EVENTS Hits and Misses
EVENTS Hits and Misses at Headies Awards 2022 By Praise David Credit: Adekunle Fajana The 2022 Headies Award ceremony has come and gone, we would be discussing five of the most important moments from the historic event. American entertainer, Anthony Andersen alongside Nigerian actress, Osas Ighodaro served as the hosts of the 2022 Headies Award ceremony on Sunday. The 15th edition of the historic award ceremony took place at the Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Eleven years after Wizkid delivered his first success at the Headies award under the tutelage of Nigerian music icon, Banky W, he has gone on to become the most decorated musician in the history of the award show amassing twenty plaques to his name as of today, Monday, September 5, 2022. Despite the initially negative reaction from cynics after it was announced that the award ceremony would take place outside of Nigeria, the event received applause from Nigerians and other international viewers who recognized the growth and impressive development of the award organizers. Headies is renowned as the award ceremony designed to not only celebrate the excellence of Nigerian creatives and musicians, the award was also established to help kickstart the career of flegedling artistes. Singers such as Wizkid, Davido, Omah Lay, to name a few who emerged as “Next Rated Artist” a few years ago have gone on to achieve international recognition. Though the 2022 Headies Award wasn’t perfect, the vision and intention of the award organizers is commendable. What did they do wrong and what was right, let’s analyse five moments from the show that was either a hit or miss. 40 www.glamsquadmagazine.com
EVENTS Anthony Andersen fails to relate with the Nigerian audience Buju has the last laugh in rivalry with Ruger On Sunday, Daniel Benson who is better known as Buju (or BNXN) emerged as the winner of the “Next Rated Artiste” category. He gained a massive point ahead of his archrival and social media boxing partner, Ruger, at the award. Buju emerged as the winner after beating the likes of Ayra Starr, Zinoleesky, Lojay and Ruger. With the award, Buju goes home with the 2022 Bentley Bentayga. Anthony Andersen, an award winning American actor and movie producer co-hosted the award ceremony alongside Nigerian actress, Osas Ighodaro. Despite being a prolific entertainer, he failed to resonate with his audience who were predominantly from Nigeria and other African countries, including Ghana and South Africa. While personnel such as Bovi, M.I Abaga, to name a few have hosted the show in previous years, Nigerians think Anthony Andersen was a wrong choice. During his presentation, Andersen made some remarks that would be perceived as condescending and would be seen as disrespectful by both the artistes and the Afrobeat lovers. For instance, Andersen asked, “who is Adekunle Gold?” Yikes, that could have been handled better. Understandably, Andersen is American, hence, he wouldn’t be expected to know much about Afrobeat, African values and culture, albeit, a little bit of research wouldn’t have seen him ask certain questions such as the one above. Without ‘staining Andersen’s white’, South African comedian Trevor Noah would’ve been a better option to host the award show. Noah is of African descent, also, he is more hilarious than Andersen and has interviewed several Nigerian musicians such as Burna Boy in the past. Additionally, Andersen failed to connect with his co-host, Osas Ighodaro throughout the night. They failed to sync and reach a common ground especially when Osas was trying to promote absent musicians, however, Andersen was incessant on making some derogatory jokes. The Headies award organizers should do a better job in the coming year. Andersen totally missed it this year. www.glamsquadmagazine.com 41
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