Ever listened to an artist and immediately thought, “They should totally collaborate with so and so?”. Some international collaborations come as a surprise, but there are some we could’ve seen coming from a mile away. With international collaborations and remixes flooding the streets like party jollof rice, we’ve compiled a list of mergers we saw coming from the start. We’re not claiming to be prophets or anything, but look at the material and connect the dots yourself.
1. Peru Remix — Fireboy DML and Ed Sheeran
When Fireboy DML announced Ed Sheeran would be on the remix of his hit song Peru, a lot of you were shocked, but not us. While the collaboration sounded a bit off on paper, true Fireboy stans could’ve seen this from a mile away. Apart from being resident musical lover boys, Need You, the opening track to Fireboy’s 2019 album Laughter, Tears & Goosebumps sounds almost exactly like Tenerife Sea.
We saw this thing coming since.
2. Somebody’s Son — Tiwa Savage and Brandy
When it comes to vocals in Nigeria, Ms. Savage is in a lane of her own. Announcing Water & Garri, the follow-up EP to her 2020 album, Celia, a lot of people were excited about one name on the tracklist, Brandy. While Somebody’s Son has become quite the earworm, some of us saw this collaboration coming years ago. Remember when Brandy came to Nigeria in 2014 right after Tiwa dropped Once Upon A Time and mentioned that she’d like to work with her? Ehen.
3. Essence — Wizkid, Tems and Justin Bieber
Essence was the biggest Nigerian song of 2021, no cap. So when it became time to enlist another artist to hop on the remix, we weren’t surprised when Wizkid went with Justin Bieber. The parallels between both artists are obvious AF: Usher discovered Justin and turned him into a star, Banky W discovered Wizkid and turned him into a star. Both artists started pretty young, became household names, struggled with controversies and remained consistent with their music over the years.
Wizkid is Justin and Justin is Wizkid, periodt.
4. Every song Yemi Alade has with Angelique Kidjo
Over the past few years, Yemi Alade and Angelique Kidjo have collaborated on not just one, but two hit songs. Yemi featured Angelique on Shekere and the favour was returned when Yemi made an appearance on Angelique’s song, Dignity. These collaborations didn’t come to us as a surprise because they have the same vibe. While Yemi Alade might get a lot of backlash for her lyrics — or lack thereof — her songs are slapping in other African countries. They’ve slapped so hard, even Mummy Blue noticed.
These collaborations were definitely meant to be
5. Damn Remix — Omah Lay and 6lack
While the industry was heavily focused on breezy afrobeats and amapiano-influenced songs, Omah Lay came in with this cool kid R&B vibe at the height of the 2020 pandemic and took us all by surprise. Listening to his music, especially songs like Bad Influence and Damn, it’s easy to spot the Atlanta-style R&B influence of artists like Bryson Tiller, PartyNextDoor and of course, 6Lack. Did we know it was going to be 6Lack for sure on that remix? No. But at least he picked someone on our shortlist.
