Popular Nigerian singer, Joseph Akinfenwa Donus, better known as Joeboy, has countered Burna Boy’s statement that Afrobeat singers lack substance.
The music star, while appearing in the latest episode of the Zero Conditions podcast, faulted the Grammy-winning singer’s claim.
Recall that the self-styled ‘African Giant’, in a recent interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, asserted that most Nigerian artists make music “without substance”.
On the contrary, Joeboy opined that everyone has substance, adding that songwriters who pen their music in plain English get more encomiums.
The host asked: “For you as an afrobeats artist, how much balance do you do with living life because following the conversation of Burna Boy saying [afrobeats] artists don’t have substance, how much experience do you try to garner as an artist?”
Joeboy responded: “I feel everybody has substance. It’s just based on what people relate to. Sometimes when you make a high-tempo song that is danceable, people feel like you are just vibing. Or if you don’t sing in English.
“I used to see some comments [on social media] because somebody is singing in plain English, they [fans] would be like, ‘Ah pinging!’ What’s pinging? Because he sang in English?
“Every artist out there, if you want people to feel like you are an amazing songwriter, just write in plain English. I promise you, they [fans] will be like, ‘Oh! This guys is the best songwriter ever.’ And when someone sings in Pidgin, they [fans] would be like, ‘Ah! This one dey do lamba.’
“It’s not lamba. It’s actually still connecting. I understand that you can’t connect to every form of music that you come across. But I promise you, anybody that has the ability to create something out of thin air, it is substance.”
