* Davido hails both singers
Two young Nigerian singers – Burna Boy and Ayodeji Balogun aka Wizkid – have won awards in different categories at the 2021 Grammy Awards.
While Burna Boy won Best Global Music Album, Wizkid won for his role on ‘Brown Skin Girl’ off the 2019 album.
Specifically for Burna Boy, his album Twice as Tall won the award over records by Antibalas (FU Chronicles), Bebel Gilberto (Agora), Anoushka Shankar (Love Letters), and Tinariwen (Amadjar). The win marks Burna Boy’s first Grammy Award after being nominated last year.
In November, the Recording Academy announced plans to change the name of Best World in Music Album to Best Global Music Album lo, saying it’s a step toward “a more relevant, modern, and inclusive term.” The statement added: “The change symbolizes a departure from the connotations of colonialism, folk, and ‘non-American’ that the former term embodied while adapting to current listening trends and cultural evolution among the diverse communities it may represent.”
Wizkid, has won his first-ever Grammy Award for his role on ‘Brown Skin Girl’ off the 2019 album, ‘The Lion King’, at the 63rd Grammy Award.
Wizzy, as he is fondly called by his fans, won the award alongside Beyonce, who owns the song and featured artists – Wizkid, Blue Ivy, and SAINt JHN
It also marks the first Grammy Award for Beyoncé’s daughter.
The award will go to Jenn Nkiru who directed the video while artists, producers and video director will get a statuette for this category.
The official Twitter account of Grammy tweeted, “Congrats Best Music Video winner – ‘BROWN SKIN GIRL’ @Beyonce #BlueIvy @wizkidayo”.
Beyoncé’s visual for “Brown Skin Girl” took home the award over videos by Future and Drake (“Life Is Good”), Harry Styles, (“Adore You”), Anderson Paak (“Lockdown”), and Woodkid (“Goliath”).
Wizkid was the first Nigerian to win an NAACP Image award for the song, Brown Skin Girl, on which he was featured by Beyonce, in the category of ‘Outstanding Duo, Group/Collaboration’. He also became the most awarded African Artist in the history of the Music of Black Origin awards, having won four awards. He was adjudged the ‘Best African Act’ in the 2020 edition of the prestigious award.
Meanwhile, singer Davido has congratulated his colleagues in the Nigerian music industry – Burna Boy and Wizkid – for winning awards at the 63rd Grammy Awards event which held Sunday night.
To celebrate Wizkid and Burna Boy, Davido took to social media where he declared their win as a victory for Nigeria.
He tweeted, “Whichever way you look at it, this is a victory for Nigeria for the culture and for my people! Congrats to our winners! Tule Naija! #Grammys #foreverchoke.”