Entertainment

Exploits Of Nigerian Artistes On Global Stage

Published

5 years ago

December 4, 2020

The word music means different thing to different people, but the Cambridge Dictionary defines music as “a pattern of sounds made by musical instruments, voices or computers or a combination of these intended to give pleasure to people listening to it”. While the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary sees music as “ sound that are arranged in a way that is pleasant or exciting to listen to”.
Duke Orsino in William Shakespeare Twelfth Night declare: “if music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it”. This is exactly what the Nigerian musicians have been giving to the world since the colonial era.
The unprecedented achievements recorded in the Nigerian music industry so far could be attributed to Technological development which has brought about several changes in the industry and launched the Nigerian artistes into the global platform. For instance Vinyl cassette tape dominated the industry for the first 90 years of its existence but in the 1980s a new challenger appeared not only to the cassette but all analogue formats.
In 1982, the compact disc ushered in the digital age, for two decades, the CD ruled and the record industry boomed with popular artistes pushing millions of units, artistes got rich and major labels got richer. Nigerian artistes were not left out of the new trend as the industry has rarely been a stranger to change.
After the end of the 1990s, the next form of digital music went mainstream. mp3 was the first recorded music format,the files were completely digital, stored in either on a computer hard drive or one of the primitive devices invented to playback the new format.
For the first few years of 2000, mp3 was on epithet used to summarize all that was wrong with the millennium, the perceived favouring of quantity over quality and art’s dominated value. But in 2001 Apple launched iTunes, a programme designed to organize and play digital audio files.
The inexorable progress of technology brought about a new digital format even easier than downloads. In October 2018, Swedish entrepreneur, Daniel Ek launched Spotify and with it the music streaming revolution.
At the beginning of the 2010s, streaming was mostly associated with videos on YouTube and Netflix, by the end of 2010 major companies like Apple, Amazon and Google had launched their own on demand music streaming services to compete with Spotify, a signal that the format is here to stay.
The Nigeria music industry has gone through these changes hence the increasing appetite for Nigerian music across the world and the importance of investing in the industry. The update on the Nigerian music industry has become even more interesting with their global exploits.
The likes of Wizkid who had already penned a deal in 2017 had began to collaborate with more A-List artistes like Ty Dollar $ign, Chris Brown, Gold Link, Swae Lee, Metro Bromine and Offset( from the Migos). Wizkid also played a huge part in the recent Lion King album by Beyonce which showcased and celebrated an impressive array of mind blowing Afrobeat.
He went ahead to win many award which include:MTV Europe Music Award for Best African Act (2016), The Headies Award for Artiste of the year 2016, Bet Award for Best International Act African 2017 and Headies award for best collabo 2018. Others are Echo Award for song of the year 2017 (One Dance), Billboard Music Award for Billboard music Award for Top RnB collabo and City People Entertainment Award for pop artiste of the year, own a record label, Starboy Entertainment, Etc.
Another Nigerian music great Davido also went ahead to do major things in Diaspora. His songs ‘If’ and ‘ Fall’ which were released in 2017 became very trendy amongst the American audience recently. In fact these songs are still constantly played on U.S radio’ daily.
Apart from these two singles,he also collaborated with foreign artistes like Casanova, 2x, ROC Nation and RnB crooner Chris Brown. He was also “ brought out” to perform at a recent musical outing with the rapper, 50 cent in New York.
He is recipient of two Bet Awards, a KORA Award, a Channel O Music Video Award, a Ghana Music Award and the first African to perform at the MOBO Awards. Sold out global concert venues in UK and South Africa, his music tops New York music charts and he owns a music label, Davido Music Worldwide (DMW), among other achievements.
Rivers State born artiste, Burna Boy has also achieved global acclaim as he has signed with Atlantic Record and released two album that have greatly boosted his reputation in the Diaspora. Earlier in 2020, Burna Boy’s ‘African Giant’ album lost the Grammy nomination for the World Best Album to Angelique Kidjo’s reimagination or Celia Cruz’s music on the eponymous.
On November 24,2020, the Nigerian Super Star got his second Grammy Nomination in the Best Global music category. He has various awards to his credit such as Best International Act at Bet Awards (2019), Best African Act MTV Europe Music Awards (2019), Apple Music up Next artiste (2019), owns a Record Label Spaceship Records.
Tiwa Savage recently inked a management deal with Jay Z’s Roc Nation Company she won the Best African Act, MTV Europe Music Award becoming the first woman to win that category in 2019, she has a record deal with universal music group among other musical exploits globally.
Yemi Alade is the first African female artiste to reach one million views on YouTube for her ground breaking single Johnny. Currently, Johnny holds the You Tube record for the most watched African female music video of all times. She was nominated for a Grammy award in 2019 for the fact that she had acquired over a million global streams in addition to several awards.
She has been listed as one of the most influential people in African in 2018 and is been introduced as Mama Africa.
Other Nigerian artistes have not been left out in this list, Teckno has produced for the likes of Swae Lee and Drake, Mr Eazy has began to to collabo with foreign artistes like J Balvin and Bad Bunny. The defunct P-Square, Timaya, Don Jazzy, D’bang and a host of others have equally excelled globally with various awards and mouth watering endorsement deals.
The surge of the Nigerian music industry has been very impressive over the years, however, the issue of intellectual property remains a problem for artistes and foreign investors due to constant piracy of content.

