The five Nigerian music stars, Burna Boy, Davido, Olamide, Ayra Starr, and Asake, who bagged a total of nine nominations at the 2024 Grammy awards have lost out in the four nominated categories.
Burna Boy, who lead the list with four nominations including Best Melodic Rap Performance for his song, ‘Sittin’ on Top of the World’ featuring 21 Savage; Best Global Music Performance for the song, ‘Alone;’ Best African Music Performance for the song ‘City Boys;’ and Best Global Music Album for his seventh album, ‘I Told Them,’ lost in the four categories.
Davido followed with three nominations including Best Global Music Performance for the song, ‘Feel,’ Best African Music Performance for the song, ‘Unavailable’ featuring Musa Keys, and Best Global Music Album for his fourth studio album, ‘Timeless.’
Olamide, Asake and Ayra Starr all got nominated in the newly created category, Best African Music Performance for their songs, ‘Amapiano,’ and ‘Rush’ respectively.
However, in the Best Global Music Performance, Burna Boy’s ‘Alone’ and Davido’s ‘Feel’ lost to Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Zakir Hussain, and Rakesh Chaurasia, who all collaborated for the song, ‘Pashto.’
In the Best Global Music Album category, Burna Boy’s ‘I Told Them’ and Davido’s ‘Timeless’ lost again to ‘This Moment’ by Shakti comprising Shankar Mahadevan, Selvaganesh Vinayakram, Ganesh Rajagopalan, and Ustad Zakhir Hussain.
The Best Melodic Rap Performance category also saw Burna Boy’s collaboration with 21 Savage ‘Sittin’ on Top of the World’ losing to Lil Durk and J Cole’s ‘All My Life.’
Burna Boy, Davido, Olamide, Asake and Ayra Starr were all floored by 22-year-old South African singing sensation, Tyla Laura Seethal, whose song, ‘Water’ won the category.
Meanwhile, Davido, who had openly confessed to praying to win the Grammy award recently said in an interview that he’s deserving of 20 Grammys considering all he had churned out over the years.
“Shout-out to the Recording Academy. This is my first nomination ever. So it’s crazy to get three at once. We worked really hard on this album [‘Timeless’]. I was just really patient. So, if you ask me if I deserve Grammys in the past, I already need 20 Grammys. But, like I said, God’s timing is the best. We will see what happens.”
However, Burna Boy made history as the first Afrobeats performer ever to play at the Grammys at the 2024 edition. He performed one of hit singles, ‘Sittin on Top of the World’ alongside Brandy and 21 Savage.
