HEADIES 2019, REALITY VS THE POWER OF A DREAM
Just like that, the Headies 2019 has come and gone and all we're left with are memories. Memories of the glitz and glamour, the fanfare, and everything else associated with Nigeria's supposed biggest and most prestigious award ceremony. Supposed, because the event of 19th October, 2019 held at the EKo Convention center was a colossal failure if we're being honest. For an award ceremony that seeks to reward talent and creativity, the organizers seemed to be bereft of any ingenuity of their own.
The first place they got it all wrong was in the choice of the hosts, Nancy Isime is a fantastic TV presenter and her hosting the event has actually been a long time coming. I remember her hosting the Red carpet show at last year's event, and she definitely brought her A-game to the main stage on the night. All the organizers should have done was to find someone who would complement the abrasiveness in her pitch and delivery. Someone humorous without necessarily being a comedian would have complemented her seamlessly. With Reminisce, there was no spark, no jibes thrown at each other, no teasing. Their performance was ordinary, despite Nancy's best efforts, the only highlight being their dazzling outfits.
To more serious issues, the Headies is generally considered as a legacy award, one for the history books. Any artiste who has graced that stage to receive the 21 karat plaque can safely consider themselves A-lists. However, this legacy is becoming increasingly questionable in the face of such ineptitude as witnessed on the award night. What, with award presenters missing in action, delay in sourcing winning envelopes and mix-ups in nominees list? For instance, Brymo during the voting periods, was nominated for Recording of the Year and Best Male Vocal Performance for ‘Heya’ off his ‘Oso’ album, only for the organizers to replace both his nominations with 'Olarewaju' during the awards ceremony.
What is an award ceremony without memorable performances? In the build up to this year's event, my DStv decoder has been basically locked in on channel 324, reliving the awesome memories from memorable performances from previous editions and I couldn't help but be hyped up to witness more amazing performances this year. To say I was brutally disappointed will be putting it mildly; the harried performances from Styl-Plus and Sunny Neji were at best a weak attempt at revisiting the evergreen. Duncan Mighty's performance left me feeling more confused than impressed, the only performance worth any commendation was from Wurld with his beautiful renditions of his soothing melodies, 'Wishes and Butterflies' and 'Trobul' otherwise the other performances were shabbily done including biggest winner on the night Teni. Please refer to 9ice's rendition of his hit classic 'Gongo Aso' during the 2008 awards, or the late Ras Kimono's cameo during Aramide's performance as well as Vector's performance during the 2015 awards to have a clear idea of what I'm saying.
There were few positives to take away from the night though, the stage setup and lighting was top notch to be honest, that's why I didn't doubt Paul O's assertion that the stage set up cost 200 million. For that amount, the stage should be worthy to host any event of the highest international standards, and it was. Kudos to Ayo Animashaun and his team for going for the best, LiveSpot certainly did an outstanding job. The band was highly impressive, their serenading and energetic performance made up in no small way for all the other lapses and shortcomings encountered on the night.
On the issue of whether they should have changed dates because of WizKid's Starboy music festival in London at the prestigious 02 arena, I honestly feel an award of this caliber shouldn't be fretting about clashing with any other event, instead it should be the other way round. The organizers of the Headies need to get their act together so that subsequently, other event organizers would think twice about sharing a date with them. Again, artists nominated in various categories should be made to commit their physical presence at the awards or at least send a video message in worst case scenarios. The massive absence of nominated artists this year was highly appalling.
The Headies should be more revered, this can only come from proper preparations in terms of logistics, award screening board, inclusive planning and more attention should be paid to the area of performances and stage management. The Headies awards have been ongoing for 13 years and counting, this could only have been due to the power of a dream, one man's dream, and the collective dreams of those who would break the norm and go for gold. Let's relive this dream again next year, but with much fewer mistakes.
Twitter: @Mr_bolaji
