Award-winning Afrobeats singer Tiwa Savage has lauded popular content creator Kie Kie, describing her as the “Greatest of All Time” (GOAT) for her creative and impactful work.
In an Instagram post, Savage praised Kie Kie’s originality and effortless delivery, stating that her content consistently lifts her mood.
Savage emphasised that Kie Kie’s influence extends beyond gender, attributing her excellence to the quality of her craft.
The singer revealed that she frequently visits Kie Kie’s page for entertainment and joy, referring to her as a source of consistent happiness.
She wrote: “Ok so let me just say this @kie_kie_ is truly the GOAT. Whether male or female, she is the GOAT.
“Her content is unmatched. Effortless delivery. Take your flowers Queen. Anytime I need to smile I go to her page. She is so great we call her twice Kie Kie … Omo ologo”.
Bukunmi Adeaga-Ilori is not a name you will remember easily but at the mention of Kie Kie, everyone will remember the unusual young character that is synonymous with mischief and imbued with humour. At 35, this award winning actress, content creator, brand influencer, event and TV host is not only a social media sensation but one of the successful digital content creators in Africa. In this interview with i-GEN NEWS team lead, GBENGA BADA, she opens up on a varied issues including her parents’ support and more.
At what age did you become famous?
I became famous at the age of 30 in the year 2020.
Being a youth, how impactful have you been to youths around you?
Before we start to look at youths around me, I look at those within my sector, the young and under 30 that work with me directly in my crew should be about 20. From my KieKie TV productions crew to those in content and my admin staff, my glam squad. It’s really mentally liberating for me to see how much these guys are able to do for themselves just by working with me. Let’s not forget those that tap inspirations and directions from me, those who chose my kind of life as content creator and brand influencer that I have given hope that they can do the same and do it better. So, I think the impact is both inspiring and humbling for me.
What do you think every Nigerian youth needs to get by in the current realities of life?
I think right now, every Nigerian youth should fully understand the concept of beyond your certificate and what this simply means is that oh you have gone to the university to study medicine, law, accounting or even mass communication, sociology or engineering but what can you do out of these skills? I know and have friends, who are professionals and still take on other hustles that in some situations begin to pay them more. One of the biggest makeup artists in Nigeria at the moment is my friend but is a trained engineer, who began her career as an engineer but picked up makeup as a side hustle and right now in 2025, makeup is her main business. So, Nigerian youths need to come to the actualisation that it might not be the way you want it to go but who says the way it is meant to be is not bigger than the way you want it to be?
There are many vices in the world as they say, how have you been able to keep your head up and high?
Vices! I have never been one with vices either smoking, drinking or partying excessively. I think I am too much of a bubble myself that I have a lot of fun within my own bubble, sometimes I am just chilling and spending hours on social media, watching my own content and laughing and just having a great time. It’s not what I have been able to pick up and I will give credit to God and my parents because they actually gave us that beautiful and decent upbringing. My background is solid, hence, I think these are some of the things that helped me in not indulging or having any vice and of course, I have just wanted what is best for myself and God has given me a discerning spirit to tell what is wrong from what is right and that helped me in keeping my head up high.
Without being too modest, how wealthy are you in terms of finances?
Well, I am a modest person and I think modesty and the KieKie brand are synonymous with one another. Well, I will tell you for free that I am wealthy enough not to trek on the road, I am wealthy enough not to beg for food, I am wealthy enough to wear exactly what I want to wear whenever I want to wear it.
Tell me about your talents
I have a deep passion for music—be it singing, dancing, or rapping; and I believe everyone deserves a chance to shine. I am a well rounded entertainer and I have worked with different brands showcasing my different talents. I can’t wait to see individuals showcase their abilities. I still have many talents people don’t know about, and as time goes on, it will unfold. I am like an onion; as you slice it, you see a new layer.
How supportive were your parents when you kicked off entertainment?