By: Jacob Obinna

Entertainment

‘Lie From The Pit Of Hell,’ Family Debunks Pete Edochie’s death Rumours

Published

1 week ago

February 13, 2026

The Tide

The family of veteran Nollywood actor, Pete Edochie, has dismissed viral rumours circulating on social media claiming that the film icon is dead.

Reacting to the reports in a video shared on his Instagram page on Tuesday, the actor’s eldest son, Leo Edochie, described the claim as false and malicious.

“I’ve been receiving text messages and calls over the nonsense post by some people that our father, Chief Pete Edochie, is dead. It is a lie from the pit of hell,” he said.

Leo added that the actor is alive and in good health, condemning those responsible for spreading the rumour.

“Our father is alive, hale and hearty. And if you wish someone dead, two things usually happen. The person will live very long and you will die before him. Shame to all of you,” he said.

The rumour had sparked concern among fans before the family’s clarification.

Entertainment

‘Mother’s Love’ Challenges Nigerian’s Film Portray Of Motherhood

Published

1 week ago

February 13, 2026

The Tide

Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde critiques Nollywood’s lack of mother-daughter stories ahead of her directorial debut, ‘Mother’s Love.’ See the cast and 2026 release date.

Nollywood veteran actress Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde is making her directorial debut with a different and sharper focus. Speaking recently with Newsmen,, the screen icon highlighted a glaring void in the industry’s catalogue, which is the authentic reality of mother-daughter relationships.

“We don’t have too many films that explore or showcase the relationship between mothers and daughters,” Omotola said during the interview, describing the subject as something deeply personal to her.

Speaking honestly about raising her first daughter, she admitted she had only one mode at the time, which was discipline. “I didn’t do a good job,” she said plainly, explaining that she understood motherhood strictly through control, not softness or emotional openness.

At the centre of Mother’s Love is Adebisi, a sheltered young woman from a wealthy home whose life is shaped by her father’s rigid control. Her first taste of freedom comes through NYSC, where distance from home allows her to begin discovering who she is outside her family’s expectations. She forms a friendship with a young man from a more modest background, and through him, starts to see the world and herself differently.

But the emotional core of the film isn’t Adebisi’s rebellion. It’s her mother. Long after being presented as quiet and compliant, she slowly reveals a resolve when her daughter’s safety and future are threatened. As secrets surface and buried grief comes into view, Mother’s Love becomes less about youthful independence and more about maternal sacrifice, unspoken trauma, and the emotional costs of survival inside a patriarchal home.

The Tide Entertainment reports that the film doesn’t shy away from weighty themes by including PTSD, unresolved grief, and social inequality at the centre of the story. It is far removed from the soft-focus sentimentality that often defines Mother’s Day-style narratives.

It also marks Omotola’s directorial debut, a significant moment considering how long she has shaped Nollywood from the front of the camera. She stars in the film alongside a mix of familiar faces and newer talent, including Ifeanyi Kalu, Olumide Oworu, and Noray Nehita.

Beyond the film itself, Omotola’s interview touched on a tension that has been simmering in Nollywood for a while now: how movies are marketed in the age of TikTok. Addressing the growing expectation for actors and filmmakers to create viral dance content to promote their work, she didn’t mince words. The pressure, she said, is exhausting and unnatural.

