The artist recently released a new single titled Badminton, a high-energy melodic track that has been gaining traction online. The song builds on the emotional and atmospheric style CKay has become known for, blending warm instrumentals with introspective lyrics.
Speaking in an interview with CNN’s Larry Madowo in Lagos, the singer explained that his genre, Emo-Afrobeats, is defined by a mix of emotional chord progressions, minor scales and layered instrumentation.
“Using emotional chords, minor scales a lot, very warm ambient synthesizers and instruments like guitars — electric or acoustic — keyboards, all these things together with very poetic, deep and emotional lyrics gives you Emo-Afrobeats,” he said.
Beyond the Afrobeats Label
Beyond promoting his sound, CKay also joined other African artists calling for a broader understanding of African music styles.
According to him, the global tendency to group different sounds under the single label “Afrobeats” oversimplifies the continent’s musical diversity.
“Afrobeats is a convenient term. I won’t say I love the term… I think over time I started to see the effects of that overgeneralization,” he said.
The debate over the label has also been raised by artists such as Burna Boy, who describes his style as Afrofusion, and Wizkid, who blends Afrobeats with R&B and Afropop influences.
CKay compared the label to describing all music from Western countries simply as “Western music,” noting that Africa’s musical diversity reflects its wide range of cultures and traditions.
“Africa has over 50 countries, more than 50 cultures. Nigeria alone has over 36 ethnic groups with different languages, food, music and rhythm,” he said.
Global Breakthrough with ‘Love Nwantiti’
The singer previously achieved international recognition with his hit song Love Nwantiti, which became a global sensation during the COVID-19 pandemic after its instrumental chorus went viral on social media.
The track made CKay the first artist to top the Billboard Afrobeats Songs chart in April 2022 and went on to spend more than 52 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 3.
In December 2025, the song surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, making CKay the first Nigerian solo artist to achieve that milestone on the platform.
“I knew it would be successful, but I didn’t know it would be that successful,” he said, describing the scale of the song’s global reception as a pleasant surprise.
Looking Ahead
Now 30, CKay says he remains focused on building his legacy through innovation and consistency. The artist views himself as a trailblazer who aims to shape the direction of African music rather than follow existing trends.
“I try to create trends, not follow them. I try to create sounds, not copy them,” he said, adding that he hopes his work will advance African culture and inspire future generations.
As he continues to release genre-blending music and advocate for wider recognition of Africa’s musical diversity, CKay says his goal is to be remembered as someone who helped push the sound of the continent to new global heights.