By Adedayo Odulaja
If you had typed Kiss Daniel into the search engine early last year, you would probably have got ‘Kiss Dragon’ as the most prominent result. Don’t you think?
But today, the young man who goes by that stage name needs no introduction as far as the Nigerian music terrain is concerned.
Of course, the change or do you prefer transformation (apologies to APC and the PDP blocs respectively), did not happen overnight, but through hard work and a combination of several other factors.
No, before you wonder what is being driven at, this is not another review of how far the young man has come or if he will be able to sustain the truly remarkable momentum he has been able to build. Come to think of it, he only left the university two years ago and had only taken music serious for a year and half and yet achieved this level of success. Wow!
So what’s this about? It’s a legitimate ‘wandering’ around songs released so far in 2015, trying to see if any can rival or grow even bigger than Kiss Daniel’s ‘Woju’ for this year.
For starters, ‘Woju’ itself was not released this year; the song hit the public domain on September 1, 2014 but with a video, remix and video of the remix all coming out this year. Having ruled the airwaves up till now, you can forgive me for thinking only newly released songs, if any, can wrest the spotlight from this massive jam.
Looking at both the audio-visual planes, which songs/videos do you like to see once you put on your TV or radio at present? It’s from that side of thinking that I will name a few that can be considered contestants.
‘Ololufe’ – Flavour feat. Chidinma
Since the release of its video, Flavour’s ‘Ololufe’, featuring the delectable Chidinma, has become one of the most popular songs in the land. Much of that acclaim however, goes to the beautiful and well-directed video, which boats over 2.2 million views on Youtube at present.
However, since the song was released back in November 2014, shortly after Kiss Daniel’s song, along with the Thankful album, it doesn’t qualify.
‘The Sound’ – Davido feat. DJ Buckz and Uhuru
Another song is ‘The Sound’ by Davido, featuring DJ Buckz and Uhuru. It was released on January 30, 2015 and expected to be in the O.B.O’s forthcoming second album and boasts at least 1.6m views since the release of its video online about 3 months ago.
It is another popular tune from Davido but can it really rival ‘Woju’? I don’t think so.
‘Gift’ – Iyanya feat. Don Jazzy
‘Yudala’ and ‘Applaudise’ are Iyanya’s latest music offerings but ‘Gift’ is the former Project Fame winner’s song that can be said to command appreciable attention yet.
Featuring Don Jazzy, the song dropped on March 6, 2015 and has got many music lovers looking the way of the Kukere hit maker but it is very unlikely it will go anywhere near Kiss Daniel’s banging hit.
‘Ojuelegba’ – Wizkid
The rags to riches story of Wizkid and a deeply expressive video, directed by Clarence Peters have propelled ‘Ojuelegba’ to a height many can only dream of. One of the songs on the Wizzy’s Ayo album released last year, it is easily one of Wizkid’s greatest songs ever – burning with sincerity and inspiration but it is too late for the Afrobeat-themed song to displace ‘Woju’ from the frontline.
‘Godwin’ – Korede Bello
Clearly the closest yet as regards competition, Don Jazzy-produced ‘Godwin’ did not become popular because some argue that it should not be performed in the church.
It is rather due to the combination of the aspirational theme with nice sounding beat and of course, the production wizardry of the Mavin Records boss.
Still without a video, ‘Godwin’, released on January 28, 2015 has been a big hit everywhere – on radio, blogs, club, churches and anywhere else. A timely video will only shore up its acceptance level and that might just be what it needs to stand up to ‘Woju’, even if it’s not your regular club banger.
What do you think? I will like to know.
