The buzz that has trailed Tiwa Savage’s release of the video for her single, ‘Wanted’, is unrivalled by any she has ever had, not even when she had her dream wedding in Dubai. And much of the buzz is a backlash, except you count that from her husband, Tunji Balogun (a.k.a Tee-Billz), and her counterpart musician, Peter Okoye, one of the P-Square twins.
Tiwa Savage
As prelude to the release, Tiwa, barely out of her honeymoon, gave a fan much more than he bargained for on the stage of The Trek concert by Star. Little did many know that this was just to prepare them for what was coming. Yet, when that came, many were still unprepared.
The first to fire a salvo, as is always the case, was filmmaker, Charles Novia, who took the video to the cleaners. He condemned the former X-Factor contestant’s move to imitate western artistes such as Rihanna, Beyonce, Lady Gaga and others. He went on to explain that “Rihanna exposes her breasts and booty, and a mad fever grips almost every female act in Nigeria to also show their own …!”
Novia said Nigeria is not America, among many other things.
In the video by the London-based director, Moe Musa, the ‘Kele Kele’ singer can be seen twerking and dancing seductively while caressing her body. At one point, Tiwa crawls on the floor and also bends over to show off her assets. It is one video that will continue to draw attention.
The video has led some to conclude that the 34-year-old singer was not behaving like a married woman. But Tiwa is not without supporters, among which is her husband, Tee-Billz, who described the video as art.
He said the video was similar to those of the best international superstars.
Also on her ring side is Peter Okoye of P-Square, who compared Tiwa with Beyonce and said JayZ’s wife is worshipped while Tiwa is not. He went on to share a shirtless picture of himself on twitter.com and tweeted that it is showbiz where you flaunt it if you’ve got it.
Among the first to support Tiwa was Uti Nwachukwu, who tweeted “newsflash: if you are not going to constructively critique Tiwa Savage’s video then you can tick imbecile on your ID forms. Dead hypocrites”. He further stated, “You have not done anything in your life to make your family, town, state or country proud and you go online and bash a hard working musician”.
Tiwa herself has since fired back at critics that the video was not aimed at young children because it was rated over 18.
That Tiwa has got a really terrific body is not the only reason there has been a buzz around her, since the release of her ‘Wanted’ video penultimate week. The said buzz is what many an artiste want, to stay in the consciousness of the people, the fans, who are after all the mainstay of an artiste.
