories; Best new artist, best collaboration, and best international act. After her win, there were lots of arguments on social media about who the queen of Afro pop is and majority agreed that Tiwa savage is great but Tems has taken over and Afrobeats now has a new queen.

Interesting and outstanding artists with amazing sounds are coming to limelight in the Nigerian music industry. The question is, is there about to be another revolution of new  musical artists or is it going to be a blend with the set of wizkid, Tiwa Savage, Davido and Burna boy?

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