emi Alade is a great artiste, but her songs are not strong enough to stand alone and compete for the best prizes.
The 2016 Headies nominations are in, and Nigeria’s leading music lady, Yemi Alade comes through with what is relatively a paltry one nomination for the Artiste Of The Year.
That’s weird isn’t it?
Yemi
Alade is currently regarded as one of Africa’s best female singers, and
the MTV Africa Music Awards Best Female Artiste for two years in a row.
But at home, where the Headies Awards represent the cream of her local
industry, and the most consistent and highest yardstick for judging the
performance of artistes, she falls short.
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Yemi Alade in new photos
Yemi
Alade has had a very busy 2016. She dropped her sophomore album, “Mama
Africa”, which hit the No. 1 position at Africa’s iTunes charts, and
proceeded to travel around the globe performing all of her singles, and
gathering the wealth and the recognition. She has also moved past the
project, and has focused her attention on releasing new music. Two
post-album singles ‘Want you’ and ‘Gucci Ferragamo’, have come from her,
with countless videos being released by her team.
On
the continent, she receives lots of love, performing to sold-out
venues, and collaborating with the best in different countries.
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Yemi Alade in new photos
But
here’s why she failed to justify her position at the Headies nomination
list with just one nomination: Her success is not solely propped by the
quality of her music. Yemi Alade’s ‘Mama Africa’ album has done more
for her in terms of branding than provide actual artistic and concrete
value.
Yemi Alade’s creative formula
involves making music drawn from Ghanaian highlife, Ivorian dance music
style coupé-décalé, as well as American hip-hop and pop, and passed
through her Nigerian filter to give the final product.
Yemi Alade in new photos
That
final product on many levels isn’t spectacular, but it is branded
heavily and pumped full with very strong videos to back it up. That’s
why they never chart as singles or make any major dent within the
country. But the serve as live performance materials, and the video is
distributed perfectly across all major channels to spread the brand Yemi
Alade.
Yemi Alade’s success is a
function of every element of her art and branding working in sync to
provide a strong, relevant and culturally sensitive artiste. From the
branding to the PR, to the visual supply of videos, and the provision of
music, everything supports the other, to maintain her relevance and
position.
Yemi Alade in new photos
But
when they bare split, dissected and isolated from each other, they all
come up short. That’s why the singles fail to make the categories for
the Headies, but the singer, the sum of all the work and the product of
every element working together is thrown into the Best Artiste category.
Yemi
Alade is a great artiste, but her songs are not strong enough to stand
alone and compete for the best prizes amongst the best.
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