Davido has attacked 2017 with the alacrity of a man who knows he made a lot of noise in the previous year but made little progress musically. The novelty of signing a major label deal with Sony has worn off and the pop star is faced with the same reality that great artists like D’banj before him have faced – how do you get a foot into the US market without losing your footing in your home country?
His moves in the past few weeks seem to be geared toward solving that problem. Davido has released a batch of new music with DMW artists and affiliates Mayorkun, Dammy Krane and B-Red, brought a new artist Yolar into the fold and is now doing collaborations almost weekly with any local artist with even an inkling of a buzz. But perhaps the biggest switch up was Davido letting go of his erstwhile manager Kamal Ajiboye and getting reacquainted with Asa Asika, his very first manager. The process of disengaging Kamal and reengaging Asa wasn’t the prettiest but perhaps there was a strong determination to do things in a different way this year.
Building up to the release of “If”, his new single, the pop star talked about shifting his focus from global to local in 2017. He’s also talked about taking back ‘creative control’, alluding to the fact that he probably didn’t have that luxury a few months ago.
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Evidently, Davido’s last EP Son of Mercy was a massive let down musically, the project sounded forced and disjointed – it’s obvious the singer had altered the DNA of his sound to fit a more global audience and Sony’s strings orchestrating plays from behind were far too visible. Creative control is something artists usually relinquish when they sign on the dotted lines of a major label contract, Davido, however, seems like he’s now ready to take control of his own creative destiny only a few months after the release of SOM.
On the new single “If”, he teams up with Tekno, his label mate on Sony, to serve a more familiar Afropop, happy-go-lucky sound. There’s a careless line or two from Lagbaja’s “Gra Gra” and the similarities in production to Tekno’s “Diana” are too glaring to ignore. You see, “If” is not a revolutionary masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but the tune already sounds like a banger in-waiting – it may be mindless melodic music but it’s our mindless melodic music.
If I tell you say I love you oh
My money, my body na your own, oh baby
30 billion for the account oh
Versace and Gucci for your body oh
The song is also a reunion of sorts – they might be megastars these days, signed to juicy international recording contracts and all that, but the first time Tekno and Davido got together was on Tekno’s breakout single Holiday almost 4 years ago now. Back then, Davido was a much bigger artist than Tekno and it was obvious that the blond-haired singer from Abuja was using OBO for leverage.
What a difference a few hit record makes, both acts are now established in their own right and “If” is a collaboration that could benefit from the weight both of their names now carry.