what does the next decade hold for nigerian music?

With the end of a Decade and start of a new one, Nigerian Music is doing better that it has ever been, the decade was dominated by Wizkid and davido who took the genre to a new level. The last decade of music can’t be defined by just two guys even though  hey were head and shoulders above everyone they were a lot of people that contributed greatly to the era, and for most times it was a big 3 with the third spot rotating between acts like Tekno, Olamide, Yemi Alade, Tiwa Savage and Burna Boy. This era saw us explode in the international market and big music labels coming to Nigeria to get a piece of the pie, the decade was culminated with a Beyonce Afrobeats album and Grammy nomination for Burna Boy.

Now no one can actually predict the future, if I could well I I’d have become a billionaire and having dinners parties with the Carters(Jay Z and Beyoncé), but from what I can feel we have a new class of Nigerian music that can ascend to superstardom and take nigerian music to the next level. Enter Rema, Joeboy and Fireboy DML, a new set of artists that are set to take the baton of Nigerian music and run with it as far as they possible.

Rema rise was meteoric, from his carseat freestyle videos that caught the eye of anyone who cared to look to his smash hit Dumebi, nobody saw it coming and nobody saw it being this big. The heights Rema reached in 2019 of Dumebi was unprecedented, he’s already piqued the interest of international labels. Movers and shakers of the industry want a piece of the Rema pie, his star power is undeniable, kids already try to dress and sound like him. I can definitely see him as one of the leaders of Nigerian music going into the next decade.

Joeboy is hit making machine, the guy just knows how to make hits there’s no other way to say it, no adjectives nothing. He Had a slower burner with baby that turned to hit, once the song peaked up steam, Joeboy didn’t slow down or look back over the course of the year he didn’t miss once. With multiple hits in the year, he’s established himself as one to expect great things from going into the new decade.

FireboyDML dropped his debut album this year and it was like time stood still for two weeks, nobody could stop talking about how good the album was from head to toe, the chills it sent down our spines and well it was done. Fireboy’s debut album has been argued to best album nigerian album released in 2019, a year where a lot of heavy weights dropped full length projects. Fireboy is undeniable and is definitely going to set the tone for what the next decade is going to sound like.

Other acts I expect to be huge this decade are Oxlade, Brainee, buju and Santi.

I can’t wait to see them lead the charge and redefine Nigerian music in the next decade.