FIA and four more ways Davido conquered 2017

Publicly, he appeared aggrieved. Privately, he sought and got creative control over his music from the global giant. The upshot was the banishing of the impulse that led him to attempt actual singing with R&B act Tinashe on ‘How Long’. The Caribbean vibe that produced ‘Gbagbe Oshi’ was also killed.

Both songs were experiments in making a global star out of Davido: If he could tap into R&B and reggae-dancehall—two major forms of black music doing well on US radio—then perhaps Davido could become the first Nigerian star in a long time to find American success.

It was too late when Davido realised that wasn’t going to happen. 2016 was not going to be his year. His first project under Sony Music, the Son of Mercy EP, disappeared with little buzz, and by then his rival Wizkid had forged ahead, buoyed by working with Drake. But if you think of contemporary Nigerian pop as a contest between the two diminutive men, then Wizkid won the battle; Davido, playing the long game, would win the war.

Here are the five ways in which Davido achieved thorough domination in 2017.

5. Mayorkun

Davido signed the artist Mayorkun who has now had his own hit songs 'Mama' and 'Che Che'. Perhaps it is telling that even as Davido enjoyed success in 2017, his own fortune did not affect that of his signee. The label even went ahead to organise a first concert for an artist whose solo songs you can count on one hand. Mayorkun’s label mate Dremo had a decent year as well, releasing one of the year’s best videos to accompany the single ‘Who’.

4. Controversy and Awards

For bad and good reasons, Davido stayed in the news. Blogs carried the latest reports concerning the deaths of his friends. But they also carried news of his double win at the European MTV Awards, a triumph Davido was only too happy to gloat about on social media.

His wresting back creative control of his work from Sony Music had paid off. “Funnily enough,” he told the Financial Times later, “this is the first time that I’ve won European awards. I realised that when I really focused on Africa and my culture, that’s when people started recognising me.”

3. If and Fall

The first sign that Davido was returning to the method that ensured his success came early in the year when he recruited his old pal Tekno on the song ‘If’. Besides sharing Tekno’s fascination for single word titles, the song also channelled Tekno’s propulsive drums and zany love lyrics.

The ever aspirational Nigerian audience latched onto Davido’s declaration of “30 billion for the account”. If money and love were the draw for ‘If’, sex and celebrity did it for ‘Fall’. The latter song had Nigerians chanting the weirdly phallic line, “banana fall on you”, for months. Love, money, sex and celebrity—intentionally or unwittingly, Davido had wrapped up mankind’s most popular topics in melody.

2. The 30 Billion concert

By December it was clear that Davido would get quite an audience at his year-end concert. He had four hit songs—‘If’, ‘Fall’, ‘Fia’ and ‘Like That’. He had made an appearance at Wizkid’s concert (which meant his rival will pay the favour). Unsurprisingly, the venue was sold out hours before the commencement of the concert.

At the concert proper, he brought out the men of the defunct Mo’ Hits to come perform together years after the group split. The crowd cheered at the reunion—but they could just as well have been cheering at Davido’s total dominance of 2017.

1. FIA

Besides his ongoing concerns about women and money, the key to Davido’s music is joy. It is the only emotion the singer has ever allowed his listeners. And it is easy to see why: he is young, rich, famous and healthy. Any two of those items is cause for joy.

But ‘FIA’ is the first time anguish can be heard on a Davido song. The song, which was released after the deaths of three friends, only directly addresses one of those deaths. But a sense of the strain he was in is perceptible on the hook of what is mostly a song about an over-demanding woman. When he says, “You for dey for me when the boy dey hunger”, he allows some anguish into his readily raspy voice as he sings the first five words. For Davido, who has said, “The last thing [African] people want to hear is sad music”, 'FIA' is as against his money-go-lucky attitude as it gets.

The novelty of anguish in a Davido song might be worthy on its own, but combined with the words of the chorus, which preaches caution when in love—“I love you no mean say if you say make I put one hand for fire, I go put hand for fire” translates to “Loving you is no reason to make me burn my hands just because you asked”—elects ‘FIA’ as the best song in the Davido catalogue.

Last year would still be a great one for Davido without ‘FIA’. With it, 2017 became his annus mirabilis.