‘Love Nwantiti’ Is Just the Beginning for Artist CKay

CAt age 19, hukwuka Ekweani left his hometown of the north Nigeria to follow his dreams of music in Lagos. Sitting alone on the flight south with his parents’ disapproving words ringing in his ears, Ekweani fretted about his choice: “I was thinking, did I just make the biggest mistake of my life?” Ekweani recalls.
Eight years later, Ekweani’s gamble has paid off and then some: now known as CKay, the singer-songwriter-producer is already one of the most successful African recording artists ever on a global scale. That’s largely because of the success of his 2019 song “Love Nwantiti,” which broke out at the start of the pandemic as a social media hit and has taken several victory laps around the world, thanks to viral dances and remixes. This irrepressible track has been viewed almost 2Billion times on TikTok, 500M more on YouTube and charted on six continents. It reached No. It reached No. 1 in India and Norway as well as Switzerland.
The 26-year-old created “Love Nwantiti” while freestyling late one night in his living room in Lagos. The song is a sung chorus. AhHe initially thought it was a placeholder but soon discovered its full potential. Although some label members dismissed the song as being too slow and light compared to Nigeria’s club-oriented pop culture at that time, the song quickly caught on on Instagram, TikTok and other platforms. joyful dances from supermodelsWinnie Harlow and K-pop artists like G-Dragon are just a few of the many examples. “If an artist makes something from his soul, people can tell, regardless of how fast or slow it is, or whether or not it fits trends,” he says from a music studio in Los Angeles. “Maybe I just have TikTok ears, I don’t know.”
CKay is ambitious beyond one single hit. He admires artists such as Lil Nas X or Doja Cat for turning virality into steady careers. By the looks of it, he’s well on his way: on his first global tour this year, he was greeted with sold-out screaming fans from London to New York to Los Angeles, where they yelled every word of his recent single “Emiliana.” (He also performed to raucous applause at Coachella in April.) Women, particularly, seem taken with the man who calls himself “Africa’s boyfriend.” When asked about this particularly large slice of his fandom, he demurs, saying, “I think they just feel my vibe, my music, the way I dress.”
While “Love Nwantiti” continues to soar—it still tops the Billboard’s U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart—CKay has turned his focus to his debut album, which is slated to arrive this year. (During his U.S. tour, he met with stars like Diplo and Fat Joe, but wouldn’t reveal any details about collaborations.) If his current music repertoire is any guide, he’ll be using influence from Nigeria, the Middle East, and American hip-hop to push Afrobeats—a genre that was pioneered by Fela Kuti and more recently popularized by stars like Davido and Burna Boy—to new musical and cultural heights. As always, he’s doing things his way. “I represent the 21st century of an African experience,” he says. “If I’m going to make Afrobeats exactly the way my predecessors made it, then there’s literally no point.”
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