Tiwa Savage is a household name in the African music market. Her music commands attention effortlessly. When she started out the story was not sweet to tell. In a chat with CNN’s African Voices , she said people didn’t want to take a chance on her singing talent when she returned to Nigeria.
“When I first moved to Nigeria, I got a lot of people discouraging me about being a female artist, and a lot of people didn’t want to invest money or time because they didn’t think I was lucrative…. Female artists are huge in other parts of the world. It shouldn’t be different in Africa.”
When asked about how people respond when she tells them she is from Nigeria, she said they are usually fascinated about her origin.
Hear her:”I worked with a lot of people, and they would be interested by my name… ‘Where’s that from?’ I’d say it’s Nigerian, West African, and they’d say, ‘You’re African?’ and fascinated that I was straight from the Motherland… This was a light bulb moment. These people were interested in Africa, and here I was running from it.”