By Adebayo Boluwatife
Change is constant, nothing remains the same.
The Nigerian music industry is an ever changing dynamic environment, one that easily reacts to new changes and trends; and this is no surprise as it’s not a new thing for Nigerians to adapt seamlessly to the new trends in other industries in the continent and around the globe.
Since the beginning of this decade, the Nigerian music industry has had its fair share of sounds exported out to become international and global hits. Songs like Essence, Love Nwantiti are making the Nigerian sound proud with robust performances on the Billboard 100. It must be noted that all of these exploits stem out from the beautiful Nigerian nature of looking at things from a different perspective by refurbishing a sound or new trend to suit us favorably. An obvious example is the South African Amapiano sound that Nigerians copied, refurbished and are now offering better sounds off a cloned sound. This habit is magical, but it has always been the way we’ve stayed ahead of the curve. The dynamism and business approach of Nigerian artistes have helped so much in this aspect.
Before the start of the decade, it was a normal occurrence for songs that are hit songs either locally or internationally to be remixed, but the idea of multiple remixes with other different artistes from around the globe or perhaps in different languages was a different thing entirely. The idea was brought to life in Nigeria by the veteran DJ Neptune, who strapped an EP for hit song titled “Nobody” which featured Mr Eazi and Joeboy. The “Nobody Remixes EP” opened the door to a new trend in the Nigerian Music Industry.
Few Nigerian artistes also made EDM remixes to their popular songs, but there are few cases of such because of the Electronic genre of music doesn’t really appeal here in Nigeria as few artistes really appreciate its value. For example, AG baby made an EDM remix to his popular song “Sinner“, which was remixed by Banx and Ranx. Chiké also made an EDM remake of the “Boo Of The Booless” album. But that is just a flip side of the multiple remixes coin.
Nigerians have found a way to make it better as usual. Nigerian artistes have brought another dimension to making remixes EP by remaking the same song in different languages as we saw with Nobody Remixes EP which had French and Latin remixes and more. Since then, many artistes have followed suit that it’s now becoming a common thing for artists to remix their songs with other foreign artistes. Artistes such as Ckay did with Love Nwantiti have created different versions for their hit songs. Teni also made a remix EP for her hit song “Moslado“. Fireboy DML’s smash hit Peru also earned two remixes with Ed Sheeran, 21 Savage and Blxst. Also, recently released Ozumba Mbadiwe remixes EP by Reekado Banks which featured different African artistes like Fireboy DML, KiDi, Lady Du, Rayvanny and Elow’n. This has further strengthened the multiples remixes trend in Nigeria.
Nevertheless, the multiple remixes trend is yet to be accepted by majority of the listening audience. Some fans feel the artistes are wasting resources to remake a song they have heard before, resources better funneled into making an entirely new song with the featured artists, while others argue that it’s just an avaricious strategy to dive into the Billboard charts and all round commercial success especially for global hits as streams and downloads for each versions of the song all accumulates into one when taking records for the charts. Although, some other fans duly accept it stating it is just another step in the right direction to increase Nigerian artistes heat map globally and also offer a chance to win more international awards.
Whichever way it is, this writer is all in for it. Let’s milk it as much as possible.
Again, Nigerians are doing what they do best. They are ‘milking’ their songs as much as possible to earn more from them as it is the latest trend in town. We are doing it bigger than usual. Expect more remixes to potential hit songs this year. Let’s enjoy!
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