Nigerian international act Ayo Balogun, better known as Wizkid has become one of the most famous singers from the African continent to the rest of the world.
For many big fans of Wizkid, his song Ojuelegba remains a masterpiece that can come with a magical flow and danceable beat. But it turned out Wizkid had more up his sleeves following his Made in Lagos album released in the Lockdown period in 2020.
Made In Lagos contained 14 tracks with Wizkid featuring some A-list acts like Burna Boy, Damian Marley, and H.E.R., but right his track ”Essence” with upcoming Nigerian singer, Tems has stood out and done significantly better than those with A-list stars.
For those who don’t know, “Essence” was released in October 2020 and was the 11th track from Wizkid’s fourth studio album.
The song was made during the lockdown in the early period of 2020, and according to the reports, Tems and Wizkid had not met more than two times.
Tems would later reveal in an interview with RollingStone that “time is of the essence” was in the title of the original freestyle.
Essence was produced by P2J and Legendury Beatz while Wizkid, Tems, Uzezi Oniko, Okiemute Oniko, and Richard Isong co-wrote the song.
Wizkid and Tems in the song expressed their desire for each other. This song was well received that it went on to become the first Nigerian song in history to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard Global 200.
On the 9th of April 2021, a music video for Essence was shot in Accra, Ghana; this gave the song even more popularity.
Essence has on to become a song that would make Wizkid the first Nigerian artist to have a record on the Billboard Hot 100 chart after broke into the chart at No. 82 in July; it would later rose to No. 70 and the No. 67 in the same month.
On the 13th of August, the song’s remix was made featuring Canadian singer Justin Bieber; this further gave the song higher popularity.
Essence went on to make it to the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in August and also became the most Shazamed song in the United States. Essence has also been named the song of the summer.
As of September, Essence is at No. 13 on Billboard 100, and No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart depicting that Wizkid has a number one record in the United States of America.
All things being equal, Essence is expected to win a Grammy in 2021.
