Becoming Popular in the music scene is the easiest part of the industry but staying relevant is where the work is.
Over the years, only a few Nigerian artists have hacked the trick of staying relevant in the ever-competitive industry without wavering. Even in 2021, most of them are the go-to for trending topics
Artists like Wizkid and Davido have always retained their kingship status in the industry no matter who the current golden child of the industry is in a particular year.
One essential knowledge an artist must have is the ability to evolve with the changing times, something that has earned Drake his god status in the International music scene.
Or better still to dictate the pace and the sound that dominates the industry at certain points in time. Those who don’t evolve always risk extinction.
There are a lot of exceptional artists who at one point dominated the industry with their songs but are currently missing from the present picture. These artists have a lot to impact if only they would evolve and rebrand.
So here are the Nigerian Artists we would like to see more of in 2021.
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Runtown
There was a time in the music industry Runtown had the industry dancing to his tunes most especially during 2016 and 2017.
That period could be said to be the zenith of Runtown’s music career during which the singer gave us one of the biggest songs during that period in the Nigerian music cycle.
“Mad Over You” took him to the next level in terms of impact and cross-border acceptance. Even all follow-up singles after “Mad Over You” in that year dominated airwaves but as change is the only constant thing, that style of music phased out.
Unfortunately ‘Mad Over You’ has also been a curse for him as, since 2018, he is yet to make music as hard as that.
His ‘Traditions’ Ep which he dropped in 2019 didn’t do well commercially and even in 2020, his releases like ‘Body Riddim, ‘Kini Issue‘ and ‘If E Happen for Lagos‘ was exceptional but didn’t fare well.
We do hope to see what 2021 hold for Nigerian Artists like Runtown.
Reekado Banks
Reekado Banks official entrance into the music scene was in 2014 when he got signed to Mavin records. He became popular thanks to the commercial success of their joint single, “Dorobucci”.
Then he released hit songs like ‘Katapot’, ‘Corner’, ‘Sugar Baby’ ‘Tomorrow’ which earned him a Headies Next rated Artist win in that year ahead of Lil Kesh, Kizz Daniel and Cynthia Morgan.
The following year he dropped the commercially successful album, ‘Spotlight’ which birthed hits like ‘Oluwa Ni’, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’, ‘Standard’ and the rest.
In 2018, his time with Mavins came to an end but before that, he had released smash hits like ‘Like’ featuring Tiwa Savage, ‘Bio Bio’ featuring Duncan Mighty and ‘Blessings on Me’.
However, post-Mavins, Reekado seemed to have mellowed down on releasing hits like he used to. Songs like ‘Rora‘, ‘In Put In Pressure‘ did well on charts but his 2020 EP, ‘Off the Record‘ wasn’t as dominating as the rest of his works.
He is yet to release any song in 2021, though he promised fans an album that might be coming out this year we wonder if it could be his saving grace.
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Kizz Daniel
Kizz Daniel is an exceptional artist that plays by his own rules. His works speak for him but for some reason he suffers from terrible or a lack of proper PR.
Since his entrance into the music scene with ‘Woju‘, Kizz Daniel hasn’t disappointed in releasing hits. In fact, his sophomore album, ‘No Bad Songz‘ is the perfect description of the songs he releases.
With three successful albums to his credits, Kizz Daniel should be on the Top 10 most talked-about artists. Whether it’s his reclusiveness or poor social media presence, he is still considered underrated by many.
In 2020, he dropped one of the best albums, “King of Love” and yet, the reception was underwhelming, many people were not aware, his lack of international collaborations is also concerning.
In 2021, things are looking up for the singer as he has already dropped two singles, ‘Currently‘ and ‘Flex‘ which are club-worthy songs.
Tekno
Tekno is another great artist who has proven to be a powerhouse of hits. After gaining prominence thanks to releasing songs like ‘Dance’ and ‘Anything’, Tekno became another golden child of the industry.
His 2016 smash hit, ‘Pana’ was his lucky charm, catapulting him to international fame and gaining more fans for the talented singer. He also released songs like ‘Yawa’, ‘Rara’, ‘Samantha’, ‘Diana’ an the rest which also did well commercially.
After more than five years of releasing hits, Tekno released his debut album, ‘Old Romance‘ which had a disappointing reception.
For an artist who had also managed to stay relevant each year and had collaborated with international artists like Drake, Beyonce, Swae Lee, Ciara, this was disappointing.