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Every artist has substance – Joeboy disagrees with Burna Boy
Nigerian Afrobeat artist, Joseph Akinfenwa Donus, popularly known as Joeboy, has expressed disagreement with his fellow artist Burna Boy regarding his statement that many Afrobeat artists create music devoid of lyrical substance.
Recall, Mp3bullet reported that Burna Boy claimed that most Nigerian musicians create songs “without substance” in a recent interview with Apple songs’ Zane Lowe.
Joeboy, who recently appeared on the Zero Conditions podcast, refuted the Grammy-winning singer’s assertion.
The host asked: “For you as an afrobeats artist, how much balance do you do with living life because following the conversation of Burna Boy saying [afrobeats] artists don’t have substance, how much experience do you try to garner as an artist?”
Joeboy responded: “I feel everybody has substance. It’s just based on what people relate to. Sometimes when you made a high tempo song that is danceable, people feel like you are just vibing. Or if you don’t sing in English.
“I used to see some comments [on social media] because somebody is singing in plain English, they [fans] would be like, ‘Ah pinging!’ What’s pinging? Because he sang in English?
“Every artist out there, if you want people to feel like you are an amazing songwriter, just write in plain English. I promise you, they [fans] will be like, ‘Oh! This guys is the best songwriter ever.’ And when someone sings in Pidgin, they [fans] would be like, ‘Ah! This one dey do lamba.’
“It’s not lamba. It’s actually still connecting. I understand that you can’t connect to every form of music that you come across. But I promise you, anybody that has the ability to create something out of thin air, it is substance.”