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Damini ‘Burna Boy’ Ogulu missed his chance to make history as the first Nigerian with double Grammy awards in a major category at the 65th Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 5, 2023, after losing out on the Best Global Music Album award for his latest album Love, Damini and the Best Global Music Performance with ‘Last Last’.
“The win would have marked a significant milestone for the artiste and for Nigerian music, as Burna Boy would have become the first Nigerian artiste to win a Grammy twice in a major category,” Netng reports.
After monitoring the ceremony overnight, it was a bit disappointing to wake up to see Burna Boy become the subject of internet trolling for missing the awards as many Nigerians on social media have been making jokes and sneering at Burna Boy for the miss.
Yes, Burna Boy is braggadocio and garrulous. His utterances and actions over the years have sparked strong opinions and emotions. From threatening to punch a fellow artiste in the face to being accused by the police of masterminding the attack and robbery of another artiste at a hotel in Lagos, and threatening to physically harm bloggers whom he claimed were spreading false reports about him, the list goes on. If we can’t remember a lot of them, we saw how he lashed out at fans at his New Year’s Day concert in 2023 after showing up late on stage.
To his credit, and this is not me holding a brief for Burna Boy, he issued a statement after the January 1 bizarre outburst, apologising and explaining why he showed up late on stage. But nothing justifies the outburst.
“Let’s be clear. I wasn’t late, my band wasn’t late. We pride ourselves on being highly professional, especially with our stagecraft. There were three options available to me; wait for the audio to be fixed and delay the show, come out at 11 pm as planned with no sound or call a breach of contract and pull the plug,” he said. “I apologise to my fans for how hectic it was, thank you for staying and weathering the storm with me.”
As much as I strongly believe he needs a hold of himself, his January 1, 2023, outburst about how fans constantly abuse him on social media reveals what some of us have always suspected about many artistes and their mental health.
As hard as we may think he is, the outburst and how he let out all his feelings at the January 1 concert, cussing out at his fans and his supposed haters also revealed a lot about his insecurity and arrogance. But can we just cut him some slack on this Grammy Awards miss?
No matter how and what we feel about Burna Boy, his garrulous personality, excesses and overbearing attitude, he’s a human, a Nigerian, and like all humans and other Nigerians, I believe he deserves love and grace from his countrymen, especially during one of his hard times. Getting nominated for Grammys for four years back-to-back in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, since releasing his first mixtape in 2011 in is no mean feat for an artiste who hit stardom just a little over a decade ago. It is also a confirmation that he’s ticking the right boxes and getting it.
While losing four Grammy nominations under a year could take a toll on the mental health of any artiste no matter their level of success, especially when it appears your fellow countrymen are celebrating your loss, it also shows that Burna Boy is putting in the work and getting the deserved global recognition.
In May 2021, American rapper Lil Nas X admitted to being jealous of Billie Eilish after losing out on the Record of the Year Grammy to the latter.
Burna Boy himself admitted to feeling totally sick after losing his first Grammy in 2020.
“Sick. Totally sick,” he tweeted while reacting to a tweet asking how he felt after losing the Grammys. “But my musical Mother Angelique Kidjo told me everything I needed to understand about the Grammys.”
We need to learn to draw the line and take the mental health of artistes more seriously and offer them love, not only at their best times and when they break global records and record remarkable feats but also during their difficult times. His January 1 diatribe is a testament to the fact that these sneer words hit them hard.
In May 2022 when I had an interview with Christina Matovu, Burna Boy’s former backing vocalist, she told me how losing the Grammys in 2020 was one of the challenging moments for her and the Outsiders in that year at a time she was also battling some health challenges. Another reminder that the loss is not just Burna Boy’s loss, and the sneer words will also get to his band members, the Producers and others who worked on the project as well as their friends and families who would have gotten a bragging right from the win.
We need to let Burna Boy breathe. Losing a Grammy is not the end of the world for an artiste who is doing so well for himself, Nigeria and the black race.
I do not like some of the attitudes of the personality called Damini, but I enjoy his art and I will always be a fan of his art. Burna Boy’s performance at the Maddison Square Garden in 2022 has been atop my work playlist since April 2022, and he remains one of the few Nigerian music artistes I will pay to attend their live concert. It is possible to be a fan of the work and not be a fan of the artiste. I enjoy watching Lionel Messi but I’m a bigger fan of Cristiano Ronaldo. That does not stop me from enjoying the talent of the two football greats. To the fandoms, let’s calm down with our stanning and consider the mental health of these artistes.
“We as a society talk about giving grace to the issue of mental health as a whole, however, we should also give it to the individuals who are living with it in times when they need it the most…(to) the media and public give us the compassion and empathy that is needed so that we can get through this,” Kim Kardashian wrote in July 2020 in defense of Kanye West.
Burna Boy, like every other Nigerians doing the nation proud, deserve grace and love at their best and hard times. More Love, Less Hate. Let’s be proud of what we have.
The post Grammy: Can We Just Cut Burna Boy Some Slack? appeared first on Nigerian Entertainment Today.
Source: TheNet
