TIME magazine has named Nigerian singer, Davido as one of its 100 Next Influential Leaders of 2021.
The 2021 TIME100 Next issue features six worldwide covers, each highlighting a member of the list: performer Dua Lipa, actor Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, athlete Marcus Rashford, Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin, fashion designer Telfar Clemens, and author Brit Bennett.
Writing about Davido, TIME noted: “Davido is one of the biggest voices in Afrobeats because his music connects with people, often in ways that transcend his expectations. When he released the song “FEM” in 2020, a title that loosely translates to “shut up” in Yoruba, he didn’t know it would become a major #EndSARS protest anthem, as youth banded together to demand the government take action to end police brutality in Nigeria last October.
Officials responded by sending politicians to give speeches. We told the government to keep quiet unless they had something sensible to add—the ethos of “FEM” was directly relatable to that moment.
You can tell Davido puts 100% into every song he makes. And the results are clear: his album A Good Time surpassed a billion streams in 2020. Afrobeats is a worldwide phenomenon, and Davido is one of many Nigerian artists who has made that possible; now more and more artists, from Nicki Minaj to Young Thug, want to work with him.
By bringing Afrobeats to the global stage, he’s paved the way for people like me.”