Music
The Female Executives Shaping the Future of Nigerian Music
The global rise of Nigerian music has been driven not only by its artists but also by executives working behind the scenes, including women whose leadership is helping shape the industry’s growth. While artists are often the public faces of that success, executives negotiate deals, develop talent, build international partnerships and manage careers that keep the industry moving forward. Among them are women whose work continues to influence how Nigerian music is created, marketed and exported.
Here are some of the women working across different areas of the Nigerian music industry.
Temi Adeniji

Photo: Facebook
As Managing Director of Warner Music Africa and Senior Vice President, Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa and Special Projects at Warner Music Group, Temi Adeniji oversees the company’s operations across the region. During her time at Warner Music, she has helped drive the company’s expansion in Africa through investments and partnerships, including a majority stake in Africori and a strategic alliance with Chocolate City. She has also been involved in the international growth of African artists, with Warner Music supporting the global rise of CKay’s Love Nwantiti, one of the biggest Afrobeats crossover records in recent years. Her work spans business strategy, artist development and long-term growth across African markets.
Rima Tahini

Photo: Instagram/@rimouuune
Rima Tahini is Senior Vice President, A&R and Creatives at Mavin Global. She joined the company after working on Kupanda Capital’s investment in Mavin before moving into artist and repertoire (A&R), where she steadily rose through the ranks. Today, she leads Mavin’s A&R and creative teams, working closely with artists on music development, release planning and creative direction. During her time at the label, Mavin artists including Rema and Ayra Starr have expanded their global reach through international chart success, award nominations and collaborations, reflecting the label’s growing influence in the global music business.
Ronami Ogulu

Photo: Instagram/@r0nami
Ronami Ogulu is part of the executive team at Spaceship Collective, the company that manages Burna Boy’s career. Her responsibilities include business operations, partnerships and long-term strategy for the Grammy-winning artist. During her time with Spaceship Collective, the company has overseen a period of significant international growth for Burna Boy, including major performances, sold-out tours and expanded global partnerships.
Vanessa Amadi-Ogbonna

Photo: Instagram/@missamadi
Vanessa Amadi-Ogbonna is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of VA PR, a public relations agency with clients across music, television and entertainment. Over the years, she has worked with artists including Davido and Tiwa Savage, helping shape media campaigns and public communications around major career moments. Her agency was involved in the public relations campaign for Davido’s landmark concert at The O2 Arena in London, one of several projects that strengthened the international visibility of Nigerian music.
Princess Chizaram

Photo: Instagram/@theradiochef
Princess Chizaram, popularly known as TheRadioChef, is an A&R Manager at Sony Music West Africa. In her role, she oversees the portfolios of artists including Qing Madi, Mayorkun, Gyakie and Oladapo, working across artist development and creative direction. She also served as a judge on the MTN Best of the Street talent competition, where she evaluated emerging musicians. In 2023, she was named among TurnTable Charts’ 30 Under 30 Power Players in Nigerian Music, recognising young professionals contributing to the growth of the industry.
Elizabeth Sobowale

Photo: Instagram/@elizabeth_sho
Elizabeth Sobowale is the founder of The Other Agency and the manager of Afrobeats singer Adekunle Gold. She has overseen his career through major projects, including the Catch Me If You Can (2022) and Tequila Ever After (2023) album campaigns, helping shape both his artistic direction and commercial brand. Beyond artist management, she serves as Programme Director of the Creative Business Academy (CBA) for Africa, formerly known as the Music Business Academy for Africa. The academy trains emerging professionals across the creative industries and has partnered with organisations such as Spotify to deliver industry-focused programmes and masterclasses.
Keke Hammond

Photo: Instagram/@kekehammond
Keke Hammond is the Chief Operating Officer of Flytime Promotions and the Chief Executive Officer of Road14 Studios. At Flytime, she oversees the operational planning, sponsorships and commercial partnerships behind some of Nigeria’s biggest live music events. Her work has been central to the growth of Flytime Fest, which has expanded into a multi-day festival featuring Nigerian and international artists, including Davido, Asake, Rema and Central Cee. Through her leadership on the business and production side, she has helped strengthen one of Africa’s most established live entertainment platforms.
The success of Nigerian music is often measured by chart performance, sold-out concerts and international awards. Behind many of those achievements, however, are executives handling negotiations, partnerships, publicity, career planning and business strategy. As Nigerian music continues to reach new audiences around the world, the industry’s future will depend not only on the artists on stage but also on the executives making key decisions behind the scenes.
Music
What Exactly Are Ayra Starr and ZAYN Singing About on “Heaven Baby”?
Ayra Starr and ZAYN take a softer musical direction on “Heaven Baby“, a romantic collaboration about the rush of falling deeply for someone and seeing that person as unusually special and attractive.
Released on August 14, 2026, the song appears as the 14th track on Ayra Starr’s third studio album, Starrgirl. Recent coverage describes the record as a piano-led pop and R&B ballad built around the voices of both singers.

