Davido talks new album '5ive,' helping lead the Afrobeats craze

Davido, the Grammy-nominated artist who has multiple 100 million-streamed songs on Spotify and is often credited as playing a vital role in the global expansion of Afrobeats, drops his new album, “5ive,” on Friday.

I call it ‘5ive,’ obviously it's my fifth album. But after I called it ‘5ive,’ I went to go and do more research on the number five and what it entails which is like symbol of hope, grace, change, growth," said Davido. "I feel like this album is not only go to change a lot of things for me, but also gonna change a little things for the culture as well. I feel like this album touches every nick and cranny in the world: like Latin, Caribbean, African, Francophone, French."

Following 2023’s “Timeless,” the 17-track project boasts an international flare with features from Grammy winners Chris Brown and Victoria Monét, as well as Becky G and Afrobeats heavyweights Omah Lay and Victony. Davido began with 80 potential songs, then crowdsourced opinions from family and friends, using a ranking system to help curate the album.

As songs and sounds from Africa are making their way across the globe as Afrobeats is the hot genre of the moment, Davido says he enjoys hearing non-Africans try their hand at it -- but wants to make sure the rightful people get their due.

“I’ll tell you this much: they can’t do it better than us! Like I said all the time, I say this to Chris (Brown) every time we play around, I'm like, ‘Chris, I can't sing R&B like you, but never in your life you can sing Afrobeats like me!" he said. The two joined forces for the hit song "Sensational." Davido continued: "I don't see any problem with it as long as it's done right and everybody's credit is due. I’d rather see them, if they do it, at least come use an African producer type stuff like that, and it’s been done in the past.”