Music
Davido talks about “Timeless” Album & Losing His Voice as He Covers NATIVE Now!
Afrobeats star, Davido is the cover star for the first-ever NATIVE Now by The Native. In a conversation with Dennis Ade-Peter and Tami Makinde, Davido talks about his latest project, ‘Timeless,’ living his dreams, and losing his voice when the world needed it the most.
He has been coping with the challenge of losing his voice throughout his entire career, but he confesses that he has never fully adjusted to managing it. “Because my voice is already husky, when my voice goes it’s so annoying. I like to express myself and I speak a lot, so when I can’t talk it’s annoying. It’s so uncomfortable when I have a show and my voice is not back, and I’m impatient so I’ll just be coughing.”
Reflecting on making “OVER DEM,” a track off his album:
“Now that I go back to think of it, I was not even making these songs like, ‘Ah, o boy we need to drop oh. I need to be hot again oh. I need to make money oh.’ I was just like, ‘I’m just happy to make music again.’”
On the Timeless concert which took place in Lagos:
“You have to be really, really loved for people to come to TBS—on a rainy day again,” Davido says. “I wasn’t worried about people coming out, I was more worried about delivering the production that we had worked so hard on. We just wanted everything to go right, that’s really what I was banking on. I would say about 70 per cent of what we planned went right, and that’s really good for Nigeria,” he says honestly.
Davido played a significant role in the journey of two recently signed artists on the label, Morravey and Logos Olori, who are both talented singers. Although they found their way to DMW through different paths, Davido was actively involved in their signings.
“I signed Logos for almost a year now,” the DMW boss tells NATIVE. “I love that he didn’t rush. He told me that, ‘Baba when it’s time.’”
For Morravey, “I wanted to just sign Morravey, she wasn’t meant to be on the album,” Davido says. “I put her in a recording camp with writers, by the time I got there she had disgraced all the writers. On the third day, I heard “IN THE GARDEN” and it [had a hook], I asked for it and she didn’t know what I wanted to do with it. I just put my verse on it and showed her, ‘You’re on the album.’ She wanted to faint.”
In addition to the cover story, Davido’s closest friends, colleagues, and collaborators, Asa Asika, The Cavemen, Morravey and Logos Olori, Blaisebeats, and many others who contributed to the creation of the album share their personal stories and experiences working with Davido and on the “Timeless” album.
Read the full interview here.
Credits
Words by Dennis Ade-Peter & Tami Makinde Photographer: Isabel Okoro
Creative Director: Scary Town
Stylist: MOMO
Editor-In-Chief: Seni Saraki
Head of Content Strategy: Damilola Animashaun
Managing Editor: Tami Makinde
Head Of Digital: Shina Ladipo
