OPINION: Tiwa Savage, Beauty, and The Beast

By Henry Chybuzor

One Saturday in August, in Illupeju, Lagos, my team and I hung out in a cozy little place called BarEnclave. We (some Lady, Uche Briggs, Edward Isreal-Ayide of Chocolate City and I) bantered over drinks and grilled Turkey. We talked Politics and Music. Somehow, the latter topic took the better of our time. On the drive home, I started to capture the core of our gist; to create a bit of what I thought of our Music. It is against this backdrop that we would discover that a Savage-Beast combination is a winning one anytime.

Don Jazzy has had one of the best production careers of the last decade. He has been on a rapid ascendancy. I can’t think of any other who embodies Nigerian Music, wading through its murky waters of unpredictability and yet-to-be-structured state, with more body of works than Jazzy. His resume boasts of an enviable D’banj-Wande-SID-Mohits AllStar collection, amongst other things. Now there’s a new Mavin imprint (which already has a D’Prince Album out on the shelves), and pundits are agog with speculation, comparisons and counter-claims. The world is watching.

Mavin’s First Lady, Tiwa SAVAGE, got everyone buzzing when she ushered the listeners into her world of artistry on the release of her long awaited ‘Once Upon A Time’. Mixed reviews greeted the Album, even as it incorporates AfroPop, Reggae and R&B components. Many persons believe the project isn’t exactly a great one. This is a Lady whose breeze into the scene has met quite a bit of overzealous anticipation and frenzy. When the Single ‘Kele Kele Love’ dropped, I thought to myself: Here’s a Singer who’s going to get herself to the top and give these others a run for their money; a hot, fierce chase for their trophy. How and when, I wouldn’t know. With the Kele Kele Love’ single, the sultry singer put her feet in untested waters. I saw her enter the scene and stand tall and I knew she would break grounds. And a couple years, a few TV appearances and endorsement deals after, look where we are. Not many Singers have killed it lately, quite as she has. It’s laudable because ours is predominantly a male-controlled Music industry. And though the glass-ceiling phenomenon permeates work places into our Music Business, it’s hard to put an unmistakeable talent in the mould of a Waje, a Chidinma or an Omawumi on a leash. Talent knows NO gender. You can’t hold back the exquisite brilliance. Their singing is food for the Spirit. Our Music is pure bliss. A Waje can melten any soul. A Chidinma or an Omawumi can easily tear to shreds any stage in the Land. The BEAUTY of our Music is historic in all of Africa and beyond; delighting the senses, stimulating intellectual and emotional admiration. I can’t explain enough. No one can.

Savage and her Mavin team did broaden the scope again, connecting with a chunk of the fans and critics. But Jazzy is above all; a wizard, a beast and a master of the art. Don Jazzy is phenomenal. We can posit thus because he understands the Market enough to know the yawning cleavage between the educated, cosmopolitan Nigerian audience and the ordinary, seemingly random faction; hence identifying the need to tailor-make Music that cuts across. Musical sounds that have adapted a SID –former Rapper- into one of the most sought after AfroPop/ PartyAnthem voices in recent times. A Musical path that has a Tiwa Savage cruising on top gear, doing ‘Ileke’ and ‘Eminado’; pieces more befitting of just any other Singer (obviously not in her mould or in her league with those much western music exposure). This is what I mean by Jazzy being a BEAST. A tall, placid, expressionless beast armed with an ear for Music and a keen business sense.

There are obvious weaknesses in the LP and there are rooms for subsequent improvements. Wilfred Okiche of YNaija laments that ‘at 21 Songs, there are just too many fillers, too much autotune and too much Don Jazzy. One has to dig deep to find the real substance.’ I share the Writer’s view on this to an extent. The tracks are a ton and don’t quite touch on some areas, the result of which is diluting the job so much and killing a bit of shine. But I don’t want to come off downgrading ‘Once Upon A Time’, regardless. So if we are putting forth a debate as to why the Album isn’t (or might not be) getting 5 Stars, it must be acknowledged that it might have nothing to do with her prowess. It is safe to say her abilities are not in question, one bit. In this vein, the Project’s shortcomings though of mainly external factors, could be excused. Given the arduousness of entering a scene with a bang, hanging on for a bit –and immersing herself with collaborations, tours and all what not- and persisting through a major Label restructuring (MoHits–Mavin), to record a body of works. Somehow, it’s not so easy maintaining an astronomical high, through these circumstances. These are the angles that shape my thinking and pretty much inform my conclusions.

Tiwa -through my lenses- has to be the Robyn Fenty of our clime, because anyhow you look at it, she is both talented and commercially worthwhile. A song bird that she is, she connects with that angle of you that you love to relish, her voice reminds you of the beautiful strings that play in your best dreams. The ‘Rihannasque’ similarity comes out again when you see her on stage. She is toned, trim, vibrant and stage-present. I’m talking standing ovations, round-of-applause type performances; amongst which was the notable Mavins All-Star Concert of 2012. And if you understand what I’m saying, you’d understand why the beverage brand famed for major star names had to put her on board. It is because she does more than just sing. Thus, it’s really hard for anyone to just cross legs and enjoy Nkwobi or Afang Soup without realizing that Savage is a matter of relevance, as far as Music is concerned in the Land.

‘Written All Over Your Face’ is explicit. ‘Get Low’ is brilliant. They are some of the songs that should pleasure a certain demographic that has the youths, the grown and sexy involved. She does quite some remarkable R&B on the latter piece. ‘Ileke’ is a smash any day. ‘Eminado’ is one of my favourites on the Album. The song has Tiwa Savage rendering her most catchy, fine-tuned and radio-ready effort since ‘Kele Kele Love’. The Reggae-powered ‘Wanted’ is a jam till forever. It connects with a whole new rhythm. Although it owes plenty of its lustre to Damian Marley’s ‘Welcome to Jamrock’, her vocal presence on it is note-worthy. It probably is the most positively reviewed piece on the Album. My good man, Osagie Alonge of The NETNg wrote: ‘’Wanted’ is by far the Best Song on The Album. I like the fact that it came in at track 2; starting off with high spirits. Tiwa’s towering confidence through her vocals and lyrics plus Warren ‘OAK’ Felder’s hard hitting drums is a perfect blend. Rihanna would be jealous.’

Savage is cruising on that greatness path already, I would know. It is interesting how she’s transformed her sound, creating a brilliant one off ‘Once Upon A Time’. Overtime, as she gained momentum, her sexappeal-songbird persona fleshed out to form both an amiable as well as a marketable combination of calm, collected greatness. And although she isn’t quite there yet, she can better this. I expect her to.

Okiche concludes that, ‘It appears Tiwa is just pandering, surrendering to market dictates while throwing a bit of her true self in between. One can easily count 5 Songs that should have been left out altogether. …And so we’ll keep the better tracks even as we await the moment when Tiwa delivers the pure R&B Album that she so glaringly has inside of her.’ I’d let you say what you make of Wilfred Okiche’s sentiments but I’m sure if all else fails, Tiwa has a formidable fan base and considering the LP was made under the aegis of Jazzy’s Mavin, it should pan out commercially positive, to some extent. Listen, Jazzy is a mammoth figure with a strong cult followership. He won’t fold his arms and sip Loya while his First Lady skids. I should think so.

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Henry Chybuzor is a free-thinking, young creative. In his  spare time, he  tries to zone out and enter a whole new creative sphere. He studies Music trends, The Arts and Culture. He also has a penchant for Advertising/ Media analysis.