In 2017, the tides were changing for Davido and the singer who was 24 years old at that time entered the biggest phase of his career that year releasing songs that would launch his career internationally.
In 2016, it was announced that Davido had signed an international deal with Sony Music. His EP, “Son Of Mercy” which comprises of five songs followed suit but for some reason, it was received with a lukewarm reception.
Due to creative differences, the Singer’s relationship with the label suffered resulting in him coming back to Nigeria.
In an interview, Davido revealed that the EP was one of their biggest bone of contention. The EP saw the Label Boss trying to change his sound, a move he wasn’t in agreement with. He was able to re-negotiate with the label.
2017 saw the Nigerian star release some of his biggest songs that to date earned him a following, international certifications and streams.
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IF
“If” was Davido’s first big hit of 2017, according to the singer, Tekno who wrote and produced the song had to drag him from the club one night to record it. The song birthed the phrase, “30 Billion for the account”.
Fall
After the success of “If‘, Davido released “Fall‘ produced by Kiddominant. The song is Davido’s biggest song both locally and internationally to date.
In February 2019, “Fall” became the longest-charting Nigerian pop song in Billboard history. It also became the first Nigerian song to surpass 100 million views on Youtube, making it one of the most-watched Nigerian music videos on the platform.
According to Rolling Stone magazine, “Fall” was one of the top-100-most-Shazam-searched singles in America in January 2019 and was a top-10 record on Shazam in New York.
As of March 2020, “Fall” has received over 40 million streams on Spotify and has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Music Canada.
Fia
Fia was another great song Davido released in 2017. The song which was produced by Fresh was released weeks after the singer lost two friends to the cold hands of death in October.
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Like Dat
“Like Dat” is one of Davido’s criminally underrated songs. According to the singer in an interview, the song was meant to be released before “Fia” but the death of his two friends postponed the release.
The song was produced by Shizzi who co-wrote the song alongside Teni.