“Baby, it seems Davido just released a new video.”

“Yes, and it’s very nice.”

Meh! I shrugged my shoulders with the nonchalance of an overfed, lazy cat, wondering if I should waste my ‘precious’ MB on a YouTube video that wouldn’t add to my bank account.

“I’m serious! You should watch it.”, he insisted.

“Okay.” I yielded reluctantly. I would give it a try.

You see, my husband is a trained musician, so when he recommends songs, I don’t take it with a pinch of salt.

So, there I went. Eyes arched in preconceived disgust, ready to fish out all the ‘dirty’ scenes; my ears already cringing, anticipating the ‘tombolo’ sound common in Nigerian songs, as I clicked the play button.

To me, the song was dead even before it began. And I could not wait to give my husband my iconic I-told-you-so killer look.

You see, I grew up in a conservative home. We were so conservative that we shunned all songs that did not have God or Jesus in it. Heck, we didn’t even have TV for many years! It was a taboo to listen to songs from musicians like Davido. How dare you? You want to go to hell?

But as I grew and schooled, I made great friends along the way, some of whom had upbringing different from mine and so, from time to time, I had the chance of listening to one ‘worldly’ song or the other. That was how I fell in love with Shania Twain, Westlife and Asa.

But musicians like Davido. No way! Those ones were way down in the list. Maybe because I had never been a fan of Afropop. Or because their lyrics and music videos were sometimes too explicit for my ‘holy-holy’ persona.

Truth be told, I think Davido is arguably Nigeria’s best Afropop singer. I mean, look at how his songs blow like ‘Fia’ within days.

Even when you don’t have interest, they are drummed in your ears everywhere you go, chasing you like a swarm of houseflies going after a pot of sour egusi soup. Sometimes, I find myself listening and even unconsciously humming alongside (before I caution myself �).

That’s how popular Davido is. Children o, adult o, (almost) everyone connects with him, though not all agree with his lifestyle and kind of music.

So, when I saw a snippet of this new video he was shooting trend on Twitter recently, I didn’t give it a second thought. I had bigger things to worry about.

However, some days later, on a ‘jobless’ Sunday morning, I got into YouTube and BOOM!, the new video stared hard at me in the face. It was the No. 1 trending video.

OMG! 4.3million views in just 2 days!

“FEM”, it was titled. I grew up with that word as a child. My mother often used it on me when she wanted to shut my rambling mouth up.

“Mummy, but…”

“FEM!”, she would say, with a warning finger over her lips. And that would be the end of the conversation.

The title got me. And of course, my husband’s push. So I joined the millions of viewers to enlarge Davido’s pocket while mine shrank in size.

For 3.24 minutes, I fixed my eyes on the screen, anxiously waiting to give my verdict.

But I got a shocking surprise.

I watched it over and over again.

Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, I am ‘ashamed’ to confess that I enjoyed the video.

For once, I am not repulsed by a secular Nigerian music video usually characterized by the glorification of money, fame, drugs and the curvy backside of feminity.

The music video is clean, though it is not the same with the lyrics, which contains a few explicit words. Some have said it is a diss song to a certain BET award nominee, hence the strong words.

But the visuals, the sound itself, the flow, the presentation, each of these score a good point in my view.

It is a breath of fresh air to know that a music video can go viral without a woman twerking her ‘bumbum’ in our faces or giving an erotic dance that promotes sexual gratification.

Davido may go ahead to produce other videos that sexualise women and promote nudity in the future (unfortunately, that is what sells in today’s world), but he has proven a point that a music video can sell without vixens twerking all over the place.

As a woman, a Christian feminist too, I’m proud of that.

For this music video, Davido, I doff my ‘holy-holy’ hat for you.

Biko, before the matter get serious, make I end here.

FEM! �

Source: https://www.redigionng.com/2020/09/16/fem-by-davido/