Has Davido really gained international recognition as he should?
The goal of every visioned artist is not just to be known in his/her locality, country, or even continent, but to be recognized and appreciated all over the world.
Many of our top and fast-rising artists seem to be on the international ladder, some have even arrived at the global limelight, yet is Davido one of these lucky Nigerian music acts??
Sit tight while i take you through a brief ride on him and his music, then we’ll get to that!
Davido
David Adedeji Adeleke aka Davido, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, and record producer.
The singer had started his music career as a member of the music group KB International.
He studied business administration at Oakwood University before dropping out to follow his dream, music.
However, he had to obey his father’s wish and attended “Babcock” university, where he exclusively studied “Music”.
Davido’s music career
Davido rose to fame in 2011 with the release of “Dami Duro”, the second single from his debut studio album “Omo Baba Olowo”
The album also contains six additional singles: “Back When”, “Ekuro“, “Overseas“, “All of You“, “Gbon Gbon”, and “Feel Alright”.
As time went on, he continued to release hit singles like “Gobe“, “One of a Kind”, “Skelewu“, “Aye”, “Owo Ni Koko”, and “The Money” featuring Olamide.
Davido Music Worldwide( DMW)
In 2016, Davido founded the Davido Music Worldwide (DMW) record label, which is one of the biggest record labels in Nigeria and has consequently produced several talents In the music industry.
Artists currently signed under DMW include Dremo, Peruzzi, Mayorkun, and the lots of them.
Slight International Feel
That same year, Davido signed a record deal with Sony’s RCA Records in New York, USA.
At this time, we were like “oh wow!, New York! OBOis going worldwide”! but oops, things didn’t turn out that way.
In 2017, two mind-blowing and chart-topping hits “If” and “Fall”.
“if” generated worldwide social media activity, while “fall” became the longest-charting Nigerian pop song in Billboard history.
Davido won African Act at the MOBO Awards in November 2017, and also became the first African act to perform live at the awards.
He was also the first African-based artist to have received his award on the BET Awards main stage.
A Good Time
Davido‘s second studio album A Good Time was released on November 22, 2019.
The album features the previously released singles “Fall”, “Assurance” and “Blow My Mind”, ft Chris brown.
“A good time ” however received massive acceptance, and marks one of the biggest, if not the best album the music star has ever put out.
Awards
Through the course of his career, this very talented singer has acquired Many awards from across Nigeria, Africa, and a few Abroad.
They include;
*Best Newcomer Award/2012 Kora Awards
*Best International Act/ 2014 Ben music awards
*Music Video of the Year for "Aye/2014 Ben Tv awards.
*Promising Youth Artiste & Song of the Year for "Back when"/ 2011 Dynamix All Youth Awards
* Best Male West Africa & Artist of the Year/ 2014 African Muzik Magazine Awards
* Best Male & Artist of the Year/ 2014 MTV Africa Music Awards
*Most Gifted Newcomer Video of the Year "Dami Duro"/2012
*Best Afro Pop Video / 2014 Channel O Music Video Awards
*Best Video By A New Artiste, "Dami Duro"/ 2012 Nigeria Music Video Award
*Best Afro pop video "Aye"/ 2014 NMVA
*African Artiste Of The Year/ 2014 Ghana Music Awards
*Musician Of The Year (Male) / 2014 City people choice awards.
*Artiste of the Year, "If" Song of the Year & Best Pop Single/ 2018 Headies
*Artiste of the Year & Song of the Year; "Aye"/ 2014 Headies
*Hip Hop World Revelation, "Omo Baba Olowo" Best R&B/Pop Album/ 2013 Headies
*Next Rated/ 2012 Headies
* Best Pop/R&B Artiste of the Year "Dami Duro" Hottest Single of the Year ,Himself Best New Act of the Year/ 2012 Nigeria entertainment awards.
Endorsements
Davido has also bagged multi-million Naira endorsement deals with several brands like MTN, Guinness, and Infinix Mobile.
Is Davido recognized Internationally as he should?
Now, lets come back to the main issue of this article.
It is a true fact that Despite all the achievements listed above, we do not hear more of Davido on the international level.
For the past few years, several other artists like Wizkid who started almost around the same time as Davido, and Burna Boy, who broke into the international limelight just within a year,, are not just Known in Africa, but virtually around different parts of the world.
A few years ago, it was clear that the international music market was not favorable to Davido, however, he kept working hard to go global.
We thought his dream had been finalized in 2019, but recent happenings have however proved US wrong.
First It was no international award or nomination, not even African music awards.
Finally, it was a list released by Top US media house; CNN released this year’s edition of Africa’s biggest music star.
The list included names of our Favorite Nigerian and African artists like; Wizkid, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, and so on. But guess what?, Davido was not included.
I’m sure you must be asking yourself how??”, well, that’s the exact question I asked myself when I saw the list.
Perhaps, the “Company” singer didn’t meet their standard.
This is however appalling, and a tiring setback, that tempts us to ask ourselves; “What is actually wrong with Davido?
We all know how much of a hard worker he is, perhaps, his best is just not enough.
Still, it’s not too late, all he has to do is keep pushing on, you never know, he may just be this close to a global musical breakout.
However, speaking of the present, I don’t think Davido is International enough.
What do you think guys, ?? Kindly drop your comments below!!!