Divine Ikubor, as Rema, a Nigerian artist, has addressed his decision to change his sound for his recently released sophomore album, ‘HeIs.’
In a recent interview with Apple Music, the ‘Calm Down’ singer revealed that he chose to “switch it up” since afrobeats had become monotonous.
READ ALSO: Rema attributes his music journey to his mother’s hardships (Video)
According to glamsquad, South African genre amapiano has heavily infiltrated the Nigerian music business in recent years. Rema stated that Nigerian artists cannot afford to “water down” afrobeats until they lose control of it.
Afrobeats was getting boring so I had to switch it up. They will keep applauding and we will be watering it down until some people start winning our afrobeats awards,” he said.
“With the success that has come to Afrobeats, I feel like we are listening to the voices of the world too much, ignoring the voices back home.”
At his album listening party in London recently, Rema also called on Nigerian artists to reclaim their ownership of afrobeats.
“We have to take our sh*t back, own it and protect it. The more we water it down, we make it easy for them to create it. Until some people start winning Afrobeats awards, we’ll then realize we’ve indirectly sold ourselves,” he stated