Is BURNA BOY Losing Fans ?

They call him Burna Boy, but his real name is Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu. A singer and songwriter who took the Naija music to another level, all his songs became hits up to the time he declared himself the best on Twitter. Immediately after declaring himself the best in Nigeria, his goodwill and public admiration dwindled. The boast didn’t go down well with fans. The statement smirked of arrogance. 

They said he was proud. Burna Boy had earlier said that nobody, in the industry, paved the way for him like some fans think, adding that he brought respect to Nigeria. 

His comment and attitude have since stirred reactions from Nigerians on social media. Burna Boy lost the 2020 Grammy Award for the ‘Best World Music Album’ to Angelique Kidjo, a Benin singer-songwriter. 

He also called out his colleagues accusing them of being “pretentious”.The same people who wish you the best in your presence are the same people who hope and pray that you Fail, so that they can feel better about themselves. That’s just Life. That’s why compliments mean nothing to me. They have envy and a sense of “it should have been me” sugar-coated by them,” he wrote.

His tweets did not go down well with some fans and followers of opposition singers who tackled ‘the African Giant’ crooner for being “arrogant”. This is one celebrity who is celebrated all over the world and also loved by all. 

Burna rose to fame in 2012 after releasing his hit single, “Like to Party” from his debut studio album, L.I.F.E under Aristokrat Records which served as the follow-up to his second mixtape, Burn Identity in 2011. L.I.F.E sold 40,000 copies on the first day of its release.

Aristokrat Records later sold the album’s marketing rights to Uba Pacific for ¦ 10 million. The release of the album was preceded by five singles: 

“Like to Party”, “Tonight”, “Always Love You”, “Run My Race” and “Yawa Dey”. Produced fully by Leriq, L.I.F.E features guest appearances from 2face Idibia, M.I, Timaya, Olamide, Reminisce and Wizkid. Nigeria Entertainment Today ranked the album 10th on its list of the 12th best albums of 2013.

The music of L.I.F.E is heavily inspired from the music of Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade and Bob Marley. The album generally received positive reviews from music critics, who celebrated its production. It was nominated for Best Album of the Year at the 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards. 

In August 2013, L.I.F.E peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart. Burna then disappeared into thin air and came back months later with an amazing studio Album, which he tagged: Outside with over 12 songs, with one of the songs Ye which is still a national anthem all around the world. He then came out with Gbona and killing them, a song he featured Zlatan. 

The three songs brought Burna Boy back to the limelight. When he came back this time he came back with a lot of exciting tracks and also headlining top shows in and outside Lagos. 

This album tagged  Outside made it to number 3 on the Billboard Reggae Albums Chart. On the 9th of October, 2018, Burna Boy was announced as one of Spotify’s New Afro Hub Takeover Artiste. 

The announcement confirmed his being named YouTube’s Artiste on the Rise for 3 months. Burna Boy’s fourth studio album African Giant was released on July 26, 2019. It has been supported by six singles: “Gbona”, “On the Low”, Killin Dem”, “Dangote”, “Anybody” and “Pull Up”. Burna Boy went on to drop another song tagged, Odogwu but it didn’t get massive AirPlay as his other songs. 

He then went on to drop a track, entitled  wonderful, a song whose video was shot by Director k. The video made most fans listen to the song as Director K is one director loved by all. He had dropped the song 2 weeks earlier before the video and it was still struggling with fewer than 300k streams. This is a clear indication that Burna’s attitude has really made his fans turn away from him.

Pomaa Precious Writes For Citypeople