Opinion: Dear Nigerian artists, it's time to get some media training
Nigerian artists need to quit the one-word chatter and zero personality interviews.
Background: Nigerian music is going far. With the tide that ‘Essence’ turned in 2021; that Made In Lagos charted in 2020; that Tems has charted in 2022; that CKay charted with ‘Love Nwantiti’; that Burna Boy charted with his Grammy win in 2020, Nigerian music has earned itself a place under the microscope of American music capitalism.
While all of those successes are directly linked to the influx of different facets of American music capitalism into the Nigerian and Sub-Saharan African economy, those successes have proved that there is a proven new frontier for Nigerian talent, beyond the Nigerian audience and airwaves. It also proves the export and earning potential of Nigerian artists.
More so, Burna Boy has been doing an endless array of arena shows across Europe and the Americas. This has opened a raft of possibilities for Nigerian artists. This would also means that we are likely to see a lot of Nigerian artists get the thrill of getting exported beyond our shores over the next few years.
We won’t even see some of these artists blow up first in Nigeria.
More Background: While the current reality is led by quality music over brand and whole personality, through leveling factors like the internet, social media (especially TikTok and Instagram Reels) and DSPs (read playlists), a part of the next wave of African success will likely require more than just the music.
And even on this frontier, we are seeing Burna Boy’s whole Western and European sojourn get crested on the back of a socio-political, pan-Africanist narrative. We are seeing RCA Records and Tems’ team attempt to give her more social subconscious mileage beyond her incredible voice and amazing beauty, with great viral social media cameos and an Apple Music Radio show, to shine more spotlight on her personality.
We are seeing Fireboy get on the interview circuit with Hot 97, and perform ‘Peru,’ a Universal Music property on the big stage of the BET Awards. We are seeing Burna Boy appear on shows like Million Dollaz Worth of Game. Even Wizkid, who seems to be reclusive and not the greatest interview subject, has been the subject of many feature articles since 2020.
All of the foregoing is to say something simple: It’s going to be more than the music very soon, and very much more than it currently is. And part of the requirements would be to reflect fluid, lively personality and media training, on the way to earning a highly resonant brand, which could then earn some fans - not just listeners - for many crossover Nigerian artists.
Right now, many of them have listeners, not fans.
One way to get there is via engaging interviews, which give insights into the person behind the music, and in turn, give mileage to the music. In 2020, this writer watched a Yo Gotti interview on The Breakfast Club, and it killed his cynical perception of the Rapper and Label Executive. He even went ahead to listen to Untrapped, his first experience of a Gotti album since 2016’s 2 Federal.
The point is simple: interviews give mileage to the artist and their music.
The reason for this problem: A lot of Nigerian artists are simply kids with a talent and a million dollar dream. Most of them don’t have the luxury of going through an intentional artist development regimen.
The few who go through the artist development process do so unintentionally, either through church or through their hustle phase on the streets, while hustling for studio time and performance slots.
When they eventually sign to record labels, most of them have execs who know next to nothing about Nigerian music. Some of these execs also started these record labels as a vanity metric, to get their names out there or even to launder money. Apart from MAVIN Records, and maybe YBNL and Jonzing, most Nigerian labels don’t do anything about artist development.
That’s why most of our favorite Nigerian artists have zero media training and even worse stagecraft. From a reliable source, we know that one of the final stages of MAVIN Records’ artist development regimen is media training. They bring in paid experienced media professionals, who train their artists about the tenets of media training in the following ways;
- Appropriate demeanour and fighting flailing short attention spans.
- How to project tolerance, confidence and patience for long media rounds.
- How to answer - sensitive - questions.
- How to engage with interviewers.
- How to be personable.
- How to appear during interviews, as part of their respective brands.
It’s then no coincidence that Rema and Ayra Starr are an interviewer's delight. It’s also no coincidence that BoySpyce performed admirably during his first interview, even though it was apparent that he was a rookie.
On the other hand, a lot of bigger Nigerian artists get on popular international interview circuits and project more of their habitual tendency to wear dark shades, than an actual personality. Instead of being humble enough to work hard, they hide it under the guise of ‘starboy sh*t' - Excel Joab’s sarcastic description for the egotistical antics of Nigerian artists.
In the end, some of these artists prove that they don’t belong on these major international interview platforms/circuits. Sometimes, media professionals like this writer cannot fathom why their labels or label services companies even put them on major platforms like that.
Nigerian artists are the only type of artists who come to major interviews and act like they were forced to be there. Let’s not even lie, sometimes they are forced to be at interviews. This is because most of them are ignorant enough to underestimate the power of interviews in this day and age.
That’s why some companies backing some of them book major features for them on popular publications, and they will end up fluffing the lines with haphazard one-word responses and disrespectful scoffs that nobody asked for. That’s why some of their interviews are so horrible to watch or listen to. That’s why some of their features are hard to read, because they say nothing.
When you listen to, watch or read a typical Nigerian artist’s interview or feature, you tend to understand why their music has a tendency to be bland. It’s almost like they are scared of being perceived as human beings, while retaining their faux ‘star mystique,’ which helps nobody but them and them alone. It’s certainly not helping the companies that signed them.
Even worse, some of them think saying something controversial or trendy, to create a viral moment, is the definition of a 'great interview.'
Solutions: But all is not lost.
There are solutions to this problem;
- Nigerian artists themselves must understand the power of interviews, and be humble enough to go through media training that will help them.
- Companies that sign these artists must make media training a core part of the terms of their contract. They must also take classes on brand and image building.
- These companies must also start from small interview circuits. The embarrassment that’s become a core part of interviewing Nigerian artists are better experienced on smaller platforms.
*Pulse Editor's Opinion is the opinion of an editor at Pulse. It does not represent the views of the organisation Pulse.
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