A robust
music career, success amid controversy, determination and hard work make her
one of the greatest artistes the continent has ever seen. That’s Nigerian
self-acclaimed Number One African Bad Girl, Tiwa Savage, who clocked 40 on
February 5. Ten years down the line in the industry, Tiwa is truly glittering
like a superstar. At 40, she looks set to offer the industry more.
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| Tiwa Savage |
Everything about Tiwa Savage at 40
Age, they
say, is nothing but a number. A lot of people would readily acknowledge this
but it would take double acknowledgement for an abundant talent, who now at the
age of forty, ten years after emerging in an industry populated by younger
ones, held her own game and shone like the superstar she is. This relates to
one of Nigeria’s top female entertainer, Tiwa Savage. The Nigerian singer,
songwriter and actress clocked forty on February 5, 2020, to the joy of her
numerous fans, who celebrated with her via birthday wishes. She was so grateful
to the “Savage Armies”, her teeming fans, who are now 10 million on Instagram,
becoming the first Nigerian female singer to do so. Also, two years ago, Savage
was also the first Nigerian woman to win Best African Act at the 2018 MTV
Europe Music Awards.
Tiwa
Savage’s story simply tells you one thing – it’s never too old to achieve your
dreams. She started in the Nigerian music industry at a relatively older age
but it didn’t stop her from giving the young ones a run for their money with
her determination and hard work, making her one of the greatest artistes the
continent has ever seen. Revealing the news of her special fortieth birthday on
social media, the beautiful songstress, as she has often been described, shared
a gorgeous photo of herself via her Instagram page.
Taken in the
busy city of California looking like she’s reflecting past experiences,
success, and failures, sexy diva captioned it “44-4”. You would need no one to
tell what it means that 44-4=40. The day soon followed by a surprised birthday
party kept low key by her friends. The height of her age is parallel to the
realisation of her music career; a successful career that trailed
controversies. Sourced materials show Tiwatope Savage, known professionally as
Tiwa Savage began her music career doing backup vocals for artistes such as
George Michael and Mary J. Blige.
That was
five years later after relocating to London at the age of 11 for her secondary
education. After participating in the UK edition of The X Factor and graduating
from Berklee College of Music, Savage signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV
Music Publishing in 2009. The deal allowed her to write for some of America’s
greatest artistes. She received songwriting credits for her contribution to
Monica’s soul-tinged ballad “Catch Me”.
Her
collaboration with Fantasia on the song “Collard Greens & Cornbread” earned
the American recording artiste a Grammy nomination in 2010 same year she moved
back to Nigeria. She was signed by Mavin Records in 2012. With Mavin Records
platform comes a tremendous career that pushed her on to her present
international Universal Music Group and its affiliates like Motown Records on a
seven years publishing and distribution deal beginning a good year for the
former Mavin first lady who will release priority album globally this year
through the UMG.
Tiwa’s
career story would be incomplete without her former manager and husband, Tunji
Balogun (Tee Billz). In the beginning she had met with Tee Billz as her manager
in America. Inspired by the growth of the Nigerian music industry, Tee Billz
soon convinced Tiwa to move back to Nigeria after she impressed him with a demo
tape and ultimately rebranded her. The credit goes without saying as she once
attributed a part of her success to him when she got a whooping offer from
RocNation on her profile on the record label’s website.
She wrote:
“You’re writing songs, you’re writing your experiences and then you’re giving
them to somebody else. It never felt quite right; it was something I always
wanted. I write these songs, I want to sing it and perform it the way I want to
do it because it was something I loved through. I met Tunji and he told me
about the growing Afrobeats scene back home in Nigeria. He thought I was
wasting my talents being a songwriter & a backing singer and pushed me to
move back to Africa. At first, I thought it was a bit of a step backwards but
he was adamant that this was my future. He knew it was what would set me apart
from the rest.”
Tee Billz
was Tiwa’s manager when she started her music career in Nigeria under his 323
Management Company. They began dating in the process and got married in 2013
and had a son named Jamal. Their
marriage crashed in 2016 and Teebillz has since moved back to the US after unsuccessful
attempts to bounce back after terribly falling out with Tiwa. Teebillz had
accused his wife of infidelity and his mother-in-law of witchcraft.
In response, Tiwa extensively addressed her
husband’s lengthy social media posts regarding their marriage in an infamous
44-minutes interview that had got tongues wagging and head rolling. That this
did not drown Tiwa and her career shows how strong a personality she is. She
would later acknowledge that, and said: “It’s been the grace of God and I think
I have been able to pull through by simply immersing myself in my work.”
Often clad
in sexy outfits, which appear to be her trademark, gives out the impression of
one who is misunderstood and being judged a lot for things she has little
control. She had admitted that all that has been written about her doesn’t
really affect her anymore. Because when she got into the industry, it was very
difficult for anybody to realise this. But now, she has come to the realisation
that “the hard work you put in and the positive things that you do as an
artiste always outweighs the negative.” Truly, she has worked hard, a feat
which has resulted to her break into the international market, which her dream
was to grow the Tiwa Savage brand at home and abroad while basically just
trying to strike a balance with both audience and market.
Same as she
tries to balance her relationship status with industry colleagues. And for this
has made the headlines in recent times for her repeated romantic displays with
Wizkid – including stage kissing and public butt smacking and fondling on and
off stage. As you already know, the two great singers have shared some cozy
moments together over the years and it got their fans confused as to what is
going on between the two stars. Not long after, their fans and followers were
left to conclude for themselves what was going on.
While a
majority of their fans thinks they are romantically involved, some have a
different opinion saying that is how close allies do. The two ‘besties’ as they
fondly call each other managed not to give a direct answer to questions about
relationship even as they continued to show support for each other’s career and
occasionally spends quality time together. Tiwa has made it clear this year,
she’s ready for a serious relationship and Starboy perhaps is not ready.
However, the secret love affair between Tiwa and Wizkid seems to have fizzled
into thin air with recent development which would be left for some other day.
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