Wizkid Headlines ‘Lost in Riddim’ Festival

By Ferdinand Ekechukwu

Nigerian Star boy Wizkid will headline a brand new afrobeats and dancehall music festival coming up in a couple of weeks from now. The festival “Lost in Riddim”, which was created to showcase most popular international music acts, will have Grammy award-winning artistes Wizkid and Burna Boy, alongside other African pop stars like Tiwa Savage, Shenseea, and Koffee. Taking place October 2-3 in Sacramento, United States, the festival will also feature Tems, Rotimi, Mr Eazi, and more.

“We created this event to not only showcase some of the most popular international music artistes in the entire world, many of whom continued to be overlooked by major US music festivals but also create a unique celebration about the beauty of African culture,” said festival co-founders, Fornati Kumeh and Jehu “Manny” Hunter in a statement. Most recently, Wizkid announced the dates for his upcoming North American tour, which kicks off in September.

Born Ayodeji Balogun, the pop star Wizkid will tour with his monster 2020 album, ‘Made in Lagos’, one of fans favourite albums of the year in the United States and Canada. The tour dates begin September 10 in Boston and continue until October 12 in Atlanta. Early next year, the superstar artiste will head to Canada for January dates in Toronto and Montreal. Wizkid ‘Made In Lagos’ tour dates include Brooklyn, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Toronto and Montreal

Recall that Wizkid’s forthcoming one-off show at the 02 Arena in London sold out within 12 minutes. Shortly after it was announced, fans were left scrambling to try and find leftover tickets. Some fans have even asked for a second date at the same venue. Fans who weren’t able to get tickets took their frustration to Twitter, with one “crying” after being unable to purchase ticket.

The ‘Ojuelegba’ crooner becomes Africa’s most significant music act that has sold out the 20,000 capacity London O2 Arena in 12 minutes. The concert would also be Wizkid’s sixth-time performance at the prestigious venue. Wizkid is scheduled to perform on November 28, 2021 as part of the O2’s Welcome Back lineup, with other superstars such as Burna Boy and comedian Mo Gilligan also announced.

With that record sale, Wizkid joins the league of international artistes like Spice Girls (2007, 38 seconds), The Rolling Stones (2012, 7 minutes), Gary Barlow (2014, 6 minutes), Rihanna Rihanna (2011, 10 minutes), and Beyonce (2004, 12 minutes) who have sold out the 02 Arena in less than fifteen minutes. Multiple award-winning Wizkid has continued to record waves of success with his music.

Earlier in August, Wizkid featured Canadian star Justin Bieber on the remix of ‘Essence’, the 11th track from his fourth studio album, ‘Made in Lagos’. The Canadian superstar also shot his own video for the song. Due to the remix, ‘Essence’ received 23.2 million radio audiences in the US, with 87.3 thousand unit sales. It currently sits at No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. This run has also propelled Wizkid onto record-breaking, chart-topping stratospheres.

The remixed version of ‘Essence’ also sits at the No. 1 spot on the Billboard world digital song sales chart as of last Tuesday. The album, which has spent a total of 41 weeks on the World album chart, had debuted on the number two spot in November 2020. It was also the first African album to debut on the Spotify Global Album chart at top ten position barely a week after its release.

Released in October 2020, Made in Lagos recently clinched the No. 1 spot on the Billboard world album chart, ten months after its release. The album gained international recognition early this year after several international stars drummed support for ‘Essence’, the eleventh song in the album. ‘Essence’, featuring Nigerian breakthrough star, Tems, made history being the first Nigerian song on the Billboard Hot 100 and Global 200 music chart in July.

Not resting on his oars, the Afrobeats star Wizkid on Friday (August 27) released the deluxe edition of his Made in Lagos album. The project has a total of 18 songs with four additional tracks to the initial album. The new tracks include ‘Anoti’, ‘Mood’ featuring Buju, ‘Steady’ and ‘Essence’ (remix).