''Made in Lagos'' is the fourth studio album by Nigerian singer

Wizkid Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun (born 16 July 1990), known professionally as Wizkid, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. A prominent figure in the modern-day Afrobeats music scene, Wizkid is regarded as one of the biggest and most influential Afri ...

. It was released on 30 October 2020 by Starboy Entertainment and

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

. The album features guest appearances from

Burna Boy Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu (born 2 July 1991), known professionally as Burna Boy, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer. He rose to stardom in 2012 after releasing "Like to Party", the lead single from his debut studio album, '' L.I ...

Skepta Chief Joseph Olaitan Adenuga Jr. (born 19 September 1982), known professionally as Skepta, is a British-Nigerian grime MC, rapper and record producer. Alongside his younger brother Jme, he briefly joined Roll Deep before they became founding ...

H.E.R. Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson (born June 27, 1997), known professionally as H.E.R. (pronounced "her", an acronym for "Having Everything Revealed"), is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actress. She has received several awards includin ...

Ella Mai Ella Mai Howell (born 3 November 1994) is an English singer-songwriter. Her musical career began at London's British and Irish Modern Music Institute in 2014, during which time she auditioned as part of a trio on the 11th season of ''The X Fa ...

Tay Iwar Austin Iornongu Iwar (born 9 June 1997), better known by his stage name Tay Iwar, is a Nigerian neo soul singer, songwriter, record producer, composer and sound engineer. Iwar signed a licensing deal in 2018 with Soulection, and a publishing dea ...

, Projexx,

Tems Temilade Openiyi (born 11 June 1995), known professionally as Tems, is a Nigerian singer. She rose to prominence after she was featured on Wizkid's 2020 single "Essence," which reached the top ten of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 after the releas ...

Damian Marley Damian Robert Nesta "Jr. Gong" Marley (born 21 July 1978) is a Jamaican DJ, singer, lyricist and rapper. He is the recipient of four Grammy Awards. Early life, education and family Damian Marley is the youngest son of reggae musician Bob Marle ...

, Terri and was executive produced by

P2J Richard Olowaranti Mbu Isong (born 11 July 1987), professionally known as P2J is a Nigerian-British producer from London, England. He is best known for his work with the likes of Beyoncé, Wizkid, Stormzy, FKA Twigs, Burna Boy, Tems, Doja Cat & ...

. The deluxe edition was released on 27 August 2021. It features additional guest appearances from Buju and

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

. In support of the album, Wizkid embarked on the Made in Lagos Tour (2021–2022). The album received a nomination at the

64th Annual Grammy Awards The 64th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 3, 2022. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 2020, to September 30, ...

for Best Global Music Album.

Background

In late 2019, Wizkid released the singles "Joro" and "Ghetto Love", initially teased them as promotional singles for ''Made in Lagos''. On 6 December 2019, Wizkid's label

Starboy Entertainment Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun (born 16 July 1990), known professionally as Wizkid, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. A prominent figure in the modern-day Afrobeats music scene, Wizkid is regarded as one of the biggest and most influential Afric ...

released the EP ''

Soundman Vol. 1 ''Soundman Vol.1'' is a debut EP by Nigerian record label Starboy Entertainment. It was released on 6 December 2019 without any announcement. The 7-track EP primarily features vocals by Wizkid, along with assistance from Chronixx, Blaq Jerzee, K ...

'', centering mainly on Wizkid, and containing features from

Chronixx Jamar Rolando McNaughton (born 10 October 1992), popularly known as Chronixx, is a Jamaican reggae artist. His stage name replaced the name "Little Chronicle" which he was given because of his father, the singer "Chronicle".Jackson, Kevin (2014) ...

, and a variety of other artists. It was cited as a marketing strategy to test the Afro-European market for ''Made in Lagos''.

Release and promotion

''Made in Lagos'' was initially set to be released on October 15. The album launch was later postponed until 30 October due to the Nigerian

End SARS #EndSARS is a decentralised social movement, and series of mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria. The slogan calls for the disbanding of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious unit of the Nigerian Police with a long ...

protests nationwide. Wizkid promoted ''Made in Lagos'' with his Made in Lagos Tour, which started on 10 September 2021, performing in New York City, Boston, Toronto, and Los Angeles.

Singles

Wizkid released a collaboration with American singer,

, titled "

Smile A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses ...

" on 16 July 2020 as the albums lead single. The song made its debut at No. 3 in the first week of launch of the

UK Afrobeats Singles Chart The UK Afrobeats Singles Chart is a record chart compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company (OCC) to determine the 20 most popular singles in the afrobeats genre. The chart is compiled by the OCC from digital downloads, phy ...

, and was featured on

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

's 2020 summer playlist. On 17 September, Wizkid released the single "No Stress". "

Essence Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...

" featuring

, was released as the albums fourth single on 9 April 2021. On 13 August 2021 a remix of the song, featuring Canadian singer

, was released. The song became the highest-charting single on the billboard Hot 100 by an African act peaking at number nine on Billboard Hot 100. "Essence" was also the first Nigerian song in history to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the ''Billboard'' Global 200.

Critical reception

''Made in Lagos'' received favorable reviews for its cohesive themes, particularly ruling out the flaws on Wizkid's previous works, ''

Sounds from the Other Side ''Sounds from the Other Side'' (abbreviated as ''SFTOS'') is the third studio album and major label debut by Nigerian singer Wizkid. Described by the singer as an EP, the album contains songs that were recorded between 2014 and 2017. It was releas ...

'' and ''

''. ''Pulse Nigeria'' wrote: "On ''Made in Lagos'' he promotes culture and globalisation, with the album also containing themes of love, focus, goodwill, gratitude and grace. He implements the use of live instrumentation on ''Made in Lagos'' and explores a range of genres. Joey Akan of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' stated that "Wizkid balances the formula to unite home and abroad with big pop songs that can compete across cultures and an underlying theme that embraces his roots".

Year-end rankings

Awards

At the 27th annual South African Music Awards, ''Made in Lagos'' received a nomination for the Rest of Africa Award. It also received a nomination at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Global Music Album. At the 7th annual

African Entertainment Awards USA The African Entertainment Awards USA (also referred to as AEAUSA), an annual event consisting of mostly music awards. History The event is composed of 30 categories (22 music & 8 non-music) and the 1st edition of the African Entertainment Awards ...

in 2021, ''Made in Lagos'' won Album Of The Year at the ceremony. ''Made in Lagos'' Deluxe Edition received two nominations at 15th ceremony of

The Headies The Headies (originally called the Hip Hop World Awards) is a music awards show established in 2006 by the ''Hip Hop World Magazine'' of Nigeria to recognize outstanding achievements in the Nigerian music industry. The annual ceremony features pe ...

, for Album of the Year, and Best Afrobeat Pop Album (Nigeria), a new category.

Commercial performance

Within one week of release, ''Made in Lagos'' broke several African streaming records; it became the first African album to debut on the Spotify Global Album chart, debuting within the top ten. The album surpassed 100 million streams across five platforms nine days after release, a rare milestone for Afro-pop artists. It debuted at number 15 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

with over 4,100

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...

s and number 80 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 with over 10,000

s. Following the release of the deluxe edition, the album sold an additional 17,000 units in the United States, peaking at number 28 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. It has spent over 90 weeks on the Billboard world albums' chart.

Background

Release and promotion

Singles

Critical reception

Year-end rankings

Awards

Commercial performance

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

References