Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun AKA Wizkid is no stranger to top-notch albums that go hand in hand with international awards. Before ‘Made In Lagos’, the ‘Ojuelegba’ crooner had already released three albums, making ‘Made In Lagos’ the fourth.
However, there’s just something about his new album ‘Made In Lagos’ that cannot be ignored. That’s why the critically acclaimed album has been analyzed by both critics and fans. This article covers everything about the album, especially the global recognition it has received and the Grammy nomination in the picture.
About ‘Made In Lagos’
It was released officially for public consumption on 30th October 2020. Almost 3 years after releasing his previous album (in 2017), we could say that the album is indeed worth the wait. The album contains hit songs like ‘Ginger’ Ft. Burna Boy, ‘Smile’ Ft. H.E.R, and ‘No Stress’. Other songs on the track list are ‘Reckless’, ‘Piece Of Me’ Ft. Ella Mai, and ‘Mighty Wine’. The album is particularly studded, with appearances from stars like Burna Boy, Tems, Skepta, Ella Mai, H.E.R, Tay Iwar, and more.
Premium music producers were not left out of the show as P.Priime, Legendary betas, P2J, Kel-P, Sarz, and London contributed their raw talent to make this album a massive hit which eventually turned out to be. From the name, you can tell that the song is going to be afrocentric (and it is), yet, it offers instrumental beats that appeal to fans all over the world. The song which has a global appeal is based primarily on the Afrobeats and RNB genres. The critically acclaimed album has a total runtime of about 52 minutes.
‘Made In Lagos’ global recognition
‘Made In Lagos’ has won several international awards apart from the prestigious nomination of Best Global Music Album at the 64th Annual Grammys. The album snagged the Album of the Year at the 7th annual African Entertainment Awards 2021. That is just the tip of the iceberg, ‘Made In Lagos’ has won several other awards that we’ll discuss below.
Billboard
Speaking of Billboards, ‘Made In Lagos’ has topped the Billboards multiple times. The album made the record as the highest Billboard charting Nigerian album of all time. Apart from that, the album has also made a record as the first Nigerian album to spend up to a year on the Billboard World Albums Chart after spending also making records as number 1 for up to 3 consecutive weeks on the Billboard World Album Chart.
If you think that all that is too much, let me go on to say that Wizkid’s album lasted a whole 66 weeks on the Billboard world album Charts. Not many African artists have hit that level on the charts. He shares the record with only one other African album which is ‘Cesaria’ by Cesaria Evora. ‘Essence’ which is a song off the ‘Made In Lagos’ album became the highest charting Nigerian song on the Billboard Hit 100 charts. For those who know, the Billboard Hot 100 charts typically feature the most popular songs in the USA making this a huge feat for Wizkid.
Spotify
‘Made In Lagos’ has not only thrived on the Billboards as Spotify is also added to the list of international platforms where the album shines. ‘Made in Lagos’ smashed a new record for being the first African (not Nigerian) album to make a debut on the Spotify Global Album Charts. The album didn’t just make an appearance on the prestigious Global chart, it also reached the top 10 which is a feat that not many Nigerian artists have achieved yet.
Platinum certification
Wizkid’s album is no stranger to Platinum certifications. One of the top songs on the track list of ‘Made in Lagos’ became the first African song to receive a Platinum Certification in the United States of America. The song I’m talking about is none other than ‘Essence’ featuring Tems. ‘essence’ smashed the record of selling over a million copies in the United States Of America, hence the Platinum certification. A while after this, the song received a Gold certification in the US.
African recognition
On the African scene, Made in Lagos received recognition at the 27th annual South African Music Awards. There, the album got nominated for the Rest of Africa award. And in Nigeria, of course, ‘Made In Lagos’ has won its fair share of awards. It got two nominations at the 15h ceremony of The Headies. The two categories were Album of the Year and Best Afrobeat Pop Album.
Grammy Nomination
Wizkid’s ‘Made In Lagos’ secured him a Grammy nomination for Global Music Album. The Grammys need no introduction. We all know that it is arguably the most sought-after award in the music industry. Wizkid shared this honour with the spectacular Angelique Kidjo for her album ‘Mother nature’, and Femi Kuti and Made Kuti for ‘Legacy’.
Even before it was officially announced that Wizkid’s album was Grammy nominated, there were already reports from Billboard that they had submitted ‘made In Lagos’ for the category of “Best Global Music”. The news of Wizkid’s ‘Made In Lagos’ getting nominated for a Grammy broke the internet and as expected, his fans vigorously rooted for him. Eventually, Angelique Kidjo snagged the award for her album ‘Mother Nature. Still, the prestige of the award being Grammy nominated is present despite him not winning.
Even though Wizkid didn’t eventually clinch the Grammy award, there is still consolation in the fact that he has previously won a Grammy in the ‘Best Music Video’ category.
Conclusion
‘Made In Lagos’ is world-class standard and there’s no doubt about that. The award-winning album has topped charts and has dominated both radio and TV airplay. Apart from the international awards that the album has won, let’s not forget that one of the songs on the album (‘Essence’) landed on Barack Obama’s top favourite songs some time ago. The global recognition that the album has garnered has shot Wizkid’s music career up proving that his fans did not mind waiting for years for the release of the album. Below is the Boomplay embed of the fine studio body of work still fetching lots and lots of streams.
