From Lagos, New York, Jo’Burg, London, Lisbon, Dubai to even Delhi, Afrobeats is one sound that is spreading across the globe like a wildfire. Its acceptance across the world have been nothing but phenomenal! When people talks about the success of the genre, attention is mostly given to male superstars like Burna Boy, Wizkid, Davido, Olamide, Asake, Rema among many others.
There have always been complains that Nigerian female artistes don’t get enough props and due recognition like their male counterparts. But times are changing and we are now experiencing an influx of many talented female acts in the music industry, especially in the Afropop genre globally now known as AFROBEATS! The year 2024 is already witnessing amazing record releases by many of these talented singers and performers.
Like their male counterparts, these divas are doing great numbers across both the audio and video streaming platforms. They are blessed with great vocal range and their sonorous voices can be likened to that of a nightingale. They are rocking big stages across the world and they are blessed with great shapes and pretty looks. They are sexy and have great sense of fashion which is typical of music divas.
In this special feature, ACADA Magazine will be throwing spotlights on 5 leading female Afrobeats stars that are rocking both the local and international music scenes.
TIWA SAVAGE
She’s arguably the current biggest female artiste in Nigeria. First, she boasts a degree in professional music from the Berklee College of Music, and in 2006, she featured on the UK platform for X-factor where she placed third in runner-up. A vocalist per excellence, Tiwa has lent her sonorous voice to international music legends Mary J Blige, Chaka Khan, George Michael, Whitney Houston and Andrea Bocelli just to mention a few.
Her powerful vocals add a whole different charm that makes her different from all the other artists. Savage sings in English and Yoruba; her music is a blend of Afrobeats, R&B, Afropop, Pop and Hip-hop.
Tiwa has collaborated with many young artistes which gives her ample exposure and which is surely one of her staying powers.
Savage signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing in 2009. Inspired by the growth of the Nigerian music industry, Savage moved back to Nigeria and signed with Mavin Records in 2012. She made an appearance on the label’s 2012 compilation album Solar Plexus.
Her debut studio album Once Upon a Time was released on 3 July 2013. Savage’s second studio album, titled R.E.D, was released on 19 December 2015. In June 2016, Savage signed a management and publishing deal with Roc Nation. In September 2017, she released her debut EP Sugarcane. In May 2019, she announced her record deal with Universal Music Group and exit from Mavin Records. Savage’s third studio album Celia, was released in August 2020. Her second extended play Water & Garri, which blends Afrobeats with soulful R&B, was released on 20 August 2021. In March 2022, Savage announced the Water & Garri North American Tour in support of the EP. In July 2022, she received an honorary degree from the University of Kent during a graduation ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral.
She became the first woman to win the Best African Act category in the 2018 MTV Europe Music Awards and has won several more after that.
In mid-2017, as Savage was preparing to release Sugarcane, she began to be called the Queen of Afrobeats by the media and the moniker has stuck till date. She was invited to perform at the coronation of King Charles III at Windsor Castle in England in 2023.
Tiwa Savage has multiple endorsement deals with top brands like Pepsi, Tecno, Pampers, Profectiv MegaGrowth, MAC and Twisco.
She recently Executive Produced and featured in her own movie, Water and Gaari which is currently showing on Amazon Prime.
NOTABLE HITS: Kele Kele Love, Love Me (3x), Eminado, Without my Heart and Koroba.
YEMI ALADE
Yemi Eberechi Alade rose from total obscurity to national prominence when she blew people’s minds with her majestic poise and her sweet ringing soprano at the debut edition of Peak’s Talent Hunt Show in 2009 which she eventually won and she signed to Effyzzie Music Group.
Her music is a mixture of Afropop, Highlife, Dancehall, Pop and R&B, and has been of influence in several countries across Africa. She sings in English, Igbo, Pidgin, Yoruba, French, Swahili and Portuguese.
It took her five years to release her debut album, King of Queens which was a huge success. The album had the hit song, Johnny, which is still played in clubs to this day. Yemi toured several African countries including South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana, then released a deluxe version of her album with French renditions of some of the hit songs on the album.
