Afrobeats rising songbird Tonye Garrick has stepped with a vibrant new tune dubbed, “Mr Jegede”. For all the right reasons, the song, tapping Rwandan chanteuse Neza, is a breath of fresh air in Nigeria’s nascent music scene.
“Neza and I started our journey when I reached out to her in 2020 to collaborate. Since then we have become best friends and a team. I’ve worked with other people but she and I just have an amazing synergy,” she tells Zikoko Pop,
Neza, whose emotive voice adds a layer of vulnerability to the track, adds, “‘Mr. Jegede’ is a song that will resonate with anyone who has ever been in a situation where they questioned someone’s intentions. It’s about the power of self-love and knowing your worth.”
The duo also announced that they are working on their first collaborative album, as Tonye highlighted that, “Neza and I are currently working on our EP as well as our individual projects. Our focus right now is Us as a DUO and it’s been so amazing sharing this journey with her.”
This amazing synergy captures the importance of intra-African collaborations in the music industry. Tonye is a Nigerian singer whose 2010 a capella ‘What About Us” shot her to the limelight. In 2013, she made a full transition from corporate business to music, shortly after her debut single, ‘Insane (Wèrè Nìyẹn),” dropped the year before. Her marriage-themed bop, “Ari Belema”, also received a nomination at the 2015 Nigeria Entertainment Awards. Neza is a Rwandan-Canadian singer who signed to MC Galaxy’s MCG Empire, in 2017, the same year she bagged the award for the Most Promising African Artist at the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA).
