Davido Talks Nerves, Nominations, and His Dad’s Support En Route to His First Grammys

Jon Blistein
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
Davido Talks Nerves, Nominations, and His Dad’s Support En Route to His First Grammys

Back in the beginning, Davido used to dream of just wanting “to hear my song on the radio once or twice” — getting to the Grammys was barely a glimmer. But last night the Nigerian American superstar let Rolling Stone tag along as he rolled up to music’s biggest night for the first time, and with three nominations to his name.

“To have transcended to this is just amazing,” Davido said en route to the big show. “Just being nominated, just being recognized alone, is enough to make me proud of myself.”

More from Rolling Stone

Davido has been releasing music for more than a decade, but he really broke out at a global level in 2017 with his album A Good Time and its hit songs, “Fall” and “If.” Last March, he released his fourth studio album, Timeless, which earned a nomination for Best Global Music Album. Additionally, Davido notched a nod for Best Global Music Performance for “Feel” and Best African Music Performance for “Unavailable” featuring Musa Keys. (Unfortunately, however, the musician did not go home with any awards last night.)

During his chat with Rolling Stone, Davido broke down his look — featuring a handmade suit from Frère — copped to some totally reasonable pre-show nerves and spoke about his biggest supporter: His dad.

“I was on the phone with her yesterday, and he was like, ‘Son, no matter what happens, you’re still a legend,’” Davido said. “He’s a very big fan. You know, in the beginning, we had a little scuffle because definitely he wanted me to go to school, but now he’s the biggest fan.”

Davido also touched upon the global rise of African music — and the Recording Academy’s increasing recognition of it — saying he always saw it coming. “Even when I was in school when I used to play African music for my friends that were American, they would love it. I always knew that, given the opportunity to be heard, it would go crazy. Now we have platforms — we’re getting put on playlists, we’re getting put on radio — platforms where people find stuff. I’m just happy that everything’s aligning.”

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ settings: { plugins: { pmcAtlasMG: { iabPlcmt: 1, } } }, playerId: "d762a038-c1a2-4e6c-969e-b2f1c9ec6f8a", mediaId: "2aaf9722-bd87-4f67-8661-30512082269e", }).render("connatix_contextual_player_2aaf9722-bd87-4f67-8661-30512082269e_1"); });

Best of Rolling Stone