{"id":83743,"date":"2021-07-06T15:13:37","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T13:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/?p=83743"},"modified":"2022-01-24T15:27:23","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T14:27:23","slug":"the-best-nigerian-songs-of-2021-so-far-2nd-quarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/the-best-nigerian-songs-of-2021-so-far-2nd-quarter\/","title":{"rendered":"The best Nigerian songs of 2021 so far (2nd quarter)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><meta charset=\"utf-8\"><em>Update: <meta charset=\"utf-8\">Check out our favorite <a href=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/best-nigerian-songs-2021\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/best-nigerian-songs-2021\/\">Nigerian tracks of 2021<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">We\u2019re halfway through 2021 and what an interesting run it has been for the music industry thus far. From the vivid adoption of South Africa\u2019s Amapiano to the emergence of new names like Ruger, Ayra Starr, Lojay and meteoric rise of Buju, the Nigerian music scene is having a year unlike any other. The first half of 2021 has seen artists like Rema put their best foot forward, netting three #1 records and Ladipoe keeping pace amidst releases from heavyweights like Olamide and Burna Boy. We\u2019re thrilled with the music being churned out by Nigerian artists and thought to update you on our favourite so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"LADIPOE - Feeling feat. Buju (Official Music Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a56eW1JM6M0?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ladipoe &#8211; Feelings (<strong>feat. Buju<\/strong><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>June 15, 2021<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following his stellar run that was crowned with a Best Collaboration win at the Headies in 2020, Ladipoe extends his reign with the Buju-assisted \u201cFeelings\u201d. The record, which immediately became a people\u2019s favourite, evokes a yearning for a good time amidst life\u2019s stresses. \u201cI wrote a poem called How I\u2019m Feeling Now because in these times, it&#8217;s hard to be grateful. The scars on my face are not as deep as the ones inside but still, I like the way I\u2019m feeling,\u201d says the rapper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Olamide - Rock (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6WkxiF7nnjY?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Olamide &#8211; Rock<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>May 4, 2021<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bearing elements of Afropop and Highlife, \u201cRock\u201d presumes the dawn of an era where Olamide ditches hardcore rap for a relatively mellow serenade. \u201cThe song is saying my lady doesn&#8217;t have to do too much to impress me \u2014 I love you already,\u201d Olamid\u00e9 says. \u201cIt\u2019s expressing what a guy would sing to a girl to give her confidence. I\u2019m telling the women out there that, if a man truly loves you, you don&#8217;t have to go overboard to please him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Rema - Soundgasm (Official Music Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nrTkERuwdCc?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rema &#8211; Soundgasm<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>June 11, 2021<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following the Don Jazzy-produced \u201cBounce\u201d, the Jae5-helmed \u201cDimension\u201d and with his debut album in view, Rema wets thirst with a risqu\u00e9 ballad dubbed \u201cSoundgasm\u201d. According to the singer, \u201cSoundgasm is derived from the combination of two words which are \u2018sound\u2019 and \u2018orgasm\u2019. It\u2019s literally Sex translated into sound frequency. It\u2019s a record that disposes of spiritual vibrations and creates euphoria through the ears.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Ibejii - Gonto (Official Music Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kn8IzZMgLHc?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ibejii &#8211; Gonto<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>June 18, 2021<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hailed for its Afro-orchestral elements, \u201cGonto\u201d seizes the casual insensitivity of a government and the eventual rebellion of a new generation as witnessed in the past year ranging from the Black Lives Matter movement in America to the protest against police brutality in Nigeria. This record furthers the British\/Nigerian artist\u2019s affinity for lacing storytelling into relevant discourse plaguing the masses, outliers or marginalised groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Naira Marley X Busiswa - Coming (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9nnAHn2aupM?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Naira Marley &amp; Busiswa &#8211; Coming<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>June 26, 2021<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Naira Marley taps Busiswa for \u201cComing\u201d, a provocative number that has been trailed with controversy. The record propagates the musical romance between Nigerian and South Africa as Marley and Busiswa exchange vocals over a high-spirited production with striking elements of Amapiano orchestrated by Rexxie, one of our producers to watch out for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Joeboy - Show Me (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/F0KN8cgHC8g?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Joeboy &#8211; Show Me<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>June 1, 2021<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Upon release of the singer\u2019s debut album, \u201cShow Me\u201d didn\u2019t enjoy enough rave like critically acclaimed records such as Door until the influx of UGCs across short-form video platforms. Here, Joeboy, whose love language includes physical touch and words of affirmation, charges his lover to show all of it and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Johnny Drille - Bad Dancer (Performance Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GZFKra1IXvs?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Johnny Drille &#8211; Bad Dancer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>February 19, 2021<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Again, this record shows the range in the sonic palette of Nigerian music which transcends Afrobeats. It\u2019s melodies and lyricism evokes a hopeless romantic&#8217;s daydream. It doesn\u2019t get better than Drille writing, producing and engineering the record himself. \u201cBad Dancer\u201d is a whole serenade by a Nigerian-based artist that gets the world swooning in the vein of John Legend or Ed Sheeran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Ruger - Bounce (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/I9tqmugh2X8?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ruger &#8211; Bounce<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>May 12, 2021<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following a lineup of releases such as Ruger and One Shirt featuring label mate, Rema and boss D\u2019Prince, Ruger strikes gold with \u201cBounce\u201d, off his debut project dubbed \u201cPandemic\u201d. Since its release in March, like a slow burn, \u201cBounce\u201d had hovered at Top 5 on the charts before clinching the #1 position in the last week of June, despite the buzz of giant records like \u201cFeelings\u201d, \u201cRock\u201d etc. The Afro-dancehall number stamps the singer\u2019s place as one of Nigeria\u2019s leading new generation talents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"LOJAY X SARZ - TONONGO\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PohRx1zSIm4?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sarz &amp; Lojay &#8211; Tonongo<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>April 30, 2021<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sarz, through a collaborative project that boasts of banging records like \u201cTonongo\u201d and \u201cMonalisa\u201d, introduces Lojay to the fore. The singer recounts his experience of an infatuation he\u2019d developed for a stripper with now-popular lyrics like \u201cyou win the ass cheek Ballon d\u2019Or\u201d. \u201cTonongo is about expressing the depth of emotion that lies beyond the surface. I enjoy the duality of the song. It ended up making itself and that\u2019s the beauty of it,\u201d says Lojay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Find some of these tracks in our One Dance playlist on <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/playlist\/5fzbLUbqLiEvriBPMlLNbf?si=-0mH0IkjTN6PQ-2ZGmXuCg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spotify<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deezer.com\/fr\/playlist\/2316095842\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Deezer<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the latest Naija music of\u00a0the second quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":83779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7833,9400],"tags":[],"location":[],"yst_prominent_words":[20526,8403,9178,8924,9470,8414,8447,8617,19704,30331,18651,9847,8612,9202,8543,8438,8449,8848],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83743"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83743"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=83743"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=83743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}