''Blessed'' is the third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by Nigerian singer Flavour. It was released on October 18, 2012, by 2nite Entertainment. The album features guest appearances from Wizboyy and

Fally Ipupa Fally Ipupa N'simba (born 14 December 1977), known professionally as Fally Ipupa, is a Congolese musician and dancer. Often referred to as the "Prince of Rumba", he is known for his tenor vocals and his fusion of contemporary and traditional ...

. Its production was handled by Masterkraft, Wizzboy, Selebobo, MJay, Del B, J Stunt and

Dekumzy Derek Osonwa, professionally known as Dekumzy, is a Nigerian record producer, musician, composer, pianist, and songwriter. His first major production was the album of the Duo "Resonance" titled "Chinweike" in 2006. Since then he has gone forth ...

. ''Blessed'' was supported by the singles " Kwarikwa (Remix)", "Baby Oku", "Shake", "Chinny Baby" and "Ada Ada". Flavour celebrated the album's release at 2nite, a night club he opened in

Enugu State Enugu () verbally pronounced as "Enụgwụ" by the Igbo indigenes is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by the states of Benue and Kogi, Ebonyi State to the east and southeast, Abia State to the so ...

. He invited

Tiwa Savage Tiwatope Omolara Savage (born 5 February 1980), known professionally as Tiwa Savage (), is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and actress. Savage sings in English, Nigerian Pidgin and Yoruba; her music is a blend of afrobeats, R&B, afropop, p ...

Iyanya Iyanya Onoyom Mbuk (born 31 October 1986), better known as Iyanya, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Calabar, he rose to fame after winning the first season of ''Project Fame West Africa''. In 2009, Iyanya released his de ...

Kcee KCEE is a commercial radio station located in Tucson, Arizona, broadcasting on 690 AM. KCEE airs a Christian format and is owned by Calvary Chapel of Tucson, Inc. By day, KCEE is powered at 250 watts; as 690 AM is a clear channel frequency ...

and

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to attend the club's grand opening.

Singles

The remix of " Kwarikwa", which features vocals by Congolese singer

, was released as the album's lead single on July 31, 2012. The song's accompanying music video was shot and directed in the United States by Godfather Production. While most of the video was filmed at different residential locations, several sequences with Fally Ipupa were shot in a studio. Masterkraft made a cameo appearance in the video. The album's second single, "Baby Oku", was released on October 5, 2012. The accompanying music video for the song was filmed in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

by Antwan Smith. At the beginning of the video, several sky scrapers were shown and the caption "Somewhere off the Coast of Miami" was also shown. The Del B-produced track "Shake" was released on December 24, 2012, as the album's third single. Its music video was shot in South Africa by Godfather Production. On February 27, 2013, Flavour released "Chinny Baby" as the album's fourth single. The accompanying music video for the song was shot and directed in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

by Trademark Pictures. The album's fifth single, "Ada Ada", was released on June 30, 2013, along with its music video. The song peaked at number 14 on Afribiz's Top 100 Music Chart. Musically, it celebrates traditional weddings across Africa and showcases the beauty of Africa, particularly African women. Nigerian actor John Okafor and reality TV star Nwachukwu Uti made cameo appearances in the video. The music video for "Ada Ada" won Video of the Year, Best High Life Video, Best Indigenous Concept and Best Use of Costumes at the 2013 Nigeria Music Video Awards (NMVA).

Critical reception

''Blessed'' received mixed reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

. Ogagus Sakpaide of

TooXclusive tooXclusive is a Nigerian music and review website. Launched in 2010 by Olutayo "Tyler" Duncan Sotubo. This website is notable for organizing its yearly tooXclusive Online Music Awards. They pride their establishment as the number one source f ...

awarded the album 3.5 stars out of 5, acknowledging Flavour for "taking the bulls by the horn and diving deeper into the ocean of highlife". Conversely, Sakpaide said some critics may described the record as "tiresome, beer palour-ish and too eastern". Ayomide Tayo of ''

Nigerian Entertainment Today The Netng (Nigerian Entertainment Today) also known as ''NET'' is an online entertainment news organisation based in Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estima ...

'' granted the album 3 stars out of 5, criticizing it for sounding "a tad bit repetitive". Tayo acknowledged Flavour for showing dexterity, but ended the review saying the album has "a slight been here-heard that feeling."

Accolades

''Blessed'' was nominated for Album of the Year and Best R&B/Pop Album at

The Headies 2013 The Headies 2013 was the 8th edition of The Headies. It was held on 26 December 2013, at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos. The show was hosted by Tiwa Savage and Dr SID. Olamide was the biggest awardee of the night, winning three awards from seven n ...

. It was also nominated for Best Album of the Year at the

2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards The 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards took place on 31 August 2014, at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The eligibility period was from March 2013 to March 2014. In April 2014, the NEA reviewing committee began collec ...

Track listing

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2012 albums Albums produced by Masterkraft (producer) Flavour N'abania albums Igbo-language albums 2012 in Nigerian music Albums produced by Del B Albums produced by Selebobo Albums produced by Jaystuntz