For her, the industry wasn’t meant to function this way. Still, she was careful not to judge anyone else’s approach. Everyone invests differently, carries different risks, and should be allowed to promote their films however they see fit.

“Do whatever you can do. It’s exhausting, it’s not natural. For me, the film industry is not supposed to be like that. We are encouraging nonsense if we are doing that. It doesn’t mean that whoever is doing it is wrong.”

Her comments arrive not long after the public back-and-forth between Kunle Afolayan and Funke Akindele over marketing styles, a debate that quickly turned into a proxy war between prestige storytelling and viral strategy. Omotola’s stance sits somewhere calmer. She understands the shift social media has brought, but she’s also clear about her own boundaries.

Omotola’s critique about the lack of mother-daughter stories isn’t unfounded. In Nollywood, mothers often exist as symbols rather than people. They’re either saintly figures who pray endlessly for their children or villains whose cruelty drives the plot forward. What’s missing is intimacy, the negotiations, and the regrets. The love that exists alongside resentment and misunderstanding.

Films rarely sit with the emotional complexity of women raising daughters in systems that also failed them. There’s little room for mothers who made mistakes but are still trying, or daughters who love their mothers while questioning the damage they inherited. Mother’s Love attempts to occupy that space, offering a more grounded portrayal that reflects lived experience rather than archetypes.

That’s where the film’s potential impact lies, in the decision to centre a relationship that Nollywood has largely flattened. If it works, it could open the door for more stories that treat motherhood as a lived, evolving reality rather than a fixed moral position.

Mother’s Love, directed by and starring Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, had its world premiere at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2025. The film is set for a nationwide cinema release in Nigeria on March 6, 2026.

Entertainment

Funke Akindele’s Behind The Scenes Crosses ?1.77bn

Published

1 month ago

January 9, 2026

The Tide

Funke Akindele’s Behind The Scenes becomes Nollywood’s highest-grossing film of 2025, earning ?1.77bn in under four weeks.

Multi-award-winning actress and producer Funke Akindele has done it again, and this time, the numbers speak louder than applause.

Her latest film, Behind The Scenes, has officially emerged as the highest-grossing Nollywood film of 2025, pulling in an astonishing ?1.767 billion in less than four weeks.

The Tide Entertainment reports that Funke Akindele Makes Box Office History as Behind The Scenes Crosses ?1.77bn
Earlier in its release cycle, the film’s distributor, FilmOne Entertainment, revealed that Behind The Scenes smashed five opening-weekend records, including the highest single-day gross ever recorded on Boxing Day, with ?129.5 million in one day. That announcement already hinted that something unusual was unfolding.

Reacting to the milestone, FilmOne described the moment as both surreal and communal, crediting audience loyalty for pushing the film to the top spot once again as the number-one movie of the weekend. And that sentiment feels accurate. This wasn’t just ticket sales; it was momentum.

What makes this achievement even more striking is that Behind The Scenes is Funke Akindele’s third film to cross the ?1 billion mark. Before now, there was A Tribe Called Judah, and then Everybody Loves Jenifa, a film that didn’t just open big, but went on to become the highest-grossing Nollywood film of all time. At this point, it’s no longer a fluke. It’s a pattern.

Part of Behind The Scenes’ success lies in strategy. The film enjoyed advanced screenings on December 10 and 11, quietly building curiosity and conversation before its nationwide release on December 12. By the time it officially hit cinemas, audiences already felt like they needed to see it.

Then there’s the cast. The film brings together a lineup that feels deliberately stacked: Scarlet Gomez, Iyabo Ojo, Destiny Etiko, Tobi Bakre, Uche Montana, and several others. Familiar faces, strong fan bases, and performances that kept word-of-mouth alive long after opening weekend.

Still, beyond timing and casting, there’s something else at work here. Funke Akindele understands Nigerian audiences. Their humour, their pacing, their emotional buttons. She doesn’t guess, she calculates, experiments, listens, and refines. That understanding has slowly turned into box-office dominance.

Behind The Scenes crossing ?1.77 billion isn’t just another headline; it’s confirmation. Funke Akindele has moved from being a successful actress to becoming one of the most reliable commercial forces Nollywood has ever produced. Three-billion-naira films don’t happen by luck. They happen when storytelling, business sense, and audience trust align.

And right now, that alignment seems firmly in her hands.