Why Aren’t More Female Nigerian Artists Collaborating With Each Other?

Beyoncé & Nicki Minaj, Rihanna & Shakira, Lil’ Kim & Christina Aguilera, Brandy & Monica, Ciara & Missy Elliot, the plethora of female artists on “Lady Marmalade” and “Just Stand Up” – you get where we’re going with this right?

These are only a few of the high-profile female collaborations in the international music scene, and even though it’s more frequent to see collaborations between male artists in general, we wouldn’t need to grasp at straws to find more female collaborations internationally.

This is not the case amongst female Nigerian artists, and it is very rare to find a collaboration between two high-profile women in the industry. Dj Lambo was on to something when she featured Cynthia Morgan, Eva Alordiah and Seyi Shay on “The Motion”, so were Waje and Tiwa Savage on “Onye” – save for these features, it’s slim pickins. This isn’t too surprising given the way patriarchy is set up, and women are usually pit against each other in all walks of life.

Olamide’s recent album, Lagos Nawa! includes features from Phyno, Reminisce and Timaya, Falz’ 27 featured Davido, Wande Coal, Burna Boy and other male artists. Some of the strongest singles we’ve had over the years have been male collaborations from “Street Credibility” by 9ice and 2Baba, to a more recent “Something Light” by Falz and YCee. They clearly recognise that they can come together to feed off each other’s energy and audiences and make magic.

We rarely ever hear about any beef or rivalry between female artists, which is usually a narrative that is imposed on women whether there is cause or not. This kind of makes it even more curious that they rarely come together to make music, because they seem to be friends outside of music and we see photos of them together all over social media.

From Tiwa Savage’s undeniable finesse, Yemi Alade’s electric energy, Simi’s strong vocals and Niniola’s all-round amazingness, having a collaboration from our female artists is bound to be amazing and we really want them to break into this niche.

Come on girls, shake the table!