This singer’s window is closing fast, and he is doing nothing about it

The Nigerian music industry can be a boring place. Year in, year out, millions of musicians hit the studio to make records and promote them through various channels hoping to score a hit. It’s a rat-race, one that involves insane amounts of money changing hands and ideas. These artists are like sonic junkies, chasing a hit.

What this means is that for the most part, the music is drowned out and lacking in character. Everyone is inspired by everyone, with ideas being copied, stripped and fused to provide variations of a single sound. What this does is that the music at many points, fall into a monotony. The sameness of the sounds become a drone, and everyone continues to push this material out, leaving everything to time and chance.

But once in a while, a new talent shows up with something fresh and different. This new artist dives into the scene, armed with a fresh take on the music. He begins to push that vibe, and everyone gravitates towards that artist. Everyone loves to break that monotony, and experience a new vibe.

That’s the genesis of the success of Adekunle Gold, Patoranking, Lil Kesh, Simi, Tiwa Savage, Wizkid, Davido and others. They gave the industry a new angle to the artistry and became stars. Consequent years have seen them continue that work, pushing their careers to new heights.

Another artist who deserves to blow is Terry Apala. The quality of his talent is worthy of making him part of Nigeria’s galaxy of music stars. The man holds a weapon in his artistry that is distinctly different and fresh. He combines Hip-hop’s subgenre, Trap music, with the local delivery of Apala, creating multiple blends of Western and local, old and new. He delivers it perfectly and makes records that carry through as a fresh take on Nigerian music. Fusing sounds as the basis of a career is an experiment. And Terry Apala has that on lockdown. His chemicals mix right.

His single ‘Champagne shower’ exploded, and became a speculative hit in 2016, and he was tipped by the industry to grow that into a new style of artistry. The same way Adekunle Gold flogged Urban Highlife for his livelihood, and Phyno added dynamism to Eastern rap, Terry has the potential to be more than he is right now. What makes it easy for him is that his style is hard to replicate. You need more than a studio and some engineer to make that. You need God.

Everyone looked favourably to Terry Apala, on his arrival. He was fresh, and he generated attention. Everyone wants to taste his sauce and bask in the happiness that new music brings.

But Terry has been grossly unable to capitalise on that, and follow-up singles, have not had any impact. In truth, he has made lower quality music since ‘Champagne shower’. Follow-up singles, ‘Omidan’, ‘Bad girl’ featuring Bisola, and ‘Palongo’, have not shown the same verve and quality that made ‘Champagne shower’ blow up.

And also, apart from a sprinkle of collaborations, Terry hasn’t done anything with the attention. He doesn’t have a project yet, neither has he released an EP or a mixtape. Nothing.

This spells danger. History has shown that there’s a window of opportunity for new artists. If they fail to maximise that opportunity and keep it open, then it closes and relegates them.

The window of opportunity in Nigerian music is what defines the career of an artist, especially in the early stages of their appearance on the mainstream radar. Being able to keep the window open, and constantly bursting through, is what separates the relevant from the momentary. Terry Apala is edging towards being a momentary artist, and he needs to act.

He has delayed in releasing a project and failed to follow-up a buzzing single. If he doesn’t act now. Nigerians, whose attention span is fickle, would dim his spotlight and look elsewhere for that new dose of fresh music.

Nobody wants that. He needs to act.