Nigerian singer lost the Grammy, but she won a personal victory

Before the Grammy nomination, who was Kah-Lo? Who knew the girl who worked at Yaba, lived in Lekki, and made music on the side? No one.

Faridah Demola Seriki (aka Kah-Lo), is a rising international artiste and daughter of former Minister of Defence and Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Chief Demola Seriki

Everybody became aware of Kah-Lo after the press picked it up that she got nominated and she was a Nigerian. Kah-Lo has never known in her home country. Neither did she get any press prior to the big announcement.

But all of that changed for her with the nomination.

Kah-Lo contributed the vocals on 'Rinse and Repeat' by British DJ, Riton. Her humorous yet edgy delivery gave the song a unique charm that has made it a club favourite around the country.

The song ‘Rinse and repeat’ which was released in 2016, was nominated for the Best Dance Recording of the year at the 59 Grammy Awards. She was nominated alongside Riton. But she lost out to Chainsmoker's 'Don't let me down' featuring Daya.

She might not have gotten the Grammy, but it has set her up for something special. In 2014, her sister won tickets to the Grammy Awards ceremony. But the experience was a bad one for her.

“The seats were so terrible. When we first came everyone around us had binoculars but we didn’t get why. When it started we realized you really can’t see. It was so high up.” She told Okay Africa.

“It was so bad, we had to Google what celebrities were wearing before we could point them out in the crowd, like, ‘Oh yeah that’s Amber Rose in the yellow dress. Okay yeah, that’s Taylor Swift, I see her. They said she was wearing purple.’ Yeah, that’s two years ago. So it’s so crazy that two years after I’d be nominee.

“I told my sister, ‘We’re going to come back one day.’ And I thought one day would be five years later. It’s just crazy that just two years after.

For Kah-Lo to get nominated is the stuff dreams are made off, and on the back of this, she can push on for more achievements in the art. She missed the trophy for this award, but she had already won on a personal level.

As well as being a huge club hit, ‘Rinse & Repeat’ has been streamed over 26 million times on Spotify and played 6 million times on YouTube less than a month after its release.

It has also reached number 1 on the Shazam chart and been on the A list of Radio 1, Kiss FM and 6 Music, turning Kah-lo into an instant star.

Thanks in large part to Kah-lo’s adaptable vocals, ‘Rinse & Repeat’ has been remixed by the likes of Preditah, Jammer, and Brodinski & Myd, with top producer Jammer’s remix particularly complimenting Kah-lo’s tone.

There’s so much left in store for Kah-Lo. She’s just beginning her journey.