The 14th Edition of The Headies Award for 2020 is fast approaching and its coveted nomination list was recently rolled out with a few surprises on it.
The Headies is the Grammys of Nigeria and does hold some certain level of relevance in the music industry and therefore its nomination list is one most artists look forward to.
The nominations which were announced on the 4th of December contained a mix of superstars, New School artists, and breakout stars.
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Here are some takeaways from the list;
Artist Snub
While the list is a bit satisfying, it seemed to be missing one or two persons. For example, Wande Coal is nowhere on the list despite having one of 2020’s best songs, “Again”. The song was released in February and falls under Headies’ year in review criteria (July 2019-September 2020).
The music video currently has more than four million views on Youtube and dominated airwaves, so it’s strange to see that it wasn’t nominated in even the”Best Pop Single” category.
Another snub is Kizz Daniel who released his album, “King Of Love” earlier in the year and could boast of at least two hits songs, “Ada”, “Boys are Bad” from the Album. Also, “Pak n Go” which was released last year and was one of the year’s best song is off the album.
Kizz’s “No Bad Song” album was nominated for Best R’n’B/Pop Album and Album of the year last year in last year’s edition but he lost both categories.
Highest Nominations
One surprising part of the nomination list is Fireboy DML who tops the list with eight nominations.
Fireboy was nominated in the Best Pop Album, Best Recording of the year, Headies Revelation, Album of the Year, Headies Viewers Choice, Songwriter of the Year, Best R&B Single, and Best R&B Album.
He also had two albums, “Apollo” and “Laughter, Tears, and Goosebumps” nominated in different categories which is record-breaking.
Last Year, Fireboy was nominated in the Best Pop Single, Song of the Year, Next rated, and Viewers Choice. He lost all nominations, maybe this year would be different for him.
Wurld and Burna Boy follows with seven nominations each. Wurld being nominated for, Best Recording of the year, Best Vocal Performance Male, Songwriter of the Year, Best R&B single, Best R&B Album, Best Collaboration while his seventh nomination came as a result of Sarz being nominated for Producer of the year thanks to “Mad” the collaboration between them.
On the other hand, Burna Boy gets nominated for Best Pop Album, Best Recording of the Year, Album of The Year, Headies Viewers Choice, Songwriter of the Year, Artiste of the Year and bags a seventh nomination thanks to Kel P’s nomination as Producer of the Year on “Pull Up” song.
Wizkid has six nominations, Simi, Five Nominations, then, Davido, Joeboy, Mayorkun, and Chike all have four nominations respectively.
Creation of New categories
The R&B/Pop Album category was split into two separate categories. Also, Best Alternative Album was also created. As of last year, it was only the Best Alternative Song Category that was on the list.
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NEWCOMERS
This year’s list also saw the entrance of newcomers like Highlife Music Duo, The Cavemen(1), Olu, Deena Ade, DJ Neptune, and Chike.
Among these artists, Chike and DJ Neptune both have the highest nominations with 4 and 3 Nominations respectively. Impressively, Chike’s album, “Boo of the Booless” is nominated in the Album of the Year category.
Upgrades
Some new school artists saw an upgrade in their levels like Mayorkun who went from two nominations last year to four this year. He also secured a place in one of the most exclusive categories, Artiste of the Year alongside heavyweights like Davido, Wizkid, Mayorkun, and Tiwa Savage.
Breakout star, Oxlade went from being nominated for rookie of the year to entering the competitive Next rated Category.
The biggest upgrade happened to Fireboy DML who clinched eight nominations this year compared to the four nominations he had last year. He has the biggest nominations on this year’s list.
He also has two albums, “LGT” and “Apollo” all released in a space of one year on the nomination list in both Best Pop Album and Best R&B Album categories.
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Prediction for Rookie and Next Rated Category
One of the most competitive categories is the Next Rated Award Category. The category was the issue that caused a war between Don Jazzy and Olamide and is seen to be the category that determines the hottest new artist in the Nigerian Music Industry.
Rema won the category beating Fireboy DML, Joeboy, Lyta, Victor AD, and Zlatan to it. This year’s nominees are Omah Lay, Oxlade, Bella Shmurda, and Tems.
While all the artists in this category, Mp3bullet.ng predicts Omah Lay to win. The breakout star took 2020 by storm with his “You” song. Then went to release his successful ‘Get Layd” EP that amassed 120 Million streams in just six months.
Omah Lay was also the debut artist for the Apple Africa Rising Playlist. His song “Bad Influence” also topped the list of Apple Music 2020 Nigerian Songs. He was also featured on the
Another person that comes close is Bella Shmurda, though Bella hasn’t yet conquered the International waters like Omah, he is gaining massive traction on local grounds. From his “Vision 2020” to “Cashapp”, Bella is a fan’s favorite.
Tems had massive traction with “Try Me” in 2019, then in 2020, she released her EP, “For Broken Ears”. She also was featured by American Singer, Khalid on his “Know Your Worth” song. Wizkid featured her on his “Essence” song.
Oxlade had people grooving to his “Away” song off his successful EP, “Oxygene”.
For the Rookie of the Year Category, Olakira, Alpha P, Jamopyper, Zinoleesky, Bad Boy Timz were nominated.
Mp3bullet.ng predicts the crown is between Bad Boy Timz and Zinoleesky. Every artist on the list did well this year but Bad Boy Timz and Zinoleesky had some of the top trending songs In Nigeria for this year.
For Bad Boy Timz, he had “MJ” and the remix which featured Mayorkun. He also featured on Olamide’s street banger, “Loading” which earned him praises.
Zinoleesky dominated airwaves with ‘Mapariwo” of which Mayorkun did a cover to. Olakira also had people dancing to his “Masarati” song and even did a remix featuring Davido.
Jamopyper tried with his “If No Be You” song which features Mayorkun and Alpha P had released his second EP, “Wolves and Mustang” recently.