Dunnie Moves out with ‘Amazon’

Ferdinand Ekechukwu

Following her collaboration with South African star artiste, Busiswa in ‘Love Song’ and the success of ‘Overdose’ which features Oxlade, fast-rising singer and songwriter, Dunnie is back with a five track EP ‘Amazon’ which was released yesterday. The album contains songs listeners and lovers of the Afro-fusion artiste would find interesting to add to playlists.

“I’m super excited that I finally get to share this project with you guys, it’s been many months of writing, recording, producing, deleting and re-recording some of these songs”, she wrote in her Instagram post.

Born Oladunni Lawal, Dunnie has had an interesting run in the past months; with ‘Overdose’ having amassed about three million streams across streaming platforms while enjoying heavy rotations on radio and TV. On the new ‘Amazon’ EP, are songs like ‘Rich Aunty Vibes’, and Déjà vu, a record that sees the singer yearn for love in its sincerest expression. ‘Déjà vu’, produced by Dunnie and Brainz, was her last single release shortly before her latest project. Build up to the ‘Amazon’ project, Dunnie had dropped ‘Mosafejo’ the lead single off the new EP.

Written by Dunnie, the amapiano record is an expression about seeking love elsewhere but finding it right where you were running from. Remarkably, 2021 gets more interesting for the singer as she’s nominated for her collaboration with Busiswa at the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA). In August, Dunnie was profiled as one of the nine kick-ass women to know in the Nigerian music scene by Global Citizen. In April, she produced Shontelle’s comeback single House Party, a reggae number that was minted as NFT (Non-Fungible Token).

Dunnie was also enlisted alongside Focalistic by Gemini Major for ‘Ewele’, while doubling as producer for Nigeria’s Wande Coal, Yemi Alade; South Africa’s Focalistic, Gemini Major, Rowlene amongst others. Dunnie was recently listed by YNaija amongst the top 50 most influential Nigerians in music as well as being handpicked as one of the Nigerian producers to watch out for in 2021 by French publication, Pan African Music. Dunnie’s ingenuity with music production has been tapped by critically acclaimed artistes like Niniola, Sean Tizzle, Becca, Busiswa and brands such as Ciroc, Oppo, Maggi, Kotex sanitary pad etc.

Dunnie is one of Nigeria’s indie artistes making and promoting their music independently with most staying away from mainstream sounds. Her first single, “E go better” topped Cool FM Abuja’s Top Ten for three weeks in 2012. She has been actively making and pushing her music.

Dunnie kicked off her career in music as an alumnus of The Sarz Academy alongside producers like P-Prime, Tempoe etc. Since then, she’s garnered reverence as one of the few talents in the Nigerian music scene finely balancing being a commercial artist and producer.

Two years ago, Dunnie emerged as one of the beneficiaries of Mr Eazi’s Empawa initiative through which she shot and released her first ever music video, ‘Foolish.’ In 2020, she was one of the regional judges at the Access All Stars competition with Seyi Shay, Tee Y Mix and Kaffy as main judges. That same year, she featured in Busiswa’s third studio album, ‘My Side of the Story.’