From joy to gnashing of teeth. On November 24, 2021, when the list of Grammy nominees was announced, Nigeria was excited to count five of the eight African names eligible for the prestigious award.
Thanks to its record industry teeming with creativity, the country of 206 million inhabitants has for several years been one of the strongholds of the continent in terms of music.
But the enthusiasm quickly turned to desolation, even to a certain acrimony, less than five months later. Finally organized on April 3, 2022 in Las Vegas after an initial postponement due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 64th Grammys was indeed marked by the failure of the Nigerian representatives to climb to the final list.
Miscellaneous fortunes
Wizkid, Burna Boy, Tems, Femi Kuti and Made Kuti will all have failed to convince the Recording Academy – the organizer of the Grammys – of the merit of their works to be rewarded in their respective categories. This contrasts sharply with the previous edition where the West African giant left Sin City with two golden statuettes.
One for artist Burna Boy in the category “best world music album” and the other for the benefit of Wizkid, rewarded with the “best music video” for her performance in the song “Brown skin girl” of the American Beyoncé.
Music lovers, Nigerians in particular, therefore had reason to be frustrated the day after the ceremony. But what arouses their anger more, especially on social networks, is the defeat of Wizkidcapped at the post by another African artist, in this case the Beninese Angélique Kidjo.
Strong disapprovals
The latter indeed triumphed over her young Nigerian competitor in the category best world music album thanks to her opus released in June 2021. “Mother Nature”, the last of a rich discography of more than ten albums. With this new distinction, the native of Ouidah, designated the first African diva in 2007 by the magazine Times, now has five Grammys in total. More than any artist in Africa.
Still, his latest award is not to the liking of Nigerian Internet users. They have since been mobilized on Twitter to defend their star Wizkid, considered more deserving. Notably because of the success of his album “Made in Lagos”, released last year. Powered by title “Essence” At the top of many charts across the Atlantic since its launch, the 14-track work is one of the main African musical successes of recent months.
The popular success of “Made in Lagos”will not have been enough to convince the Grammy Academy, which has clearly taken into account other evaluation criteria.