Wizkid had taken to his Twitter handle on Thursday to announce that ‘Made In Lagos’, his highly anticipated and long-teased studio album, would be released at 11:11 pm on the night of the same day.
In the post, the singer shared the album’s artwork which showed a face shot of himself as he wrote, “Made in Lagos Tonight 11.11 pm.” But stans of the 30-year-old music star have had similar gestures that ended up unmet.
Wizkid’s talks and teasings of the album have lasted for more than two years, having started in 2018.
Below is a short timeline of it.
May 30, 2018: Wizkid talks fourth album, says expect no feature — It was after his interview with Tim Westwood, a British disc jockey, that fans got to know Starboy’s next body of work was titled ‘Made In Lagos’.
Following his Afrorepublik concert at the O2 Arena in London, Wizkid, who had headlined his sold-out concert at the 20,000-capacity multi-purpose indoor arena, had said his fourth studio album would not feature any artiste.
“The new album is called Made in Lagos, Wizkid Made in Lagos; 10 tracks, no features just straight Wizkid. My collaboration with Skepta is also in the works, it will drop very soon. I don’t want to say anything more,” he had said.
August 7, 2018: Wizkid schedules ‘Made In Lagos’ for October 2018 — His first release date was made known in a tweet, where he stated the body of work would be out on October 1. Little did he know that plans were to change.
Before this, Wizkid had often talked about his imminent fourth album since the release of his ‘Sounds From The Other Side’ project in 2017, which had succeeded ‘Superstar’, his first album released in 2011, and ‘Ayo’ (2014).
August 14, 2018: Wizkid hints on a project with a “very big” US producer — Following previous disclosures, Wizkid noted that he had a “small project” in the works with an American producer but he didn’t mention names.
He had revealed this in Manhattan, New York, United States while unveiling his new capsule collection which he said included a Starboy-branded bomber jacket, bandanas, ‘Made in Lagos’ and ‘Ojuelegba’ branded tee-shirts.
December 24, 2018: Wizkids stages ‘Made In Lagos’ concert — Ahead of his album, Wizkid staged a ‘Made in Lagos’ concert which held at the Eko Atlantic, Lagos. At the event, some fans gifted him portraits of himself.
Basketmouth, a comedian, had hosted the ‘Made in Lagos’ festival, which featured performances from Harrysong, Kcee, Slimcase, Chinko Ekun, Skales, Duncan Mighty, Skepta, alongside artistes from Starboy’s imprint.
There, Wizkid treated thousands of his fans who were in attendance to some old and new hits songs of his including ‘Fever’, ‘Pakurumo’, ‘Final’ (Baba Nla), ‘Fake Love’, ‘Love My Baby’, ‘Closer’, ‘Bad Energy’, ‘Ojuelegba’, and ‘Soco’.
December 2018: Hush! — Silence describes the months that succeeded after Wizkid’s efforts on the project. It would later be learned that the singer had gone on hiatus, one that saw him stay off social media.
March 19, 2019: Wizkid returns, teases ‘Made In Lagos’ tracks — On March 19, 2019, the singer hosted a live Instagram session and teased snippets to a few songs presumed to be from the forthcoming studio project.
June 4, 2019: ‘Made in Lagos best I ever made’ — Three months later, Wizkid took to his Instagram stories and posted the message, “Gong blessed me highest level of vibration! #MadeinLagos! Best I ever made. Yes…”
This was after he revealed he was working with Teni, Burna Boy, and Shaydee Boi despite his earlier resolve not to bring features in the project. Wizkid can be spotted standing next to Damien Marley, Bob Marley’s youngest son.
What appeared to be a studio session with Damian Marley would later suggest that Wizkid’s soon-to-be-released project might not only feature Nigerian acts but also include collaborations from a number of foreign musicians.
August 30, 2019: Wizkid throws in single as fans grow impatient — It was only when a fan took to Twitter to prod him in a rather patronising tweet that Wizkid budged after a prolonged silence on his ‘Made In Lagos’ album.
The singer disclosed that a song would be coming from him on September 6, after an inquisitive fan had requested to know when he would be releasing a new song following what many described as months of music scene silence.
September/October 2019: ‘Joro’, and ‘Ghetto Love’ but no ‘Made In Lagos’ — While Wizkid continued to tease his album, he didn’t hesitate to treat fans to occasional singles as he did with his release of ‘Joro’ and ‘Ghetto Love’.
In a chat with Okay Africa, he had said he wanted to drop the album on October 1, 2019. “It’s coming. I actually wanted it to come out on Independence day but, you know, I went to Jamaica and started recording more music.”
July 1, 2020: ‘Made In Lagos’ gets another date — Wizkid had given the impression the album would debut in July 2020 and failed to debunk insinuations that suggested otherwise, only to put out ‘Smile’, one of its tracks.
October 3, 2020: Again, Wizkid picks another date for ‘Made In Lagos’ — In an unexpected move after he failed to meet previous schedules, Wizkid took to Twitter to announce he had resolved to release on October 15.
October 14, 2020: Wizkid backtracks over #EndSARS protests — Two days to the date for which he billed his studio project, the singer called it off as the Nigerian protest against police brutality gained global attention.
October 15, 2020: Wizkid hits Reekado Banks over release attempt — After his evident resolve to not release music in solidarity for the protest, things seemed to have gone awry between Wizkid and Reekado Banks.
Banks announced a date for a single he recorded with Wizkid in a tweet on the 15th. He tagged Wizkid and used the #EndSARS hashtags in the tweet but the latter said he didn’t believe Banks wanted to put out a song at such time.
Wizkid had called Banks a “fool” and “clout animal”. He asked him to take the post down in a tweet he later deleted. “Delete this, dude. Can’t believe you’re doing this at a time like this. Old song. #EndSARS fool,” Wizkid had written.
October 29, 2020: Wizkid re-announces ‘Made in Lagos’ album — In yet another schedule, Wizkid billed his long-teased album for an evening release. “MadeInLagos Tonight 11.11 pm,” he tweeted.
Hopefully, it’s the last.
Copyright 2024 TheCable. All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from TheCable.
Follow us on twitter @Thecablestyle