Tiwa Savage Recruits Sam Smith For New Single ‘Temptation’
The Nigerian Afrobeats phenom’s fourth studio album, ‘Celia,’ is due out this Friday on Motown Records.
Nigerian superstar Tiwa Savage has joined forces with UK pop crooner Sam Smith to deliver an Afrobeat-fueled single, “Temptation.”
The song arrives just ahead of Savage’s upcoming fourth studio album, Celia, that’s out this Friday via UMG South Africa/Motown. The song was co-written with Smith and Fireboy DML and produced by London.
Ahead of the release, Smith shared their excitement on social media about the collaboration: “I had so much fun working on this one with the unstoppable and beautiful talent that is Tiwa Savage – thank you for the opportunity.”
The single follows previously released tracks from Celia including “Dangerous Love” and “Koroba,” which made chart history in Nigeria as Savage became the only artist to debut multiple songs in Turntable Charts’ Top 10 in Airplay. The singer was also featured in Beyonce’s The Lion King compilation album, The Gift. In her May of 2020 Billboard cover feature, she was dubbed “Queen of Afrobeats.”
In a recent interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Savage she couldn’t believe the collaboration was actually happening until she heard Smith’s vocals.
“I literally had goosebumps, because we don’t know how amazing Sam is. I was like, ‘Wow, this is incredible,” she told Lowe. “And it just changed the whole face of the project. Because this is really happening for afrobeat, not even just with Tiwa.”
Through the years, Savage’s musical eclecticism has paid off, earning her an abundance of awards and accolades. Since releasing her debut album Once Upon a Time in 2013, which was nominated for Best Album of the Year at the 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards, Savage made history in 2018 by becoming the first female to win the MTV Europe Music Award for Best African Act.
She’s since garnered multiple Channel O Music Video Award nominations, World Music Award nominations, and a slew of nominations from the MTV Africa Music Awards, BET Awards, MOBO Awards, and many more
“Temptation” marks Smith’s second single with a high-profile Nigerian artist. Last month they teamed up with Burna Boy on the soaring new single, “My Oasis.”
Celia is out on August 28 and can be pre-ordered here.
