In the past 1 year, ‘Gold’ singer has become a lot like Wizkid and Davido

When Adekunle Gold tried his hands on One Direction’s ‘Story of my life’, tweaked the elements to suit the Nigerian space, before throwing in exquisite storytelling, and named the product ‘Sade’.

He never foresaw the wave that the single would generate. Two years later, he is one of Nigerian music’s hottest prospects with insane record sales, concerts in different countries, and a profile that continues to rise through the release of new music.

This year he has released his debut album “Gold”, which was rolled-out with exquisite branding, and according to listener’s and critics review, it is one of the best projects released in the country this year, with singles.

A standard project with very few faults, Pulse review states that “Adekunle Gold’s debut work ticks a lot of boxes, and sets a conceptual standard that should be the norm, but sadly, is an exception. There’s also a distinct lack of a power recording that would define the EP, and stand out not as a commercial endeavor, but a true representation of the singer’s ability to create a classic. Also, the project slightly slips into a monotony of sound. But the general consistency in delivery and the novelty of having a project of such quality papers over this crack, and presents what is a solid LP.”

Adekunle Gold owes much of his rise to the acceptance of his singles. All of Gold’s singles are hit songs. From 2014 to date, he has released 5 singles so far, with all of them finding acceptance and love.

Sade

Orente

Ready

Pickup

Ariwo Oko

A good reason why the singer has had a 100% hit rate is because of relativity. Adekunle’s music is crafted for the mildly ambitious man, with relatable stories that speak to everyone with dreams.

Content wise, Adekunle Gold’s music is not new in the true sense of it. What he does is Highlife music subtly fused with other traditional genres including Fuji. These genres have existed forever, amassing great icons, and great followings across the world. But Adekunle Gold modernizes these melodies and the creative process by refining his themes and subject matter to appeal to us. The rest is branding and positioning, done by a well-oiled functional PR machine – BukiHQ Media.

Only very few acts in Nigerian music can boast of a 100 percent hit record in a calendar year. Wizkid and Davido, two of Africa’s finest are probably the only acts in this league. Kiss Daniel achieved this from 2015 through 2016. Tekno is well on his way to earning that score, after ‘Duro’, ‘Wash’, ‘Where’ and ‘Pana’ have peaked.

The rest of Gold’s 2016 will be dedicated to extracting as much value as he can from the album. New videos will be released for songs such as ‘Work’ and the hugely critically popular ‘No Forget’ featuring Simi.

He might not have all the markings of the pop stars, but based on his immense work and achievement in the last 365 days, his success rate will make many A-list stars look on with envy.