Headies, Artistes looking to make a statement in 2023 (3)
The Headies has joined our shortlist of those looking to make a statement in the music industry in 2023 while Emicart and Divine are our latest artiste reveals.
The Headies Awards is back for its 16th edition as it unveiled nominations for musicians who have impressed its jury across about 34 categories between January 2022 and March 2023.
Last year, it headed to Atlanta in the United States to hold the event and provoked a lot of criticism, especially when the sound and visuals appeared worse than when the award show was held in Nigeria. Beyond that, The Headies and controversies are like 5 & 6 - inseparable.
Fundamentally, The Headies’ issue seems to be a struggle to find a balance between monetisation and morality, such that some winners would have been so predictable for even the most lethargic music follower, yet the result would go the other way and leave many in incredulity.
This year, they got it right with Asake with an unprecedented sweep of nominations although the overlook of Chopstix who produced Burna Boy’s Last last (a song of the year nomination) and Reward Beatz who cooked Kizz Daniel’s Buga, Rich Till I die and Young Jonn’s Xtra Cool is baffling.
While The Headies may have given us another edition to anticipate, these artistes are exciting talents to watch out for and may soon dominate awards spaces in the years to come:
David ‘Emicart’ Johnson
With the blessing of a family with an impressive music heritage, music came naturally to Emicart who was raised by singer parents. He started out as a rapper before becoming a versatile singer who can flex his sonic muscles on any style and genre.
Not many up-and-coming artistes know their worth but the singer born David Johnson is aware of his and is willing to give what it takes to achieve music stardom.
Speaking with AfroDives, he enthuses: “I'm versatile enough to blend, explore and have fun on any sound I come in contact with. My dream is to make everyone recognise me, my sound and my talent. I want to share my light with the world.”
The singer further explains where he gets his inspiration,
“My inspiration in music is the emotions we feel. That's what makes us sell as artistes - the act of being able to express and record how you feel. Even when you can’t talk, music does that for you, it becomes your sanctuary.”
As the music industry continues to evolves, Emicart is also fine-tuning his craft to trends and his latest single, Asiwaju Tales, shows that he is ready to take the industry by storm. Stream it here.
Divine Christopher
Despite the seeming dominance of Afrobeats artistes on Nigerian airwaves, there are equally talented artistes who ply their trade in other genres and still find their way to mainstream consciousness.
One such artiste is Divine Christopher, a Gospel minstrel who has been putting incredible talent on display since 2018 when he started making music.
He started his music journey the way many of today’s A-list artistes did - from being a church instrumentalist before going into the studio full-time. He was a keyboardist in his local church for years before his songwriting skills came to the fore.
The Abuja-based artiste has many tracks to his credit but does not weigh his success on materialistic indices rather in fulfilling destiny and pleasing God. His latest single, Be Glorified, is another indicator of the singer’s divine gift and can be streamed here. Watch out for more from Divine via his social media handle: Divine Christopher.