The Recording Academy of America, the organization in charge of the Grammy awards, released its 64th instalment of nominations for the widely coveted awards. The Academy which is a body of learned musicians seeks to recognize excellence in music creation around the world. For this round of nominations, however, there has been a string of nominations going to Nigerian music acts, recognizing their excellence in the wider international music scene. These nominations have been a culmination of the growing influence of the Nigerian music scene internationally.
This year’s nominations have gone to major acts in the industry like Wizkid who was nominated alongside Femi Kuti, Burna Boy and Tems for the Best Global Music Performance category of the awards. For the third year running, Burna Boy, who won the category last time out has been nominated once again for his work on his latest album, Twice As Tall. Burna as he is fondly called by fans has come a long way on the international scene, from an artist that first grabbed global headlines when his song that was coincidentally sharing a name with the American artiste Kanye West was found by West’s fans and he has not looked back since.
Having earned 3 nominations since that opportune moment is a testament to the work that he has put into his craft. Enough to help him capture the imagination of fans across the world who still cannot get enough of his music. Today, Burna is a full-blown international star in his own right and is often the toast of other international acts looking to have him feature him on their songs.
The attention that Wizkid’s latest album ‘Made In Lagos’ has garnered since its release is well captured in the conversation between international music executives that filtered into Twitter timelines debating why the ‘Essence’ crooner’s album did not make it into the Album of The Year shouts, despite Wizkid already notching two nominations in this year’s lineup. He has arguably been Nigeria’s number one music export for the past few years with his music already holding worldwide appeal since its early days. His latest effort in ‘Made In Lagos’ has been a masterstroke that has cemented his place in the world music scene whilst also helping to bring the excellent Tems to new audiences.
Tems has probably been the fastest-rising act out of the Nigerian music scene recently with her appearance on Drake’s album being a culmination of her excellent showing on Wizkid’s ‘Essence’. Her nomination alongside the heavyweights in her category highlights how far she has come, evidence of her prodigious talent that has been winning her fans across the world, one of which is the impressive Adele who has been a fan of Tem’s music since 2018, according to a recent reveal by the artist herself.
Rounding up the Nigerian nominees are Femi and Made Kuti of the Anikulapo Kuti family. The Kuti name holds weight in the Nigerian music scene, an emblem of quality that has held over the years and one that is probably the most familiar with Grammy nominations, continuing a tradition of excellent music that has gone on for generations now. Femi has held the torch in the recent past with some recent shouts but Made’s nomination alongside him for their work on ‘Legacy +’ is a sign that that reign is not about to end anytime soon.
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“Babafemi Busari is a passionate writer whose experience writing across several niches bring unique perspectives to familiar subjects.”
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