Nigeria’s global star, Wizkid, ‘makes Sony executives giddy’

Nigerian singer Wizkid is the August/September cover star of The Economist’s culture series ‘What The World Is Listening To’.

Wizkid, described as “Nigeria’s global star,” is spotlighted alongside other international artistes on 1843, a publication of The Economist.

According to a profile written about the Afropop/Afrobeats singer, record executives at Sony, where he’s signed to, are excited at the “commercial prospects” of his debut international project, ‘Sounds From The Other Side’.

Although Wizkid has consistently maintained that SFTOS is an EP (extended play) project, many in the global music industry refer to it as an album.

SFTOS is presently on some of Billboard’s top charts, including top 200 albums, top albums sales and world albums.

The short profile about the ‘Gbese’ star reads: “With their heady brew of west African rhythms and American funk, Afrobeat pioneers like Fela Kuti packed dance floors from Lagos to New York in the 1970s. Since then, Nigeria has unearthed few global stars.

“Enter Wizkid (above), who with his Nigerian twist on commercial pop, known as Afrobeats in deference to his forebears, commands a global following.

“On a recent single “Come Closer”, dance-hall rhythms underpin vocals from both Wizkid and Drake, a Canadian rapper who invited Wizkid to rap last year on his song “One Dance”, the biggest hit of 2016.

“With other North American stars lined up for Wizkid’s major-label debut with Sony, record executives are giddy at the commercial prospects of more cultural cross-pollination.”

Also featured in the most recent edition of ‘What The World Is Listening To’ are Sound and Fury from Venezuela; Acrush, a boyband made up of girls, from China; Teddy Afro, a popular Ethiopian singer, among others.

Nigerian singers, Tekno and Mr Eazi, were featured in the June/July edition of the spotlight series.