Takeaways From Davido's Chat With Trevor Noah [Video]

Ahead of his North American tour dubbed 'We Rise By Lifting Others' Davido was hosted by South African comedian Trevor Noah on The Daily Show.

The 10-minute-long interview had the DMW boss talk about performing before a crowd again after the pandemic, his N250 million donations to orphanages across Nigeria, the inspiration behind his latest single 'Stand Strong' and why he titled his North American tour 'We Rise By Lifting Others' 

Below are some of the things he talked about:

Davido

Performing during the pandemic

Speaking about what life was like during the pandemic, Davido said that his favourite part of being a musician is performing and it was really sad to have that part taken away from him.

“My favourite part of being a musician has always been performing and being on the road.

"And for that to be taken away from me, it was really sad. But we are happy that everything is getting back to normal, we can do our full capacity shows and we can have a beautiful crowd like this over there.”

He went on to recount the one time he got into trouble in the United Arab Emirates for getting too close to the crowd who were restricted from getting up from their seats during his performance.

According to Davido, he needed the energy of the crowd because his songs are groovy songs and he couldn't keep up with the boring atmosphere.

“I was out in the UAE and obviously, I'm used to having thousand and thousand of people in the crowd,” he said.

“And they booked us for a show but the restrictions was that they can be at the show but there has to be space at the table but they can't stand up. And my songs were dancing songs.

“I remember performing and it's like they wanna get up but they just look at me.

"I'm like 'Yo, I can't... this is so boring' so I went to the table and I'm telling everybody 'stand up' but they didn't.

“I remember after the show I got in trouble. The promoter got in trouble. I wasn't even meant to get that close.

“When performing, engagement with the crowd is like 80% that gives the artiste the energy. This time when I went back, everybody stood up.”

His N250 million donations to orphanages across Nigeria

The singer made news in November 2021 after he posted his account number on his social media pages, tasking his friends and fans to send him money.

He was able to garner over N200 million in two days as his friends and fans did not disappoint.

In an update, the 'Fia' crooner revealed that he would contribute the N200 million, as well as a personal donation of N50 million, to orphanages.

Speaking on this, he said he asked because he was used to being the one giving people presents and this time, he wanted to put himself first.

According to him, he initially wanted the money to clear his Rolls Royce.

However, when the money got to N200 million, he knew he couldn't keep it even though he was advised to keep it.

Davido said he reached out to his dad and he told him not to keep the money.

“I woke up the next day reflecting. I just reflected on my whole life and how God has blessed me so much.

"We decided as a family and team to donate all $600,000 to orphanages across Nigeria,” he said.

The father of three mentioned that the compilation and verification of the orphanages took about two months.

The inspiration behind 'Stand Strong'

According to Davido, when American rapper Kanye West sampled his RIAA Gold-Certified song ‘If’ alongside the choir, he had wanted to get the opportunity to perform with them.

The opportunity soon came when Kanye had his listening party where the DMW boss eventually met the choir.

Davido and the Sunday Service Choir

He added that he also wanted to challenge himself to drift from his usual groovy music style into something different.

“People know me. My music makes people smile and move. This time, I was really inspired.

“Couple of years ago, Kanye West and the Sunday Service Choir actually did a remix to my song 'If'.

“Since then, I've always wanted an opportunity to be able to perform with them. And then Kanye West was doing his listening party in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

“And then I met Jason, met the choir and we flew out to L.A. I was like 'Yo, how can we connect this African music with this beautiful thing you guys are doing?'

“Also, I wanted to challenge myself to make a different kind of music. We came together and it was all bliss.”