Tiwa Savage shuts down song theft talk, says ‘I knew Ciara was sampling my record’

When Ciara released ‘Freak Me’, her Tekno-assisted single, all hell broke loose on Nigerian social media over alleged song theft and unapproved sampling of Tiwa Savage’s ‘Before Nko’.

But addressing the matter plainly for the first time, the Nigerian superstar says she had foreknowledge of the sampling.

Savage said her representatives spoke to Ciara’s camp, inferring that they reached an understanding on the usage of the song.

In an interview with Capital Xtra’s Tim Westwood, Savage described ‘Freak Me’ as a pleasant surprise.

She said: “It’s amazing. It’s an honour. I knew she was going to sample the record.

“Her people had spoken to my people but I didn’t hear the final product until it came out but it was a pleasant surprise. Big shout out to her.”

Savage also spoke about her upcoming collaboration with Coldplay, and how it came to be.

She said: “They have a record with Stargate and it kinda has like an Afrobeat influence in it and I already worked with Stargate on a couple of records, so they wanted a female vocal on it, so here I am.

“When I was in the studio with Chris Martin, he was so cool. I was so nervous. He made it so easy.”

The singer said her collaboration with Duncan Mighty, ‘Lova Lova’, is currently her favourite song, adding that “I knew it was a big record when I recorded it”.

The Afrobeats star also touched on the inequality suffered by women in the music industry, noting that it is not limited to Nigeria.

“I think it’s all over the world actually. I have heard other female acts from America, the UK talk about how hard it is,” Savage said.

She said songs by male artistes find quick acceptance on the radio as opposed to those recorded by female singers.

“I think it’s a lot easier to accept male artist’s songs,” the ‘All Over’ singer said. “On radio, it gets played quicker. Sometimes, I feel like some records when I have male artistes on it, is accepted a lot quicker.”