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Oluwatobiloba ‘Kizz Daniel’ Anidugbe has a penchant for being in the news every now and then. If Vado the great is not trying to address a fallout between him and his record label or being dragged for failing to turn up at an event he was billed to perform, then, you would find him cooking a hit in his studio through a social media snippet or most surely be dancing to his current hit dominating airwaves while he sits back to watch the song take off, like a kite in flight, and go viral.
You would be quick to remember his humble beginnings with his former record label G-Worldwide Entertainment which bode hit songs that announced him to the world and set the pace for greater projects. ‘Woju’, his second single after ‘Shoye’, released in 2014, became a hit on national frequencies based on its toasty and seemingly fresh sound. ‘Woju’ received the nomination for Hottest Single at the Nigeria Entertainment Awards the following year and its remix, featuring Tiwa Savage and Davido, spawned the artiste into the limelight.
‘Mama’ came not long after. Effervescent and catchy, the hit single added gloss to the enduring impression that ‘Woju’ gave. At the high point of the song came “oya talk to me o mama” — a phrase sung in the mouths of all and sundry. With both songs ‘Woju’ and ‘Mama’ as archetypes, Kizz Daniel issued his full-length debut album, New Era, in May 2016. The album debuted at number eight on the Billboard World Album Chart.
The release of the album New Era was more metaphorical than denotative. Kizz Daniel parted ways with G-Worldwide Entertainment following a publicized contract dispute and court case and established his own label Flyboy Inc. With this rebirth, Kizz Daniel became the true viral hitmaker that we all envisaged. Most of Vado’s songs are about what he best sings about — love and lust. But the songs transcend the search for a significant other to ride with for the long term or at least a one-night stand to satisfy his fickle desires, the lyrics are not overly worded but repetitive and relatable enough to etch themselves on tongues and memories for weeks, months and even years.
Simply put, Kizz Daniel is a talented artiste — and that might be all you need to stand heads above others. His raspy drive is equally matched by a sonorous voice; throw that into the mix with carefully selected drums and lucent sounds that relentlessly aim to unpack emotional chills in the listener, and you get a perfect project. In an interview with Guardian, the superstar revealed the rationale behind his artistry.
“I am very particular about my drums – chords and also progressions. When it comes to choosing beats and watching a producer produce beats from scratch, I always stick towards the sorrowful side, you know. Most of my songs are real; my stories are well expressed where the environment is connected with your spirit.”
Although the ‘Buga’ star is not a cognitive psychologist, far from it in fact: he studied Water Resources Management and Agrometeorology (Water Engineering) at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta. Nonetheless, be it cosmic engineering or a pattern that became tested and trusted, Kizz Daniel has mastered the art of sticking to shorter song titles which, more often than not, are four to five-letter words. According to research on the cognitive psychology of memory, in a postulation termed Word Length Effect, shorter words work better for immediate memory span than longer words. “…short words can be articulated faster so that more words can be silently articulated before they decay”, the report reads.
Some of Vado’s songs that come to mind include ‘Woju’, ‘Laye’, ‘Jaho’, ‘Poko’, ‘Flex’, ‘Mama’, ‘Jombo’, ‘Sofa’, ‘Skin’, ‘Yeba’, ‘Eh God’, and most recently ‘Buga’ and ‘Cough’. Kizz Daniel takes it a step even further. These titles are accentuated in his choruses as he creates spaces for them to thrive all while repeating the words in an almost purposive yet rhythmic manner. On the track ‘Jombo’, Kizz Daniel sings: “Your father is violent/Ole mi dele oh/Jombo jombo jombo”. For Woju, he croons: “Woju o Le le le le le le le/ Baby ko ya woju o/ Le le le le le le/ Ko ya woju o”. He yet again emphasizes his catchphrase in ‘Yeba’: E yeh yeba/ Sha ma segbadun/ oyin momo/Omo to ni kaka yi o yeba”.
To further impose the catchy lyrics on his audience, Kizz paints a context, an explainer if you will, for the catchphrases within other parts of the songs — away from the choruses and refrains, supporting them with slangs that millions of average Nigerians can relate to.
For his more recent tricks, Kizz Daniel supplements his catchy vibes with ingenious dance steps that are simple and danceable for both three-year-olds and the elderly as well as for the proletariat in the highbrow area of Banana Island, Ikoyi, and the peasant in the suburbs of Ikorodu, Lagos State, Nigeria.
For ‘Buga’, it was an elegant dance step that exteriorised the word ‘buga’ which translates to “boast” in the English language. And the people loved it. going from the accolades and the ‘Bugachallenge’ that took a global stage. In a country where employment stands at 33% according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the people embrace any means to escape the harsh realities and dance their sorrows away. How better to do that than ‘boast’ as in “collect your money/ Gbera/ Gbera/ You suppose to jaiye, jaiye/ Lemme see you de buga — if it imbues some sort of optimism in the listener?
Buga’s rave and spot-on timing not only makes it the most ‘shazamed’ song in Nigeria but the global hit also avails Kizz Daniel a performance at the 2022 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony in Qatar — a credence to how, as reported in a 2020 BHM Group research, timing and relatability can lead to virality. Buga music video, which featured collages of cultures from the African continent, was truly pan-African all while coming when the World Cup searchlights every means — music included — to unite cultures and draw everyone in.
Some of the elements of virality, the case studies in the research showed, include using the right platform, knowing your audience, setting a cause, relatability, vanity and mastering the art of timing. Kizz Daniel appears to tick many, if not all, of these boxes. He leverages social media such as TikTok to drive his music, he ‘knows his audience’ by creating quality and alluring content that are ‘relatable’ and produces content, like “Buga”, that allows people to ‘boast’, inadvertently, tapping into their vain personas.
For ‘Cough’, his most recent sensation, it is a twerk-ish, simple yet luscious craze. ‘Cough’ appeals directly to Gen Z and Millennials trying to adapt to the digital fad that has social media platforms like TikTok couched behind its wheels. The refrain “Odo ye wu” is well-matched by the cheeky dance which has seen tens of thousands indulge in it. Even the under-17 female players of the German team caught the ‘Cough’, as it blurred ethnic, racial and cultural differences, after their match with their Nigerian counterpart.
Kizz Daniel’s artistic excellence and consistency are not in doubt. But his intentionality to create songs that people can resonate with, whether consciously or unconsciously, and his unconventional methods of music delivery have helped him to take a special, unrivalled place in the music industry. With such a trajectory, it is only a matter of time before his name becomes sealed as the man with no bad songs and the master of viral hits in the history books of Nigerian music.
The post Catchy Chorus, Deft Dance Steps: How Kizz Daniel Is Proving to Be a Master at Making Viral Songs appeared first on Nigerian Entertainment Today.
Source: TheNet