Photo: Instagram/@ayrastarr
The song opens with Ayra Starr describing the immediate chemistry she feels towards the person she is addressing. Her lyrics suggest that the attraction does not remain at the level of a passing crush. Her feelings deepen as she begins to describe how much the person means to her and how difficult their absence would be.
The chorus takes that feeling further through references to heaven and angels. Ayra uses the imagery to express how highly she regards the person she is singing about.
Her lyrics also touch on the fear of losing that person, showing how quickly the attraction has grown into something deeper.
ZAYN’s verses focuses on how far he is willing to go for the person he loves, including the sacrifices he would make for the relationship. His willingness to do so reflects the song’s theme of intense devotion.

Photo: Instagram/@zayn
When their vocals meet again, the song feels like an exchange between two people who are equally invested. Ayra establishes the emotional intensity early, while ZAYN‘s section gives the record another voice within the same relationship.
Ayra Starr has also spoken positively about the record. During an appearance connected to the promotion of Starrgirl, she called “Heaven Baby” one of the best songs she had ever sung. She also praised ZAYN’s voice, describing it as both strong and vulnerable.
Unlike a song built around heartbreak, betrayal or a complicated romantic storyline, “Heaven Baby” stays with the early intensity of love. Its focus is the feeling of meeting someone who quickly becomes important and expressing that attachment without holding back.
Music
Ayra Starr’s ‘Starrgirl’: Tracklist, Features and Everything You Need to Know
Ayra Starr released her third studio album, “Starrgirl”, on August 14, 2026, through Mavin Records and Republic Records. It follows 19 & Dangerous, which came out in 2021, and The Year I Turned 21, released in 2024. The 16-track project features seven guest artists.
Dangerous opens the album, setting a bold tone before Amazing brings in British singer kwn. Wizkid joins her on Gimme Dat, a collaboration that earned Ayra a GRAMMY nomination, while Leon Thomas sings on Pressure. Tornado, a single she put out earlier in 2026, rounds off this opening run of songs.

Photo: Instagram/@Aryastarr
Midnight in New York and Hot Body keep the momentum going before French artist Theodora steps in on Ms Paper. Dance and Where Do We Go follow, and Rema shows up on Who’s Dat Girl, a long-awaited pairing for fans of both artists.
Tracks twelve and thirteen, Misunderstood and Letter to God, don’t have guest features. Song fourteen, Heaven Bab, features ZAYN. Treasure follows at track fifteen, and the album closes with a remix of Hot Body featuring Danny Ocean.
Gimme Dat, Hot Body, Who’s Dat Girl, “Where Do We Go“, and Tornado were all released as singles ahead of the album’s release.

Photo: Instagram/@Aryastarr
Ayra confirmed her move from Lagos to New York in November 2025, telling Hot 93.7FM that relocating was about broadening her sound and representing her culture on a bigger stage. She said the city reminds her of Lagos, pointing to the large Nigerian and African communities there. Weeks later, she opened up on Substack about the harder side of settling in, describing the adjustment as lonely and the cold as difficult to shake.
Coming off a 2025 that included two GRAMMY nominations, two MOBO Awards, and her first BET Award for Best International Act, Ayra Starr enters Starrgirl carrying real industry weight into this new chapter. Whether the album brings in new numbers to match remains to be seen, but the tracklist alone shows an artist stretching further than she has on any project before this one.
Music
Mr P Gives Fans a New Reason to Love ‘I Love You Because’
Mr P is back in familiar territory with I Love You Because, a song less concerned with saying “I love you” than with explaining why. It comes from his OG Forever project and centres on a woman who carries calm, maturity and self-respect rather than chasing attention, a point he underlined himself when he shared the line “I love you because you love yourself” around the release. The official video takes that same idea and gives it a striking visual form.
Rather than shooting a standard performance video, the whole thing is rendered in a painterly, almost animated style, with visible brushstrokes and swirling textures running through every frame. It gives the video a dreamlike quality from the first scene, more like watching a moving painting than a typical music video.

Photo: YouTube/@Mrp
The story stays simple: Mr P moves between intimate indoor spaces and open, romantic backdrops, with a woman appearing across several scenes as the object of affection.
Mr P looks at ease throughout, dressed in a camo-patterned bucket hat and matching jacket that stays consistent across most of the video. He performs with his usual confidence, using expression and movement to sell the song’s warmth. There’s a lightness to how he carries it, nothing about the delivery feels heavy or sad, which fits a song built around appreciating someone rather than losing them.

Photo: YouTube/@Mrp
The visuals are where this video really hits. One scene places him in a wooden interior with an old-style television playing in the background. Another takes him outdoors against a red-brick building with fire escapes running up the side. The most striking moments come at night, where he’s framed against a swirling, star-filled skyline that leans into the same painterly style as the rest of the video. the video follows other couples through scenes of their own: a library lined with bookshelves and a red curtain, where the lady appears in green, a grand hall with columns and a chandelier, and a rooftop setting at night where she wears red against the city lights.
The song and video sit comfortably together because the visuals never try to overpower the message. The painterly style gives the whole thing a soft, romantic mood that matches the lyrics without needing a complicated plot to carry it.
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