Journalist Joey Akan has lamented about the quality of music churned out by Nigerian artists.
In a post shared on X, Joey said that songs being released in 2024 by Nigerian artists are ‘’bad,” and it hasn’t been this bad since 2018.
He wrote;
‘’This is the worst batch of music we’ve had since 2018.
Nigerian music suffered a blip in 2023, releasing comparatively vapid music, with many unable to fight at home or abroad for space.
And now in 2024, after going through a month of heartbreaking new music Friday, I’ve overcome my sadness at the lack of any new great find.
In its place, lies a new occupant — concern.
I’m bothered by the quality of our music. Amapiano played its parts, but after the oversaturation of the market last year, we can’t seem to find anything inspirational to wean us off it, and usher in a new era.
Trends are great as long as they continue to provide objectively great art. Amapiano seems to have run its course.
And we’re struggling badly. Everywhere you turn, bad music hits you. The air and playlists are filled with the same formulaic slop, same bounce, same scenarios and themes. Everything is negatively samey.
People aren’t copying the right things anymore.
While I blame our cultural engagement with Amapiano for its role, I also factor in the lack of hunger in our established (blown) artistic class, due to Afrobeats to the world flooding the market with unrealized investment. Everyone’s chilling and dropping the same music.
Or worse, microwaving a hackneyed vibe.
The result, an overstimulated consumer, hazy from the abundance of art, but finding very little of value to them. That’s why the audience isn’t picking up on the music. Your wavelength isn’t giving.
I don’t know how to end this. But New Music Friday doesn’t slap like it used to. The one place I go to find joy has become corrupted by repetition.
The past is currently looking better than the future, and I fear that we might have peaked in this cycle.”