Two years later, Yemi released her second album called Mama Africa. She featured artists from all over Africa and tackled heavy issues, especially focusing on African women.
She has released three more albums titled Black Magic, Woman of Steel, and Empress.
In 2016, she debuted on Billboard as No 4 on “Next Big Sound” Chart. She won the MTV African Music Awards for Best Female in 2015 and 2016 consecutively and was nominated for Artiste of the Year in 2015, making her the first female to win the MAMAs for Best female consecutively twice and nominated for Artiste of the Year. In 2015, Alade was the first African female to be nominated for the MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) and she was nominated for the BET awards for Best International Act: Africa in 2015 and 2016.
Alade is also the second Nigerian and Afrobeats artist and the first female to hit 100 million views for a single video on YouTube after Davido.
On 9 May 2017, Alade was announced as a coach in the second edition of The Voice Nigeria to replace 2baba who was a former coach on the live show. She coached on The Voice Nigeria (Season 2) alongside other Nigerian artists like Waje, Timi Dakolo and Patoranking.
In 2022, Yemi Alade bagged a Grammy nomination for her song Dignity with Angelique Kidjo. She alongside Kidjo were nominated for the category of Best Song for Social Change Social Merit Award. She likewise has a Grammy certificate for her collaboration with the Beninese music icon on her Mother Nature album. She is also the first Afrobeats artiste to get a Latin Grammy nomination for the song Cónexion Total with Bomba Estéreo, Both the song and (Deja) the album it featured in was nominated for the awards. In 2022, The Scoove Africa ranked Yemi Alade “The Best Stage Performer in Nigeria” for the year 2022.
Yemi has signed several local and international endorsement deals with notable brands such as Shell, Globacom, Maybelline, Luc Belaire, Bacardi Breezer, and an International cosmetic company, NP Gandour amongst others.
Yemi Alade is one of the most influential female Nigerian artists, and an extraordinary performer.
NOTABLE HITS: Johnny, Bamboo, Temperature, Knack Am and Akwaba.
TEMS
Temilade Openiyi with the stage name Tems blessed us with her sonorous voice on one of the biggest Afrobeats Summer records, 2020 Wizkid’s Essence which peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart following the release of the remix version with Justin Bieber. The song earned her a Grammy Award nomination. That same year, she was featured on the song Fountains by Canadian rapper Drake.
Tems caught the attention of the music industry when she released her second single, Try Me, in 2019. One year later, she continued her strong start by releasing an EP titled For Broken Ears. One song, Damages, topped the Apple Music streaming charts for Nigeria.
In 2020, she released her debut extended play, For Broken Ears. Her second extended play, If Orange Was a Place (2021), was released after she signed a record deal with RCA Records. In 2022, Tems‘ vocals from her song Higher were sampled by Future on his single, Wait for U, which led to her being credited as a featured artist alongside Drake on the song. It debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first African artist to debut at number one and the second Nigerian artist to top the chart. The song earned her the Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance.
Tems covered Bob Marley‘s No Woman, No Cry for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack album in July 2022 and in the same month, her song Free Mind from her debut EP debuted on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 46 and breaking the female record for longest charting number one song on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. She also co-wrote the song Lift Me Up by Rihanna, which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media.
In 2024, Tems released her debut studio album Born in the Wild and further announced a supporting tour.
She has received many accolades, including a Grammy Award, a Billboard Women in Music Award, four NAACP Image Awards, four BET Awards and three Soul Train Music Awards.
She attended Dowen College in Lekki and graduated in Economics from Monash University, Johannesburg.
She’s also into collaborations with the iconic fashion brand, Tommy Hilfiger and also global whiskey brand, Jameson Black.
NOTABLE HITS: Try Me, Damages, Try Me, Free Mind and Me & U.
SIMI
Sensational songstress and vocal powerhouse Simisola Kosoko, popularly known as Simi is another leading lady of Afrobeats whose style of storytelling endears her to music numerous music lovers who loves depth and messages.
