The 31st of March marked several significant things; for Christians, it was Easter Sunday, for Muslims it was another day in the ninth month of Ramadan, and for Lagosians, it was Homecoming Festival’s Live Show.
Homecoming was created by Grace Ladoja in 2018. Since its inception, the five-day festival, Our Homecoming has solidified itself as one of the leading creative platforms for the Nigerian youths. The last day of the fashion, art, sports, and music festival is marked with a night live show which crosses into the new month. The shows are known for their high-energy performances that get the crowd moving and interacting. In 2021, the energy reached new heights with a mosh pit forming in the audience.
“The performances were top-notch.” Pope, an attendee expressed. This is a sentiment shared by most audiences; over the years, Homecoming performances have become synonymous with vibrancy. The performers, both local and foreign, constantly give their best or so some thought…
The case of emerging artistes
The internet is a cold and cruel place, especially for new artistes. However, it would be a Herculean task to ask that concertgoers not be entitled to criticise a performance simply because the artiste is new. That was the case with the reception of latest Afrobeats sensation, Taves’ performance at Homecoming. With only a few performances under his belt so far, Taves, who broke out earlier this year and is yet to experience a Detty December cycle as a performer, has already been attacked for his lack of stage presence.
Taves’ case isn’t an isolated event, new artistes like Brazy along with established acts like Tems have also faced similar criticisms. With the latter causing a discourse on X, and YouTube videos breaking down repeating the same rhetorics. However, while Taves and Brazy are not yet big enough to cause international steer global discourses, they did cause enough ruckus for their performance skills to be drawn into question. Shaming artistes’ lackluster performances on the internet is often met with the usual rebuttal– they are still growing. Concertgoers who explored the 2023 Detty December events were unhappy with the performances they watched and expressed it on Twitter. One attendee even declared themself a “hater” based solely on one Brazy December performance, stating, “If Brazy has no haters then that means I have left this world.” The response was the typical “let her get more comfortable with the stage”. This raises the question, “Why would they book someone who is not comfortable with the stage on the stage?
Well, the festivals need them. Festivals and artistes are an example of a symbiotic relationship. Festivals need a full lineup, it helps to entertain the audience for the headliners. For artistes, it eliminates costs for booking a stage and equipment, plus they get to sell their craft to a mixed audience and possibly recruit new fans. Festivals also pay the artistes and in turn, the artistes help ticket sales. This trade is favourable for smaller artistes unable to sell enough tickets to pay for venues. But with big venues come big risks and with a mixed big crowd, there is no place to hide. An artiste’s inability to hold the ground’s attention is a crime punished by public stoning.
Performance vs Talent
“Performance for me is more about personality/talent. Some artists might have it, some might not. Just like football, if you’re not talented enough to dribble your opponents, you can learn it from behind the scenes.” Music industry expert Kent Eduok, in a conversation on LinkedIn, offered insights into why some artists struggle to captivate audiences.
“I have seen Ayra Starr perform every year since her debut and people don’t believe her when she says she would bring her family to concerts so she is sure someone in the crowd knows her songs. The internet says she is lying, she had good streaming numbers since her debut, but I was at Kuda Fest {2021} and a very limited number of people knew her. Nevertheless, she engaged the crowd, brought to the stage, one of the few people who knew her songs and by the next day, all my friends decided to discover the unknown artiste”, said a self-proclaimed sabi girl who attends any concert that has Ayra Starr on it. For an artiste like Ayra Starr, stage presence seems to come naturally. However, her significant command of the stage stems from experience, and learning what works for her and her audience. While for some performing is a skill yet to develop, regardless, experience plays a key role.
Long before social media and streaming eras, artistes had to sell their art physically to build an audience and eventually book a large stage. Before our favourite artistes were required to develop a social media presence to connect with wider audiences– going viral, there was another way that often helped them get comfortable with crowds. Social media is now a substitute for performing at birthday parties and school proms rite of passage.
