Tiwa Savage rejects claims Afrobeats is declining and says the genre keeps growing globally.
She believes chart success and worldwide shows prove African music remains strong and unstoppable.
Nigerian music star Tiwa Savage has dismissed suggestions that Afrobeats is currently going through its worst era in decades.
Some major industry figures, including music promoter Paulo and DJ Big N, recently claimed that the popularity of Afrobeats is dropping both locally and internationally.
But speaking at the Unstoppable Africans event, Savage insisted that Afrobeats is still growing faster than ever and remains a major force on global stages.
She argued that chart success, rising tours, and increasing cultural influence prove that the genre is far from declining.
Savage also reflected on how Afrobeats has transformed the global image of Africa, noting that she once felt unhappy about being African while growing up in London. She said the rise of Afrobeats has helped her embrace her identity with pride.
According to her, the achievements so far are even more remarkable because the genre developed with little support or solid structure.
She said: “Afrobeats is the fastest growing genre in the world. We kind of created it with nothing; no support, no infrastructure, no real belief even from our own people initially. I remember growing up in London and I was not happy being African. But now I’m so proud because of how big Afrobeats is growing.”
Savage explained that the genre has already passed the stage where some people believed it would fade after brief attention.
She continued: “There was a conversation at one point that Afrobeats is going to have its 15 minutes of fame and then fades away. But we are still here. We are not slowing down. In fact, we are filling out stadiums, and we are getting the biggest songs on the charts right now.”
The singer added that the global presence of Africans continues to push the music forward.
“I don’t know how true this is, but apparently one in every four black persons is a Nigerian or an African. So, we are not going anywhere. As much as they are trying to quiet us down, the music is not going anywhere. We are Africans and we are unstoppable,” she remarked.
