Entertainment
‘Love Damini Is A Product, Victim Of Burna Boy’s Golden Run’
Wizkid might be the great-est of his generation, but Burna Boy and Olamide have clearly owned album conversations in their generation. For Burna Boy, he started his career with two impressive EPs and an album, L.I.F.E. He then experienced a fair balance between a slump and mediocre project releases, till Outside dropped.
The album became the commencement of a trifecta: an immaculate three-album run, which marked the zenith of Burna Boy’s career. African Giant is the undisputed magnus opus, but Twice As Tall was another magnificent showcase of artistry, panache and swashbuckling musicality, from the staple of the most talented and most versatile artiste of his generation – and one of Nigeria’s most versatile artists to have ever lived.
That was his ‘golden run,’ a peerless period in the life of every creative artiste, which is a product of 10,000 hours of application and mastery of their craft. The result is the ‘midas touch,’ which encapsulates the concepts of self-awareness, confidence and limitless belief in self, having earned that belief. It is then applied to create groundbreaking art
The end of a ‘golden run’ does not mean that creatives suddenly become mediocre – some of them can still be excellent. But audiences or even the creatives themselves just know that something is missing.
A ‘golden run’ usually ends because creativity is exhausting and exhaustive, and audiences evolve faster than they realise. Which is why templates only work for so long, when you are a superstar. Thus artistes have to keep evolving as well.
In the case of Burna Boy, his ‘golden run’ has finally hit a snag. For the first time in four music years, he seems fallible on an album. While he is no longer walking in air, he is still not walking on the ground like everybody else.
‘Love, Damini’ is also very personal. In fact, it is Burna Boy’s most personal album, as he offers us more insights into Damini Ogulu: the Port Harcourt boy who loves baddies, sex and big nyash (‘Different Size,’ ‘Vanilla.’ ‘Science,’ and more); who is aware of his imperfections, who subconsciously yearns to be understood, loved for who he is and not consistently judged (‘It’s Plenty’ and ‘Glory’); and who wears his heart on his sleeve, and openly declares his belief in love (‘Jagele,’ ‘Last Last,’ ‘For My Hand’ and more).
He reserves a lot of namechecking for people close to his heart. He even namechecks Bukola Sawyerr-Izeogu, his longterm PR person on his outro, admitting that he was not there for her when she lost her mother.
Nonetheless, he indulges his own bratty tendencies on ‘Cloak and Dagger,’ when his critics only ever highlight bad instances of his own making. It also casts shadows over the positive emotions of self-awareness on a track like ‘It’s Plenty.’ Perhaps that is an example of the personal battles of values within Burna Boy himself.
While ‘Twice As Tall’ had personal instances like ‘Level Up,’ ‘Onyeka,’ and more, his standout tracks were usually from an observer’s perspective, or created from third-person empirical perspectives. But on this album, he significantly looks inwards, and reins in his socio-political branding of recent years, barring ‘Whiskey’ and ‘Common Person.’
Despite this shift, the execution of ‘Love Damini’ is still good enough to land Burna Boy on the path to another guaranteed Grammy nomination and more importantly, hits. It also projects Burna Boy as an aware creative.
Love, Damini: Sweeper moves, reintegration into the homefront and Grammys
To create ‘Twice As Tall’ and win a Grammy, Burna Boy sacrificed the homefront and even hits.
While his career benefited from that, he inadvertently became an ‘album artist,’ which served his brand well and presented him as the ‘ideal artist’ to Europeans, western audiences and American music capitalism. It also set him on the path to becoming a Grammy baby.
While he was doing that, he inadvertently alienated the home front and sacrificed singles or hits. On this album, Burna Boy returns for a balance of his appetite to win another Grammy, continuance of forays into American, Latin, Caribbean and European charts with successful hits on – and reintegration into – the homefront.
This is exemplified by the structure of the album: a fine balance between lamba and street lingo on ‘Vanilla,’ ‘Common Person’ and ‘It’s Plenty,’ a use of the influential Amapiano sound on ‘Different Size,’ an appeal to urban American and European audiences with ‘Cloak and Dagger’ and ‘Solid,’ an appeal to white American and European chart influence with ‘For My Hand’ featuring Ed Sheeran, an appeal to Caribbean markets with ‘Toni Ann-Singh’ and an appeal to Latin markets with ‘Rollercoaster,’ featuring J Balvin, a streaming monster.
Nigerian megastar, Davido shares how his father recognised that his music was getting big.
