The winners for the 53rd National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Image Awards have been announced in a ceremony on Saturday night with Wizkid emerging as the winner of “Outstanding International Song” of the Year category.
In a keenly contested category highly dominated by Nigerian elite musicians, the Grammy Award winning Nigerian artiste, who was nominated for his commercial success “Essence” (feat. Tems and Justin Bieber), competed against fellow Nigerians Fireboy DML’s ‘Peru’, Tiwa Savage’s Brandy-assisted ‘Somebody’s Son’, Omah Lay’s ‘Understand’ and the only Ghanaian KiDi’s “Touch It”.
“Essence”, produced by P2J and Legendury Beatz, was released on 9 April 2021, as the fourth single from Wizkid’s fourth studio album, Made in Lagos. The “sensual” song sees the Wizkid and Tems express their desire for each other. A music video was released on 9 April 2021, shot in Accra, Ghana. “Essence” is the first Nigerian song in history to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard Global 200.
A remix of “Essence” featuring additional vocals from Canadian singer Justin Bieber was released on 13 August 2021, and appears on the deluxe edition of Made in Lagos.
In 2021, WizKid chalked success at the NAACP Image Awards when Beyoncé’s “Brown Skin Girl,” featuring the Afrobeats star, won the Outstanding Music Video/Visual Album Award. Last year, Tiwa Savage was also shortlisted for her single “Temptation”, featuring English singer Sam Smith, in the Outstanding International Song category.