She started her career as a gospel singer, releasing her debut studio album in 2008, titled Ogaju. She also played as one of the top judges in season 7 of the Nigerian Idol TV show in 2022. She gained public recognition in 2014 after releasing Tiff, a song that was nominated for Best Alternative Song at The Headies 2015. Simi signed a record deal with X3M Music in 2014, but left the label in May 2019 following the expiration of her contract.
She released her second studio album Simisola on September 8, 2017. Her third studio album Omo Charlie Champagne, Vol. 1 was released to coincide with her thirty-first birthday on April 19, 2019. She launched her record label Studio Brat in June 2019.
In 2020, Simi released another EP titled Restless II which is part two of the initial Restless EP released in 2014.
Aside been a songwriter, singer and a performer, Simi is also a producer.
Simi is married to another top Afrobeats artiste, Adekunle Kosoko popularly known as Adekunle Gold and they both have a beautiful daughter, Adejare.
She made her acting debut in Kunle Afolayan‘s directorial Mokalik. She was Etisalat (now 9mobile) brand ambassador but later ported to Glo. She also had Opera Mini endorsement in the past.
NOTABLE HITS: Tiff, Jamb Question, Joromi, Owanbe, Duduke and Story Story.
AYRA STARR
Ayra Starr, signed to the biggest music label in Nigerian, Mavin Records is surely popping right now.
Starting out as a model, Starr was signed to Quove Models, an agency in Lagos. A year later, she began posting song covers by artists like 2Baba and Andra Day, and then modelled in campaigns and music videos for other artists before becoming a musician. She uploaded a few videos of herself covering songs by other artists before deciding to pen and post her own original song – Beggie Beggie – in December 2019. It garnered thousands of views prior to reaching Mavin Records founder and producer Don Jazzy, who’d eventually sign her to his label.
In early 2021, Starr achieved mainstream recognition with her eponymous debut extended play and its hit track Away, which spent two consecutive weeks at number four on Nigeria’s TurnTable Top 50 chart; the song also peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Top Triller Global chart, paving the way for the release of her first full-length album, 19 & Dangerous (2021).
The lead single Bloody Samaritan peaked atop the Top 50 chart, becoming the first solo song by a female artist to reach the number-one position. Starr debuted on Pandora Predictions chart and on 28 August 2021, was ranked number three on Billboard’s Next Big Sound.
Starr would later achieve mainstream international recognition in 2022, with the release of her song Rush. The song charted in several territories, including Switzerland, Ireland and the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number 24. It earned Starr her first nomination at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards for Best African Music Performance.
With the song, Starr became the youngest African female artist to surpass 100 Million views on a single video on YouTube, and also the first to do so within 5 months.
On 4 March 2023, Starr took to social media to announce her music was used as soundtrack for blockbuster American action movie, Creed III. On 13 July 2023, Starr announced that she would headling her first world tour titled 21: The World Tour. The tour included 40 stops across North America, Africa, Europe and Australia. On 27 October 2023, David Guetta featured Ayra Starr and Lil Durk on a house-influenced Afrobeats song titled Big FU.
On 5 March 2024, American R&B artist Chris Brown announced that Starr would be one of the opening acts for his 2024 arena tour in North America.
On 8 April 2024, Jamaican record producer Rvssian released the single Santa in collaboration with Starr and reggaeton artist Rauw Alejandro. The song helped Starr become the first female Nigerian artist to reach a peak of 20 million monthly listeners on Spotify. During a Fenty event in London that month, Starr met with Rihanna to discuss the possibility of a musical collaboration.
Her album The Year I Turned 21 made her the first Nigerian female artist on the Billboard 200 chart; the album debuted at number 195 on June 10, 2024.
Talking about brand endorsements, Ayra Starr used to pitch her tent with Pepsi but she’s now a Coke brand ambassador. She’s also Darling Hair Extension brand ambassador. She’s also the Africa spoke person for beauty brand, Maybelline.
NOTABLE HITS: Away, Bloody Samaritan and Rush.