Davido says his hit single ‘Dami Duro’ was the president’s ringtone
During an interview with newsmen, Davido spoke on the early days of his career and how he eventually got his father’s approval to make music.
The Grammy nominee shared the familiar story of how he left school in Atlanta and returned to Nigeria to pursue music without his father’s blessing which later led to his business mogul dad getting him arrested.
“I don’t think he did not want me to do music, he just wanted me to be successful as whatever I did because he got a blueprint for me already,” Davido said on his father’s early reaction to his decision to make music.
“He is so supportive and he checks on everything…My dad picks my album. When I am done, I send him all the tracks and my dad goes through all the records and gives me a paragraph each,” Davido narrates the personal interest and support his Dad gives him.
“My dad gave me the name Davido…The first show I did, he arrested me, the fans, the promoters,” Davido said laughing as he narrated the story of how his father got him arrested after he returned to Nigeria without his consent and had his first show as a 17-year-old. “He just wanted me to finish school,” Davido added about his father’s insistence that he get a university degree.
The three time Grammy nominee was asked when his father recognised that his music was getting big and he revealed it was when his hit song ‘Dami Duro’ was the president’s ringtone.
“When my song was the president’s ringtone,” Davido said.
While he did not mention the president or the country, Davido is likely referring to the exploit of former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan who was the head of state between 2010 – 2015.
During the interview, Davido also mentioned his plans as a businessman beyond music. He revealed he had a production house called Coco House which he describes as a media house for creatives. He also added that he intends to get into crypto.
Nollywood actress and filmmaker, Funke Akindele has announced that her upcoming film, Everybody Loves Jenifa, a spinoff from the Jenifa franchise will premiere in December.
“Been long you saw Jenifa!!!!” Akindele said.
While a December premiere is confirmed, details on the film remain unknown. However, the new title, Everybody Loves Jenifa, suggests a potential return to the core elements that have made the franchise popular. With Akindele leading the creative team, viewers can anticipate the return of familiar characters and humorous storylines.
The sitcom, Jenifa’s Diary has been a major Nigerian television show since its debut in 2015. The series centres around the main character played by Akindele, and has featured Folarin “Falz” Falana, Lolo, Juliana Olayode, Lota Chukwu, Paschaline Alex Okoli, and late Aderounmu Adejumoke.
The Tide Entertainment reports that it has also had spin-offs and sequels like Aiyetoro Town (2019), which is set in Jenifa’s village, and Jenifa on Lockdown (2021).
Akindele played Jenifa in the first film in the franchise, Jenifa (2008), a village girl who travelled to the city in pursuit of fortune. Muhydeen S. Ayinde directed the movie.
The movie was nominated for four Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2009 including, Best Original Soundtrack, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and Best Nigerian Film. For her performance in this movie, Akindele took home the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
The convener, South South Media Week, Tammmy Halliday has attributed the lack of unity and collaboration in the PortHarcourt entertainment industry to sentiments, baggages and trust issues.
He made this known yesterday, during an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt.
According to him, some things that spur baggages are family background, personal experience with colleagues or other people, saying that when someone has been reaped or used by any of his colleagues or someone else, he might not want to work with some other persons because of trust issue.
This goes along with baggages, where he now sees his other colleagues as one and same with the one who used him and so this continues to hinder collaborations in the industry.
He advised that as an entertainer you should get better, visible and exposed as the industry required.
He said that the key factor that can help collaboration is growth, explaining that growth would make entertainers live beyond baggages, adding that if you are good at what you do, and know what you want and where you are going with it , then you are good to go.
“You can seek an advice from a legal practitioner, professional or a senior colleagues to ensure that you (entertainer) get it right.
It is not a bad idea to serve or work with someone, because you serve to rise in the industry. You have to be well rooted, but, you should be able to know want you want and where you are going with what you do, this will help you move on, when it is no longer working for you, otherwise, you will remain there and keep complaining and then it gets to that point where you begin to see that person as a reaper,” he said.
Mr Halliday who also do corporate social responsibility award via his platform, South South Media Week stated that critical communication is important in any situation, with a critical approach, no doubt you will always be on the right track.
Speaking on criteria for awarding awards, he maintained that it is on numbers, affiliations, fanbase, followership, association and sales of the person or organisation in question, saying that these also works for collaboration with an artiste, because they are factors that facilitate growth in the industry.
Categories of award that are awarded through the platform includes, entrepreneur award of the year, innovation award of the year and others.
Nancy Briggs
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