Ambitions and Ascent of a Woman
Chidinma Nebo, a.k.a. Shimmer Goddess, has her sights set on future fame, thanks to her mellifluous voice and versatility in the creative industry. Okechukwu Uwaezuoke writes
Not even under the restaurant’s ambient lighting did the allure surrounding the young lady, who goes by the stage name Shimmer Goddess, appear to wane that Thursday night. The Enugu State native, whose real name is Chidinma Nebo, sat down to talk with her interviewer at a table in the raised area of an upper-room restaurant while exuding an unforced and natural charm. In fact, except for her chocolate-coloured weave-on straight hair and, possibly, her stage name, there was nothing else about her that wasn’t natural and unforced.
Obviously, Thursday nights at this upscale restaurant that calls itself ZaZa belong to its off-peak nights. In other words, they are not the nights when one would find as many diners as one would expect on Fridays and Saturdays. And talking about ZaZa, it occupies, quite unobtrusively, a corner of a building that houses along Agoro Odiyan Street, a side street that branches off the arterial Adeola Odeku Street in the Victoria Island neighbourhood of Lagos.
The fact that the industry owes Shimmer Goddess its undivided attention cannot be denied, even by the most obtuse listener, after hearing her mime covers of modern favourites. Later that night, she would, after the long-braids-and-Fedora-hat-sporting emcee, Felvin Brain, announced her with flourish, mount the dais to belt out, back to back, two hits: Shaggy’s “Strength of a Woman” and Frank Sinatra’s “You Are Too Good to Be True.”
Talking about her soulful rendition of both hits—to the awed admiration of her captive audience—that alone should have left no pundit in doubt as to whether it would win her the good graces of the industry’s pooh-bahs. Indeed, this performance, which spectacularly earned the diadem as the cream of the restaurant’s main gigs, deserves nothing less than a five-star rating.
Her stage presence, which easily rates as flawless, was an eloquent testimony to her being long accustomed to performing on stage. As for her vocals, which by the industry’s standards are first-rate, they were a pleasant addition to the night’s entertainment package. In a nutshell, she is a classic case of a talent whose light is hidden under a bushel, despite having an impressive résumé.
A career such as hers that promises future stardom ought to have bloomed by now, given her lustrous antecedents. She had, growing up as the first daughter and second child of a middle-class couple in the oil city of Port Harcourt, shown all the right signs of brilliance in the industry. It’s something that she has always had in her, she explained. Reason why, even at the tender age of seven, she was already a chorister in her church. She also clinched the diadem as the best public speaker at Brain Field Secondary School in Port Harcourt, where she became the valedictorian.
Years after those early stages of pursuing her life’s calling, the 2015 history and international relations graduate of Ebonyi State University would find herself segueing through such Broadway-style musicals as Love and Its Other Sides, For Love and Country, Ini, Ada, and Flower, among others. More relevant to that penultimate Thursday’s performance were her appearances at such reality television shows as the MTN Project Fame in 2011, Star the Winner in 2013, and The Voice ofNigeria in 2015, as well as her appearances on soundtracks like Unmarried in 2020 and Ricordi in 2022. She also did voiceovers for Peakmas ads, Porkoyum Instagram ads, Airtel radio drama series,and voice prompts for Eko TeleMed. Perhaps her earlier certificate course programme in linguistics and communications from the University of Port Harcourt stood her in a good stead to feature in such television productions as Hustle in 2017, Truth the Series in 2018, Unmarried in 2020, and Clues the Movie (a short film).
In addition to all these is a musical film – titled Can You See Me Now? – which she produced and should be hitting the screens before the end of the year.
Still, Shimmer Goddess doesn’t seem to be about to rest on her oars any time soon. This is despite having two singles, “Bambam” and “3-1 (three-one)”, that have already hit the airways, even if they are seemingly eclipsed or unheeded among the Babel of other hits. Besides, it helps that she has a finger in every pie in an industry that swarms with talents, which can be explained by the fact that her creative juices are constantly flowing.
In the not-too-distant future, she envisions herself using her modes of expression to tell true Nigerian stories rather than the storylines promoted by the local film industry. She counts on her resourcefulness and passion for “making things work” to stand her in good stead and remain relevant for a long time in a volatile industry.
Is it any wonder it seemed difficult for her to identify musical icons who embody her aspirations as role models, even when she acknowledged Tiwa Savage as a hard worker and had good things to say about Yemi Alade?
