Wizkid’s Essence, the right catalyst for Afrobeats to the world movement.

“Afrobeats to the world” has been a popular phrase amongst Nigerians for a long time, with the quality of songs that come out of Nigeria every week, everybody knew it’s just a matter of time for Afrobeats to be a focal point across the world.

Quality music is a regular thing in Nigerian Music Industry but there are some songs that have been “stand-out” songs over the years. Nigerian songs have enjoyed wild music reach across different countries since way back. However, in 2012 D’banj’s Oliver Twist went far beyond anyone’s imagination as at then, it was one of the biggest songs in UK which happens to be top 2 biggest music industry in the world, peaked at no 9 on UK Singles Chart, a journey of a thousand miles began that very moment for Afrobeats music.

Wizkid, a Grammy award winning artiste has been a force to reckon with in the campaign to increase Afrobeats reach and audience worldwide, him alongside couple of other Nigerian artistes have released hit singles that have gone far beyond Africa.

During the last quarter of 2020, Wizkid released Nigeria’s most anticipated album “Made In Lagos”, the album went through different creative processes for 3 years before seeing the daylight last year October. When the album dropped, it hit the ground running, the quality of the tracks made it difficult for fans to pick a favorite, amongst the fan favorites is track 11 “Essence ft Tems”, a mid tempo song where wizkid put his lyrical prowess on display and flaunted his melody abilities, Tems on the other hand delivered a catchy hook with her mesmerizing vocals, they shared a great chemistry, you can feel the emotions in every line.

The legendary beatz & P2J produced track’s audience grew day by day, went viral in South Africa, it spent weeks on their charts and when the video dropped 5 months later, it picked pace and got the attention of more audience and that was the beginning of a magical moment. Before Essence got the attention of the black community in the US, the wave was heavy in the UK and it spent 6 weeks at number 1 on UK Afrobeats charts. According to Wizkid’s official fan page on twitter “Wizkid News”, the streams started growing rapidly, gaining its biggest daily streams on Spotify and Apple Music everyday, however, the streams correspond with the number of interactions around the song across different social media platforms. Essence became everybody’s favorite, it became everybody’s go-to song for instagram stories, it started getting “Song of summer“ shouts in US, American celebrities started hopping on the wave, you could barely watch their Instagram stories without the song playing in the videos. When the song comes on at parties, events and shows, you can feel the joy on people’s faces as they sing along to it.

The song has traveled far beyond anyone’s imagination, its success spreads across other countries like UK, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, France, Canada etc.

Essence is enjoying a wild acceptance from music lovers worldwide, something that has been eluding Nigerian songs for decades, the acceptance in the past were limited to certain regions.

All Afrobeats songs that hit mainstream audience in US in the past have enjoyed promotional backings in one way or the other, but for Essence, it picked up pace on its own before getting strategic promotions. Make no mistakes, the song is not a product of promotion, it grew organically to a point where it needed just little assistance to climb the hill standing in its way. The streams increased everyday to the point it debuted at number 19 on Billboard Bubbling 100 without radio airplay, that was the point Essence needed a ladder to climb the hill standing in its way to Billboard Hot 100. However, it was sent to radio afterwards and eventually made an entry on Billboard Hot 100 chart, debuting at number 82 with 3m radio audience and over 40k unit sold. Meanwhile, couple of Afrobeats songs have had more than 10m radio audience in US without making an entry on Billboard Hot 100 chart, only 1 Afrobeats song has made an entry on Billboard Bubbling 100.

Afrobeats has come a long way, being a focal point in United States is a huge milestone for African music, the fact that it’s a collaboration between two Nigerian artistes enjoying mainstream audiences in the biggest music industry in the world, makes it more special. Years ago, it was something that looked impossible even with a collaboration with an American artiste, but Essence, a collaboration between two Nigerian artistes grew steadily to the point of selling over 80k units in the US in a week, it’s a beautiful sight to see.

Every artiste’s dream is to have a commercially successful songs in the US, it’s the biggest music industry in the world, when a song goes viral in the US, it’s just a matter of time before other countries hopped on the wave.

Essence’ success is something everybody saw coming, as the audience grew week after week, the streams increased, the conversation around the song got bigger and people started making predictions about a Billboard Hot 100 chart entry for the song, to some people, it seemed like a mission impossible because it is a never-achieved feat for an Afrobeats song, the people that had doubt forgot Wizkid is the Tom Cruise of Afrobeats music. Surprisingly to those that had doubts, Essence debuted on Billboard Bubbling 100 chart, at number 19, that was when it became clearer to everybody that it’s just a matter of time before it makes a Billboard Hot 100 chart entry. However, Essence finally made an entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the following week, becoming the first Nigerian song in history to debut on the chart, and the fourth African song after Mariam Makeba “Pata Pata” (1967), African song with the most weeks on Billboard Hot 100, Manu Dibango “Soul Makosa” (1973), and Hugh masekela “Grazing in the grass” (1968), the highest peaking African song on Billboard Hot 100, peaked at number 1.

Essence made it’s debut at number 82 on Billboard Hot 100. That was a big moment for Nigerian music and for African music in a very long time, African music enjoyed commercial success and large audiences decades ago, now Essence is putting African music at large in the spotlight once again in the biggest music industries in the world.

