Simi

Simi does not need an introduction in the Nigerian music space, because she has built an empire for herself in the industry. In an industry that had hitherto been led by the male folk, it was a major feat for Simi to break into it and still hold sway many years after – The release of the “Simisola” album is a major factor that brought to the fore once more, the amazing personality called Simi. It is important to note that the album shouldn’t be passed off as a mere work of art because it was a “no bare” musical output that further let us into the world of one of the greatest songstress of our time, Simi. Interestingly, she chose to use her name “Simisola” as the title, which further buttresses the fact that she was intentional about the album – Simisola is the second studio album from Simi and comes nearly a decade after her first album. Simi had released her debut album “Ogaju” and made a major comeback into the Nigerian music space nine years later when she released her second album, “Simisola” on September 8, 2017. Oscar, Sess, Vtek, and SeyiKeyz produced the album. It was nominated for Album of the Year in the 2018 edition of the Nigerian Entertainment Awards and went on to win the Album of the Year in the 2018 edition of The Headies.

I’ve had the album on repeat all day. Before the album was released I always wondered the inspiration behind ‘Omo Charlie Champagne’ Now I know and I am absolutely blown away. The album was released to commemorate her late father Engineer Charles Oladele Ogunleye who passed away in 2014. Charlie is a popular nickname for people named Charles hence Omo Charlie Champagne (Daughter of Charlie Champagne). May his Soul Rest In Peace. Simi blessed her fans with a new album “Omo Charlie Champagne Vol. 1” the day which also marks her 31st birthday. This new album, “Omo Charlie Champagne Vol. 1” is Simi’s third studio project after “Ogaju” in 2008 and “Simisola” in 2017. Not every artist drops an album on his or her birthday, it takes careful planning to bring about a thing like that. On Friday, April 19, 2019, talented singer Simi dropped her third studio album Omo Charlie Champagne. The album name had a ring to it and I was immediately fascinated by it. Simi is easily one of the most gifted voices we have in the Nigerian music industry. She has two studio albums Ogaju and Simisola to her credit. Before the album dropped, she had released three different singles including Ayo, Mind Your Bizness featuring Falz. The album contains 13 tracks, spanning across different genres like contemporary R&B, Ballad, Afro-fusion, Afropop, Dancehall. Simi shows her vocal dexterity on this album. She proves that her sound is constantly evolving while one thing remains: making quality music is her forte.

In the past when you go to a show or an event there are people who are used to entertain guests. When a popular song is played, they come to the stage to perform and appear as if they are in fact the owners of those songs. Their performances are usually very exceptional that if you're not careful you may begin to convince yourself that maybe this guy or this girl actually is the original owner of this song. These people are called mimers and in those days they were really loved and idolized. There were also those who would in fact sing along to those popular songs and do it so well that it becomes so real to you. While it requires talent, it is a lot easier to sing along to a song or maybe have your own version of a song that has already been created by someone than actually creating one yourself. That is why there are a lot of people who are great singers and vocalists but are not able to transform that talent to being full-fledged musicians. These days mimers are no longer popular, or at least I no longer see them at events and shows. However, there are now those who re-create popular songs and most times add some flavours to it, by either changing the lyrics or adding some melody and beat to it but still following the original melody and beat of the song. Songs made out of this process are called covers, and many music enthusiasts are doing it. In fact, so many wonderful musicians have emerged from making covers of popular songs they love, that they have acquired fans of their own who look forward to their next cover of a popular song. One of these is Nigeria's Simi. After releasing an album which didn't see the light of day in 2008, Simi resorted to making covers of popular songs she loved. In 2014 she released another EP (Extended Play) she titled Restless consisting of five covers of songs namely, "Apologize" by OneRepublic which she titled "20nine", "Man Down" by Rihanna which she titled "Range Rover", "Grenade" by Bruno Mars which she titled "Misbehviour", "Halo" by Beyonce which she titled "Why You Forget", and "Set Fire To The Rain" by Adele which she titled "Not Okay.” These songs received favorable critical acclaim and placed Simi on the spot. Would she be able to maintain this new fame and popularity of hers if she starts to sing her own songs now? Or is just going to continue making more covers of popular songs and be known as that girl who makes really cool covers? Simi chose the former. She decided to be a full-fledged musician again. But how would she fair?

This album is nothing short of a typical Simisola Ogunleye's signature trademark in terms of songwriting. Simi is a lady we all watched grow in the industry from her debut album dubbed Ogaju in 2008. Although the album and she alike didn't gain popularity, I gave it a listen a few years back, I fell in love with her song “Tiff” and “E No Go Funny". All her works during all these times were just pretty decent. Her first single before the album’s release was “Jamb Question”, which then popular Nigerian Rapper Falz appeared in the video. The song alone turned a lot of heads, as it was a comical reference to a popular street slogan in the country at the time. With the release of the visuals to the song, she garnered much more attention and she immediately became everyone’s sweetheart, she released another track “Love Don't Care” and this further cemented her emergence in the industry. At this point, we knew Simi wasn't here to play. Following the successful reception of these two tracks, she further released two more tracks “Smile For Me”, and “Joromi” off her album that was scheduled to drop in September 2017. These two tracks served as the John the Baptist that prepared people for the coming of the bigger one, in this instance being the album that was self titled Simisola. This album was well received with accolades as it debuted at number 5 on the Billboard World Albums Chart. After this, Simi became a recognized voice in the industry, known mainly for her silky voice and soft music. Two years later after the success of her second album and having enjoyed many features, she announced the release date of her third studio album titled Omo Charlie Champagne. This announcement was passed across on all her social media pages and her fans couldn't even wait for the release date to encroach. Finally, on the release date she explained the story behind the album's title as a form of dedication and remembrance to her late dad whose name was Charles Ogunleye, nicknamed Charlie Champagne. The daughter of Charlie Champagne is the transliteration of the album name in English. The album consists of 13 tracks, 4 features, which include A-List artistes such as Patoranking, Maleek Berry, Falz, and Adekunle Gold. Based on my opinion, I feel the feature with Patoranking was somewhat unnecessary and should be tagged as a mistake. Why? I'd explain. Patoranking is widely known for his dancehall, energy reverberating, reggae style. Simi on the other end is an R&B, ballad kind of singer who is extremely soft and easy on her songs so this was basically them trying to put fire and ice in a bottle and expecting a peaceful co-existence. This is like trying to force the Mother of dragons to Lord over the people of Winterfell or trying to tell her to bend the knee to Jon Snow in order to please the people of the North. Who was supposed lead this track? Simi did well starting it and for a moment, she was doing so well on a dance-hall song with her silky, snowy voice, and then Boom! Patoranking stomped in with fire razing everywhere and anywhere, just when he was trying to feel in control, Simi enters again with snows flake everywhere again, all of which made the song's harmony to be found wanting. The Simi and Adekunle Gold collaboration gave it another go, making it their 4th duet together. This was their second one since they became a legally married couple earlier this year. This song is like a sequel to the immediate past duet, “Promise”, a profession of love for each other, whilst this one is more off a vow by both of them to standby one another, regardless of their actions and whatever curve ball life throws at them. This album is sure to take home awards in the coming Soundcity MVP awards, unless of course something new pops up in Nigeria from the likes of Nonso Amadi and other R&B artistes in the Industry.