The 11th Headies held last night and we won’t come here to remind you about the glitz and glamour because there was hardly any, to be frank.
It was an event that was attended with a variety of expectations depending on audience’s unique preferences. Some came for a street show that they hoped would feature Olamide, a few others came for the possibilities of another major showdown between two artistes at variance and many attended to actually watch their favourite musicians get rewarded.
Here are all the winners and losers from this year’s Headies Awards:
WINNERS
Mr Eazi: The Next Rated award category is all too important. Aside the car gift attached to it, it has its way of reiterating the winner’s strengths to the Nigerian music audience. Past winners of The Headies Next Rated awards have gone on to make major successes of their careers. Wizkid, Davido, Wande Coal, Omawumi, etc.
This year though, the contenders were YCee, Aramide, Humblesmiths and Mr Eazi (oh and Tekno, but he wasn’t interested so he got kicked out). Mr Eazi emerged winner and it was a popular choice as the audience expressed their agreement with loud screams.
Wizkid: He crept in late into the show, he got everybody’s attention, he smiled throughout the night, he watched in satisfaction and maybe even fulfilment as his protege and label act, Mr Eazi received his Next Rated award, then he was himself announced as winner of another important award, Artiste of the Year.
Wizkid won this award without too much effort. One Dance was enough. But more importantly, we think this win was more about his international influence than a singular track. In case you didn’t know, Wizkid is NOW an icon.
2Baba: 2Baba came on stage twice. First to present his tribute song to the OJB Jezreel, Nomoreloss and late Koga studios boss, Chris Jeyibo who all passed on in 2016. From the comments around us, his hyped up fans wanted him all over the place singing their favourite tracks but 2baba stuck to his purpose, he performed a touching tribute and it held us in awe.
Kiss Daniel: The biggest winner of the night for the Hip Hop Revelation of the Year, Album of the Year and Best R&B/Pop Album. Kiss Daniel is quietly taking over and enjoys massive love from fans. 2017 is set to be a bigger year for this star.
Why else does he win? He was on standby to pick up his own awards.
The live band: The instrumentalists and back-up singers were so good, it was hard for some of the performing artistes to keep up. Especially who have gotten used to lip-syncing to their songs in the name of performing. Great job guys.
The hosts: Adesua Etomi and Falzthebahdguy surpassed expectations. It was clear they had ample time to rehearse, they were out to have fun, they are both extraordinarily talented and were in sync.
The organisers made a great choice on this one and we will not forget Falz’s impersonation of Bobrisky. The work was done!
The Headies organisers: Apart from a few errors here and there and microphones that failed all through the night, the 2016 Headies was a good show. The stage was well lit, performances were on point, entry at the gate was drama free, the pre-event reception was good and there were more than enough volunteers on standby to attend to guests. They had branded Headies shirts on so it wasn’t difficult to figure out who to direct questions to.
LOSERS
Tekno: For disregarding the biggest and most respected award show in Nigeria’s music industry, Tekno Miles shot himself in the foot. There’s no denying that he has more than five successful tracks to his credit but those are not enough to cover for the influence artistes gain with and through the Headies.
If it wasn’t important, Wizkid would have called their bluff and stayed at home too. And to think that Tekno’s record label boss, Ubi Franklin was at the show from start to finish and even presented an award.
The Headies organisers: We totally understand that event sponsors are all too important but the number of times the organisers ran adverts got the impatient crowd super pissed. The ads were a waste of time and a total turn off.
Also, we didn’t get the memo that it was the throwback edition of the Headies so most members of the audience weren’t quite prepared for the oldies (Remedies, Ras Kimono, Jazzman Olofin etc) who showed up on stage.
Nigerian artistes: All of these guys need to do better by way of ditching their pride. We will never understand why Olamide, Patoranking and Illbliss snubbed the awards.
Simi: She was spotted on the red carpet but failed to appear on stage to pick up her award for Best Outstanding vocal performance (female). When she was finally able to grace us with her presence, she had a girl on her tail holding the train of her dress in place even on stage. Hello? No! If you’re not able to manage and control your dress all by yourself, how about you stay at home and learn or better still, wear something else.
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