Social Media Killed The Performing Star
“The music landscape is evolving very fast. Nowadays, artists are already looking towards the big stages, the big awards, and big collaborations even before hitting stardom. Talking about clubs, for instance, I think this is still happening frequently.” Kent Eduok. The golden age of social media has artistes going on podcasts, doing TikToks and Instagram reposting to market themselves. Before this, new artistes performed in car parks, malls, straight-to-DVD movies, bunkers, birthdays and at schools. This allowed the artists to persuade the audience that their music was valuable. In turn, the frequent performances gave the artists a better understanding of what works best for them on stage and what excites the audience.
The use of constant performance was a trick the industry used to build a fanbase. Industry titan, Eddie Lawani constantly took artistes and comedians around town, he would convince clubs to host them, in time they became household names and excellent performers, networking. This strategy played a crucial role in an artist’s reputation, boosting their confidence and stage presence. Unfortunately, this art has been lost, confined to unknown artists striving to create a hit song.
Social media is not the only culprit of the performing star murder, the pandemic played a role. In early 2020, performing at upper-echelon private schools in Lagos was still a popular stepping stone for artistes. Rema performed hit songs like Dumebi and Corny at Lekki British School. Before that, he serenaded the graduating students of Corona and at a Dowen student’s birthday party.
“We have not had artistes who are big performing in the last 3-4 years, we’ve had DJs and one time, Smada” Chrisland student, aged 15. To anyone enrolled at these schools after the pandemic, the idea that Davido was performing hit songs such as Fall and FIA at Grenville in 2018 seemed like a fantasy. There is also the issue of the economy not being what it was. Nigeria’s economic struggles have made it harder for artists to perform at schools and birthday parties. People have less money for entertainment, so there’s lower demand. This leads to both fewer events happening and fewer people attending the ones that do.
This situation affects artists in two ways. First, with fewer events, there are simply fewer opportunities to perform. Second, even when events do happen, people might be less willing to pay high artist fees.
There could be a silver lining. Some artists might be open to adjusting their prices or offering special packages for schools and smaller parties. This could help keep some performance opportunities alive during the tough economy.
There is no denying that artistes now aim to book large stages without ever experiencing a smaller one. As Kent Eduk said, “Artistes nowadays prefer rehearsals days or hours before a major event. But there’s a difference, the audience. This isn’t available during rehearsals as compared to what they’d get performing on the smaller stages.”
Social media has changed how artists promote their work, but a large following doesn’t guarantee a dedicated live audience. Physical attractiveness and humour may attract social media followers, but they don’t ensure an enthusiastic live audience. The connection between an artist and their audience during a performance goes beyond social media metrics and relies on genuine familiarity and engagement.
A Plausible Solution
The hesitance to perform at smaller venues is understandable, as the ultimate goal is to reach larger stages and get to the top. So improving one’s performing skill pales in importance compared to winning a Grammy or selling out the O2. But performances are important and secondary schools are the perfect venues for musicians. Teenagers are the ultimate challenge for an audience. They love to boo which builds confidence and when they love you, you have guaranteed a dozen of lifetime fans because you were their childhood.
Lagos is a city of clubs, bars, open mics, art exhibits, fashion shows, and many more. The festival seasons mark the climax for partying so the biggest shows are held between March/April and November/December. But secondary schools are practically all year long; this grants an artiste time to learn about who they are as a performer.
This strategy saves artistes from the humiliation of getting ridiculed on the internet. Both sides have an honest argument, but to everyone saing, “Be gentle, it is their first time.” The response should be, “Maybe they should have booked a couple of schools first before taking on a festival.”
Chinazam Ikechi-Uko is a journalist with a love for fashion, true crime and history. Her work can be found on sites like Anikela, Marie Claire and 49th Street. She can also be found in GTCO food or fashion weekend magazines and her blog, Saharan Style (WordPress).
