New Spotlight Concert Winner Emerges as Seyi Vibez Shuts Down Third Edition  

For a third consecutive year, budding Nigerian music acts thronged the venue of the Spotlight Concert and Awards to showcase their talent to a larger audience. This deliberate effort led to the conversion of the Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos into a stage that hosted a medley of live, electric performances.

Founded on the premise of the unfortunate events of #EndSARS, the concert themed ‘Let Your Music Shine’ has become a lifeline to empower talented Nigerian youths. This year was no different.  Positioned as the Headies for rookies, the concert’s progenitor Olumide Asanbe revealed that the platform received over 5,000 applications that were trimmed to 15 finalists through numerous knockout stages. He noted that it was a significant growth from the previous editions.

“The youths are not lazy, it is just that they do not believe in the system, and that is why they are frustrated. This platform is a way to encourage and promote them to do more,” he said backstage.

Preceded by a series of performances from other artists not in the running, and dance battles, the final 15,  for over an hour, churned out impressive renditions of popular afrobeats songs, with a handful pulling their trump card through sleek moves, charisma and charm to woo the audience and judges. Eventually,  it whittled to five, and then three finalists, through eliminations.

Billed as the concert’s headliner, Nigerian afrobeats singer Seyi Vibez’s entrance was unprecedented. The ‘Billion Dollar’ singer was greeted with much fanfare while he made his way to the stage dressed in a cream ensemble complemented with an esoteric blue headgear. He provided the perfect interlude to dissipate the tension that had built up in anticipation of the winner.

With back-to-back hits, the crowd became convinced they were the background vocalists, outshining the main act on songs such as ‘Alaska’, ‘+234’, and ‘Gwagwalada’ in an admirable call-and-response fashion. They left Seyi Vibez humbled as he stood and listened to the very last note.

Throughout the competition, Olajide Olowoshile (Jaybow) held his own, defying expectations with his unique take on Fire DML smash hit ‘Bandana’. He clinched the top prize of a N2 million recording contract and a N500,000 cash prize. He beat out Gabriel Adetunji (Jabril), and David Samson who emerged in second and third place respectively.