BET Awards 2022: ‘Essence’ Wins Award For Best Collaboration
American Express congratulates BET Awards Best Collaboration Award winners Wizkid, Justin Bieber and Tems for "Essence."
“Essence,” a track from the Made in Lagos album, was already a banger for Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, who is popularly known as Wizkid. But the collaboration with Tems and Bieber propelled it to another level. The remix pushed the single into the top 10 of the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The project also won the NAACP Image Award prize for the outstanding international song in February, 2022.
As a result, Wizkid and Tems rose in popularity and the refrain, “You don’t need no other body,” has become a romantic anthem.
Wizkid, 31, with his distinct, sultry vocals, is one of the biggest stars in Africa. He was born in Lagos, Nigeria and works as a songwriter, who sings Afrobeat, Afropop and dancehall genres, according to DNB Stories Africa.
He has his own music label called Starboy Entertainment. He began his singing career at 11, recording his first song with one of Nigeria's biggest stars, OJB Jezreel. After that, he worked to build his career.
His breakout year was in 2009 when he was featured on "Fast Money, Fast Cars" on M.I.’s Talk About It album, drawing attention to his singing and songwriting skills, according to MTV. That year, he signed onto Banky W's Empire Mates Entertainment, and featured prominently on Banky's "The W Experience" album.
By the age of 20, he released his first singles, "Holla at your Boy," "Gidi Girl," and "Ori Mi" with label mate, Skales. Since then, the hits have kept coming, MTV notes.
For her part, Temilade Openiyi, or Tems, 27, a Nigerian singer, songwriter, and record producer, burst onto the music scene in 2020 when she released her debut EP For Broken Ears. But she gained notoriety when she joined forces with Wizkid on “Essence.” Since then, she has been featured on tracks with Drake and Future. In September 2021, she released her second extended play, If Orange Was a Place, which was produced by GuiltyBeatz.
She also released the single "Crazy Tings," reached number three on the UK Afrobeats Singles Chart, according to NotJustOk.
Twenty-eight-year-old Bieber needs no introduction, but his involvement on the single added crossover appeal of the song to pop audiences. The Canadian singer and songwriter rose to stardom in his youth after his mother posted YouTube clips of him performing, according to Biography. Almost overnight, Bieber went from an unknown, untrained singer to a superstar with a record deal with Usher.
He became a teen idol, releasing My World, which hit stores in November 2009, and sold more than 137,000 copies within a week, the report says. In 2010, Bieber released My World 2.0, which offered his growing fan base 10 new songs. In 2011, he released Never Say Never, and a holiday album, Under the Mistletoe. In 2012, the album Believe sold 374,000 copies in its first week.
With the success of their “Essence” collaboration, Wizkid, Tems, and Bieber have fans waiting for the next big thing.
Watch the video below:
