Nigerian singer Tiwa Savage has come clean about her past, saying that she was more of a tomboy before she started singing. This delves into her confession that she wasn’t always a hot diva.
She went on to say that she wore loose clothing when she was a foreign songwriter before meeting her ex-husband and manager, Tunji Balogun, better known as Teebillz, who rebranded her.
Savage discussed how Teebillz turned her into a sex symbol after she moved to Nigeria to be a singer on an edition of Joey Akan’s Afrobeats Intelligence show.
Her 2024 single “Wanted” had a breakthrough eroticism, she recalled. The press is saying things like, “She’s not going to be desirable anymore” since I recently got married. She is done. Her moment has passed. Some fresh faces have emerged. “Let me do something crazy,” I thought.
I was being defiant at the time. I thought, “Oh my!” Do you really believe I’ve lost my sexiness? Being sexually explicit wasn’t the point, to be honest. Because, of course, I am not. Being a tomboy is just who I am.
However, Tunji Balogun, also known as TJ, noticed a need in the market and proceeded to advise his client to “go to the gym, start waxing your eyebrows,” among other things. The time has come for you to don wigs. My entire look was transformed by him. In Los Angeles, when we first met, I was very different.
When I was a songwriter, I’d often work in the studio in my t-shirt and baggy pants. He made a direct impact on that. I seriously doubt that he anticipated such a strong reaction. He just suggested that they get an African Beyoncé or Rihanna. “Sure, let’s go ahead and do it,” I said. We returned to Nigeria, but I was still the target of snide comments about my style. Running back to L.A. was the next step.
“I messed up badly. The governor’s wife may have told me I couldn’t come up, or someone might have told me to take off those revealing costumes, so I’d sit backstage during concerts and no one would call me. I am not exaggerating. At one point, “Love Me” couldn’t be shown on television.
It demoralised me. I returned to Nigeria after Bizzle contacted me to inform me that women were adoring me. The tale I’ve told before is that I approached every major label—Storm Records, Mo’Hits, Banky W’s EME—and they all turned me down.