I started playing drums when I was nine years old. I remember when I was in JSS 2, I fell ill in school and my father came to pick me up. The whole school was crying and they were escorting the car. My father asked why, and I said it was because we had praise night and nobody would beat the drum. My father asked, ‘You drum?’ I replied in the affirmative. I kept telling him that I had to get back to school as early as possible and he said, ‘But you’re not feeling fine’. I said, ‘Daddy, I must enter that school before Friday.’ When they took me back to school on Friday, the moment they sighted my father’s car, somebody started shouting ‘Adeaga is back’.
I didn’t know, but my father waited back in school for the praise night and watched me drum. He cried. I was just 10 at the time.
That’s one thing about my parents, they enabled my talent from the start. I danced so much in my school that I represented the whole of Oyo State in Nigeria.
You launched a reality show, ‘Kiekie Unscripted,’ some years back and even relaunched in 2024, how long did it take you to conceptualise the concept?
Three years. Initially, we were supposed to kick off in 2022, but we had to pause because I was pregnant. But when we decided to kick off again in 2023, I wasn’t feeling all the excitement that we had created. By 2024, everything we wanted to create in 2022 was already sounding outdated, so I had to create a brand-new show.
I have a full creative team and a writer’s team. We came together and had three brainstorming sessions, and I still didn’t feel it. My husband told me that he knew that one day I would just sit down and write the whole show. One day, I started around 11 p.m, and I finished around 6 a.m when I went to bed. I called him during the day and said, “Papa, my show is ready.” And then I sent him the entire synopsis of all 12 segments of the show. I would say that the journey took about three years of thinking and brainstorming to myself, as I was working, driving, and playing with my daughter; it was all in my head.
What is the driving force behind this show?
I’m a person of talent, and as a host, concert and live host as well, I have been to a lot of shows, and anybody who knows me can attest to it that any show I go to, I always have a talent moment on the stage. If I host a show, I don’t do it in vain, talents always win money. I do it all the time. There was a time when one of the brands that I hosted their events asked me ‘how much did we even pay you?’ I think I gave about a million Naira out on the stage that day. When I do these things, it’s never from the brand’s pocket.
Maybe because I’m a person of talent, and as a Christian as well, giving is a part of me. You know that story about God giving three different servants a certain amount of talent? Talent is gold. When you are a person of talent, your talent is supposed to make way for you. Your talent is your means of livelihood. I don’t want people to die in this life, and their talent will not come forth.
But I understand that taking the journey alone can take a long time, N2 million can start. As bad as Nigeria is, there are businesses you can start with N2 million. Imagine somebody winning N2 million on the show, or winning N5 million on the show, and they start a business that changes their life.
Or people come on the show and become famous enough that they become people of talent themselves and brands are happy to work with them. This is one of the reasons we also have several different brands on the show, those brands are also watching. MTN, Mikano, First Bank, all the brands are watching and they may see someone with a great voice and say, come and sing our next theme song and that person will have a royalty of N10 million, N15 million, N100 million, even though they won maybe only N2.5 million on the show. That’s what I’m trying to achieve.
Where did the unscripted name come from?
‘Kiekie Unscripted’ started in 2020 after I got married and I had a lot of experiences. I started sharing my experience about my wedding ceremony and I realised that millions of people could resonate with that. That show got millions of views on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
It was also in 2020 that I realised that people enjoy listening to me speak, so I started sharing different experiences from secondary school, and university. Later, my friends started telling me of their similar experiences, so in season two of Kiekie Unscripted, I invited my celebrity friends to share their own experiences. I saw again that more people, regular everyday people, were resonating and connecting to their stories. That was when I realised that it’s not only me and my celebrity friends that have experiences.
The unscripted element is what is genuine to each person. And that’s why the show has different segments. If you can’t sing, you can’t dance, you can’t cook, you can’t act. Just come and play games. The unscripted is what is genuine to you.
Talking, for me, comes naturally and is unscripted. It’s genuine for me and I have mastered it so much that I make sense of it. If cooking is your own talent, come there and cook, Golden Penny is bringing products, so come and cook whatever you can cook.
Veteran actress Uche Ebere has chided younger colleague Kie Kie over her ‘negative’ mindset for splitting bills with hubby.
