by Jesuseun Adebo

The emergence and evolving of reality shows in Nigeria has been a blessing in more ways than one because it has provided a lot of talented Nigerians a platform to express and showcase their talent to the world, yes it has indeed been a blessing.

Thanks to the sponsorship of major brands and companies, these talented young Nigerians are given the exposure they need to help them get to the next level of their careers even if they do not win the competition. These shows have proven to us how talented we are and how a person’s talents can make them a huge success.

There was a time that being a musician, comedian, actor or dancer was not considered a profitable career and telling your parents and loved ones would be almost tantamount to committing suicide but not anymore, now it has indeed come to pass that “a man’s gift, makes ways for him”.

As much as these shows are a huge stepping stone for a lot of people, like any great thing, there are excesses and disadvantages. Everyone wants to become an artiste and “blow” and thanks to social media, we see the seeming luxury life of celebrities and how they are living large so a people especially young people, think that the way to be successful is to do what they are doing.

There are a lot of people who go for reality shows and competitions that have no business being there, what do you call an individual who is tone deaf belting out a song passionately and confidently or someone who has two left feet trying to dance? I saw one where a man brought his little daughter to a competition to dance, his daughter was a natural dancer but alas he had two left feet and ended up making a fool of himself. I felt so sorry for the little girl because her facial expressions showed that she did not want to be there but she had no choice.

Every time I watch one of those hopefuls turned down at the auditions, I ask myself, “Why would you leave your house to go and disgrace yourself?” I heard someone say one day that maybe it some kind of publicity stunt but I don’t think so because these people end up being hilarious internet trolls and memes.

Not everyone has to be a singer, dancer, comedian or actor and that is okay, we are gifted in various ways, find out what your talents are, sharpen it, become very skilled at it, never stop learning and improving yourself. Now we have people who are celebrated because they are good entertainers, there was a time it wasn’t so, don’t do something because it is what is “selling” at the moment, develop your talent, whatever it is, in time it will pay off in the end.
_____________________________

Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

Jesuseun Adebo is a creative writer. She can be reached on Twitter via @jesuseun5, She blogs at www.jesuseun.wordpress.com

Adebayo Emuleomo