These are not the visual elements people were expecting from the music video of Adekunle Gold's hit song featuring Zinoleesky, "Party no dey Stop."
These days, Nigerian music videos seem to be falling into this rabbit hole of warped Western creativity I call the Illuminati aesthetic.
I call it that because most of the videos with these aesthetics from the days of Lady Gaga to Rihanna, and now Beyonce, have a common representation of what conspiracy theorists have a field day with likening to occultic practices.
In fact, some people have theories around this being a sign of the Illuminati's penetration into the Nigerian market. These conspiracies became more common since the release of Fireboy and Asake's music video for Bandana
In that video, there are scenes where Asake enters a church and while he's in the church in the background there are people with thongs of fire on their heads, but as he leaves the church he's followed by a herd of black goats, a scene people struggle to see how it relates what is being sung.
But back to the issues I decided to write this article to discuss, more than ever, especially in the Nigerian music community, it's beginning to appear as though there's a definition of what creativity looks like and everyone just runs with it. I personally see it as the reboxing of Nigerian creativity.
One of my favorite definitions of creativity is the ability of human beings to use imagination or original ideas to create something, so if you think about it, if every music video or piece of art begins to look alike and have the same imagery then it's safe to say creativity is lacking.
Adekunle Gold in party no dey Stop music video
Creative expression has been and will always be a good thing, but it's assumed the endgame is to create an experience and in the case of a music video, elevate the overall experience of a song.
For example, this song clearly was crafted to be a party jam, and here are some of the lyrics to back it up;
"Party no dey stop when we pop
Yeah we up
Plenty of spending like it’s nothing
Party no dey stop when we pop
Yeah we up
Plenty spending like it’s nothing
Yeah we up
Plenty of spending like it’s nothing
Party no dey stop when we pop
Yeah we up
Plenty spending like it’s nothing
See me I no dey worry cause Oluwa don co-sign me
I no dey put mind for wetin no concern kind of slow but I'm always on timing Ahn"
I no dey put mind for wetin no concern kind of slow but I'm always on timing Ahn"
The same can be said about Tiwa Savage's Stamina video, which some people have likened to a knockoff of Beyonce's brown skin girl video. Even weirder was the fact this music video has a child in it, meanwhile these are the lyrics that have sexual innuendos.
Tiwa savage in the stamina video
Stamina stamina
You go need more stamina
Oya raga mọ mi now
Make I know say you cover me now
So many things I can do to you
If only you give me the permission to
Give me the permission to
Show you the thing I carry
So while we're exploring more creatively, I would hate for us to fall into a creative box, that rather than improving the experience of a song creatively just seems weird.