It’s a different thing for a group of people to sit in a room to judge someone’s music, but for a large number of people to reckon with a song, it’s definitely something worthy of celebration. The opinions of the majority will always weigh more than the opinions of the few seated in a room to pass judgements, which means a Billboard Hot 100 entry will put Nigerian music in the spotlight than a Grammy win, it’s an evidence of a commercial success in the biggest music industry in the world. In Addition, it also means Nigerian music audience has grown bigger than it used to be. The success Essence is enjoying in US has spread across other countries, making entries on 7 countries official charts. It has also sold over 500,000 units in the US making it eligible for a RIAA gold certification in US. The song has put Nigerian music in the spotlight Caribbean Music was years ago, making it a focal point worldwide, every black person now wants to identify with the genre.

Essence growth is no stranger to anybody, everybody watched it grow on Apple Music US & UK charts, becoming the first Nigerian song to enter US Apple Music top 10 chart, peaking at number 6, and also top 15 on UK & Global Apple music chart, peaking at number 11 and number 12 respectively. In addition, the song has made entries on UK, US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia etc Spotify charts. It also made entries on South Korea and Japan Viral 50 on Spotify.

The growth happened across all streaming platforms, it wasn’t a never expected kind of success, it’s something that was bound to happen.

2 weeks ago, Wizkid announced Essence remix with Justin Bieber, it got mixed reactions from fans and Afrobeats lovers worldwide, some felt it is unnecessary, and it would stop the song’s growth across board, Justin Bieber’s influence can be really pivotal in increasing Essence’ audience massively, someone of his caliber will only add more to what the song has achieved so far. Essence spent 6 weeks on Billboard Hot 100 chart, rising to new peak on the chart every week, it got to number 44 on the chart, averaging 45k units every week before the remix started having any impact. The song was on a run on its own, it was bound to move up further on the chart, the remix only came to speed up things and increase the audience of the song. However, the remix impacts even though it’s not available as a single, but as a track on Wizkid’s Made In Lagos album deluxe has contributed a substantial amount of units to catapult the song to number 16 on Billboard Hot 100 chart, number 28 on Billboard Global 200 chart, number 60 on Billboard Global 200 (excluding US) chart and number 16 on UK Singles chart. Since two versions of a song can’t appear on a chart simultaneously, both the original and remix versions’ sales were combined together to catapult Essence to top 20 on Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles charts and the version (Remix verison) with the higher percentage of units sold appeared on Billboard Hot 100 chart, however, for UK Singles chart, it’s a different rule, UK Official chart only gives credit to original song.

In Addition, Essence also has made entries on major charts in Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Irish and Canadian.

It’s been a stella run for Wizkid since Made In Lagos dropped, Essence success impacted other tracks on the album, it introduced more audiences to the album. Made In Lagos’ cultural impact on Afrobeats genre will live for decades, it will be beneficial to Nigerian music industry.

Making history and setting the pace for the next generation is an incredible thing, but doing it with another Afrobeats artiste is something that should be celebrated and cherished for years, global success is nothing new to Wizkid, he has a billboard number 1 entry with Drake’s “One Dance”, a Grammy win with “Brown Skin Girl”, Gold certifications with “Come Closer” in US, UK & Canada, so doing it right now with Tems is truly remarkable, she delivered her part on the song and like Wizkid said, it ended up being a magical creation. Opportunities don’t come often and when they come, you better don’t miss, Tems utilized her chance quite well, she did more than just good, she was exceptional. The song has put her in a spotlight, introduced her to a larger audience, things can only better for her from here.

We live in a digital world and it’s so easy to put your music in people’s faces, but the thing is, hype without quality don’t last, what separates good music from a regular songs is consistent remarkable growth in audience week in week out and that’s exactly what Essence has been doing. Rising every week on charts is not something lot of artistes can boast of, Essence is doing that with ease.

In all this wave and success Essence has been enjoying, Wizkid’s fans “WIZKID FC” have been integral in boosting the conversation around the song, you can’t talk about Wizkid on twitter positively and not get your mentions flooded with engagements, they make sure your tweets go viral, nobody likes talking to oneself, the response makes it easier for listeners to give their feedback about the song. They talk about Wizkid day in day out, boost the hype around the song with their tweets, share the achievements and music links across the timeline. More people get to find out about the song through conversations.

In 2016, a group of “music heads” in US said Afrobeats hasn’t been at the stage Reggae and Dancehall were in the US, they said Wizkid was far from being the Sean Paul of Afrobeats, but right now Afrobeats is on the pedestal doubters thought it might never be, it’s now a genre everybody wants to associate with.

With estimated 700k units sold so far, Essence is now on the road to become the first Nigerian song to be RIAA platinum certified in US, with the song being sent to Pop radio recently, the radio audience massive increase from over 30m radio audience is imminent, Billboard Hot 10 top entry is now more feasible, more radio audience means more streams and digital sales, which means it is just a matter of time for Essence to be eligible for RIAA platinum certification.

Essence growth has been truly remarkable. It has put Afrobeats music on the spotlight. Right now, it’s safe to say Essence is not only an Afrobeats crossover song but also a mainstream Pop music .