In a recent podcast chat with Toke Makinwa, the skit maker born Bukunmi Adeaga-Ilori proposed that married couples ought to divide household expenses.
She specifically emphasised the importance of a percentage-based split, asserting that this “unpopular” approach fosters respect, particularly for the wife, and helps prevent certain negative situations like being ejected from the house empty-handed.
According to her: “See, I’m living in this house; we’re sharing the rent. On my birthday, fly me to Dubai, Barcelona; that’s beautiful. Buy me a Fendi bag or whatever; beautiful. But that I’ll be living in that house and not paying rent, it’s not possible.
“So that when we want to fight, you’ll carry the chair, I’ll carry the television. You’ll carry the roof, I’ll carry the floor. Then we’ll share everything equally. You can’t tell me get out of my house.”
Many reacted to Kie Kie’s stance on bill-splitting between couples with some insisting what works for A’s marriage may not necessarily yield result in B’s.
Expressing her thoughts on the matter, Uche Ebere lauded Kie Kie’s position but faulted her motive.
She argued the content creator’s mindset about marriage was already compromised for harbouring the thoughts of divorce in the first place, noting individuals ought to keep a positive inclination about matrimony.
Ebere wrote: “She spoilt the whole good point when she said, “So when they’re splitting as in divorce or separation, the man will carry this while she’ll carry that.
“So, she’s in the marriage and having the mindset of divorce or separation anytime, which isn’t supposed to be. Build your home on positivity and that’s it. God is on the wheel.”
Popular multi-media personality, Bukunmi Adeaga-Ilori aka Kie Kie has proposed that married couples should consider dividing household expenses.
She specifically emphasized the importance of a percentage-based split, asserting that this “unpopular” approach fosters respect, particularly for the wife, and helps prevent certain negative situations.
Sharing insights from her own household, Kie Kie disclosed that she and her husband evenly distribute household bills.
She explained that she doesn’t believe in allowing her partner to shoulder all the financial responsibilities, even if he is extremely affluent.
The actress, however, said on special days like her birthday, her hubby is expected to lavish her with high-end gifts and destination trips.
Discussing with OAP Toke Makinwa on her podcast, ‘Toke Moments’ the 33-year-old said: “That’s why when you too are in a marriage; they cannot be bringing everything to you. Me for one, I tell women this, how will you be living in the house and you’re not paying rent? For me o, it does not make sense.
“See, I’m living in this house; we’re sharing the rent. On my birthday, fly me to Dubai, Barcelona; that’s beautiful. Buy me a Fendi bag or whatever; beautiful. But that I’ll be living in that house and not paying rent, it’s not possible.
“So that when we want to fight, you’ll carry the chair, I’ll carry the television. You’ll carry the roof, I’ll carry the floor. Then we’ll share everything equally. You can’t tell me get out of my house. No, that’s not how to be an adult.
“There’s nothing like get out of my house, we’re living together. Because living together is like cohabitating and you have to be responsible.
Buttressing the importance of sharing bills which she noted portrays an adult as being responsible, the mother of one added: “Imagine taking in a friend and then you have a chef, cleaner, drycleaner. And your friend is just waking up in the morning eating, throwing their plates and clothes everywhere in the house. And you’re cleaning after them; you’re paying for everything.
“No matter how much you love your friend, a time will come…it might not even be financial. He might be having a bad time at work. And then you get home and somebody is just lying down there. And the AC is on, Netflix is on. And you’ll just be like, is this one a mad person, please get out of here. It just gets to that point.”
“So in marriage, I told my husband, it can’t happen that you’ll be paying all the rent and I’ll be living in this house?!
“In my house, somebody has a chef’s bill, somebody has a nanny’s bill, somebody has the cleaner’s bill, somebody has the dry cleaner’s bill; that’s how it’s done.
Toke cut in, “And sometimes when one defaults the other can help out”.
“Exactly”, Kie Kie affirmed adding; “But you can decide to travel out and buy me a gift of $10,000; beautiful.
“But because you have the money, I will not allow you take all the responsibilities. You see because there’s respect in doing o! There’s a lot of respect in it and that’s another challenge in marriage.”
