Still on the Matter: Shut up, the Headies is not Soundcity Awards’ mate

by Roqeebah Olaoniye

The more accolades we have set up to recognize the outstanding work put in by outstanding artistes and everyone else that works tirelessly to build a music industry worthy of note, the better.

That’s the spirit with which we welcome ‘newcomer’, Soundcity MVP Awards Festival which made a debut on the 29th of December. And after all the time their Soundcity Music Video Awards spent away from the scene, and Soundcity’s excellent presence on the Nigerian music scene generally, it would have been a plain absurdity if Thursday’s show was not at least up to par with current awards show standards. The show was a success in many respects.

*Enters Hip TV’s Headies a.k.a current industry standards. Lucky enough for Soundcity, the current industry standards had dropped the bar just low enough the previous week.

The final verdicts would just be that: Wow! Headies had a very bad outing in 2016. Soundcity MVP Awards Festival has a lot of promise and we cannot wait for the next edition. Separately. No comparison. Except that we started to see comments like this:

First of all, TwitterNG, you all are just rude (and no, not in the cool way).

This is the misconception we’ll like to correct before we all move on and act like that is the new status quo. Soundcity is neither the same nor better than the Headies. Not yet.

10 years of showing up consistently is not to be toyed with

The Headies has been here through sun and rain and everything that doing anything worthwhile in Nigeria has to stomach for 10 years and they have remained. The editions successfully executed year after year with or without sponsorship. No, that is not to be toyed with or dismissed just because of a promise. Of something better and more exciting but a mere promise nonetheless. It’s not real until it has fulfilled this promise and that will take more than one edition. But the Headies is real and has been for years.

It’s not just an award show

As we have already said, it is a gracious show of support for the stars. Of support for the new ones. The Headies has nurtured the diamonds in the rough for so long now and to be real, the Next Rated award remains the most coveted award for anyone who is not yet “there” in the Nigerian music industry. It is a show of support for artistes who have been doing so much with or without the necessary recognition that should follow and will remain an honourable award for anyone who still has ways to go.

But that’s not all, The Headies somehow finds the space and time to also continue supporting the older stars. For goodness sake, Salawa Abeni was on this year’s red carpet. And to put The Remedies back on one stage?

Anyone with money can host an award but what Ayo Animashaun and his team do is a labour of love – beyond the glitz and glamour. It takes passion and dedication and they may not always get it right but they must still be commended for doing what’s mostly a thankless job.

Let’s take a quick break to scan through the categories 

Best recording of the year? Producer of the year? Best vocal performance? Lyricist? Next rated? Best alternative song? Song of the year? These guys have not only been around for so long, they have ensured that all the bases are covered and everyone is included too – musicians, producers, performers, alternative acts, video directors, songwriters too.

These aren’t people who need internship. They need interns to make sure that the guests are triple-confirmed and ensure all the bases are covered to guarantee impeccable live broadcast.

Finally, significance…

The question is not how relevant is The Headies? Or who fought over what award this year? The question is: “for now, who Soundcity MVP don epp?”

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