With all the Grammy nominations, new Federal Ministry of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy appointments and the promise of a Afrobeats Museum we鈥檝e gotten so far, things are looking promising for the industry this year. Here鈥檚 everything we expect to happen.
Afrobeats gets a seat at the Grammy table
If you missed it, 鈥淏est African Music鈥 has been added to the Grammy list of categories, and Nigerians dominated the nominations last year. Burna Boy鈥檚 Alone and Davido’s FEEL were also nominated for 鈥淏est Global Music Performance鈥. Blessing Offor, a Nigerian gospel singer, got two nominations. Rema, Bloody Civilian and Tems were on the Grammy-nominated Black Panther: Wakanda Forever album, Fireboy DML on Jon Baptiste鈥檚 nominated album, World Music Radio, and Janelle Monae鈥檚 nominated Age of Pleasure album brought in CKay and Seun Kuti.
Who said it’s not plenty for Nigerian music?
The new federal directors show themselves
January 12, 2024, came with the appointment of Nigerian creative industry figures like Obi Asika (Storm Records), Tola Akerele (Bogobiri House) and Ali Nuhu (Nollywood) into the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy. We can鈥檛 wait to see what they do first.
An Afrobeats museum
On January 13, 2024, we published a two-part story about why we need an Afrobeats museum, and what it would look like, which motivated pop culture journalist, Jide Taiwo, to announce the launch of his museum. We can’t wait to see this brilliant idea come to life.
Next Afrobeats Star
Ultima Studio, the makers of the now cancelled hit music talent show, Project Fame, : Next Afrobeats Star. They haven鈥檛 revealed a launch date yet, but it鈥檒l air for ten weeks, and the four judges are music producers, Sarz, Puffy-T, Andre Vibez and P.Priime 鈥 a huge win and recognition for our producers.
AMVCA re-evaluation
MultiChoice鈥檚 Head of Content and Channels, West Africa, Dr Busola Tejumola, , that the categories of the famous Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA) have been reduced from 33 to 27, to 鈥渕eet global trends and standards鈥. Also, the Best Actor and Best Actress in Leading/Supporting Role will now be decided solely by a jury. These changes mark the tenth edition of the award show this year.
Another Big Brother Naija?
The reality TV show, Big Brother Naija, just of Season 9 audition dates. Nigerians are about to obsess over strangers and make them celebrities once again.聽
More industry drama
The new year is just 18 days old, and we鈥檝e already seen enough online gbas gbos to last the year. From Stefflon Don and Jada Kingdom fighting over Burna Boy to Prettyboy D-O calling out NATIVE Records鈥 president, TeezeeDRB, for owing his videographer-friend $500 and Tiwa Savage petitioning Davido over his threat to her life, it looks like a 鈥淣o gree for anybody鈥 year for the industry too.
