The secret power of Tiwa Savage: Why people can't stop talking about her

There is something uncanny about Tiwa Savage, the Queen of Afrobeats, who many times has not only lyricised but has also unapologetically proclaimed her epithet, the Number One African Bad Girl, And she continues to own it.

There is something magical about this isale Eko- born and London-trained artiste who, ever since she burst onto the scene with her debut single Kele Kele Love, has continued to wow her teeming fans not just with her melodious music but also with her bad girl persona. And indeed as she proclaims  in that hit single, Savage doesn’t play hide and seek. She doesn’t take half measures.

Indeed, there is something magnetic about Savage, that mass appeal, that charisma, that ability to draw not just people’s attention, but also to intentionally get them talking about her, whether on a positive or negative note. That power to hold people spellbound on and off stage.

Some may say there is nothing special about Savage, that people keep taking about her because she is a celebrity. That is not true.

There is more to it than meets the eye. Savage is not just a celebrity. She is a celebrity of celebrities. She is a star who not just the hoi polloi celebrate but also  the rich and famous, the pious and sinners, the self-righteous and irredeemably bad individuals.

She is a star many look forward to seeing her risque photos cover glossy magazines, even whether she is half or completely nude, sporting designer wears and wristwatches, on a yacht flexing with friends or in a leaked sex video that set the internet on fire last October. Controversial OAP Daddy Freeze famousy described that brief but unforgettable video as “10 powerful seconds.”

Still, what is the secret behind this magnetic personality, the ability to hold people not just spellbound but also to get them to keep taking about her and even liking her when she runs foul of the law?

Runs foul of the law? Savage is an artiste many love to hate. She is also a singer many hate not to love. She is also an artiste many hate to talk about, even when in their closets, they fawn over and gosh about her and secretly wish she was theirs.

The reason Savage has that magnetic pull, that ability to hold people spellbound and get them talking about her, whether they like it or not, is her ability to be herself, to own her life  and story, to shun what the French Existentialist philosopher and writer Jean Paul Sartre calls “bad faith”, that freedom to be who she really is and not pretend to be what she is not.

It is that non-negotiable freedom to be who she really is and to live it, no matter whose ox is gored, to live the artistic life, whose first commandment is to entertain and be honest to one’s self and story is why Savage continues to hold people spellbound. Not many celebrities have that audacity, that courage of conviction. Not many have that do-it-to-your face propensity. And not many know that that is the  secret to her mass appeal.

Not for her the strictures of social conventions and norms. Not for her the self-righteous and hypocritical dictates of social institutions. Not for her the blind loyalty to faith and truths. She is just herself. And that is why many cannot help gravitate towards her.

That explains why she has been able to release hit after hit that speaks to her desire for fulfilled love.That explains why she has been searching for that self that keep getting elusive and doubting in an interpreted and hypocritical society like ours.

That explains why she does the things she does. That explains why she often dresses half-naked. That explains why she has been romantically linked with many other celebrities, though nobody can get a handle on her.

That explains why she called the bluff of that blackmailer who threatened to release her sex video last October: and instead  announced it to the world before the blackmailer could release it.

That explains why she calls herself a bad bitch and Number One African Bad Girl.  That explains why in her latest single Loaded, featuring the equally crazy and street-wise Asake, she reaffirms her identity and bad girl persona. And that indeed explains why she is Savage, the real Savage, the one and only Savage.