He is one of the foremost names in afrobeats, and while his songs have an anthemic crowd-pleasing pull, Davido often draws on his personal experiences during the music-making process.
His fourth album, Timeless, comes three years after his last record. For the US-Nigerian singer, whose real name is David Adedeji Adeleke, it has been a time of towering highs and tragic lows.
In 2020, he broke his own YouTube record when his single, FEM, became the fastest Nigerian music video to reach one million views. The video got 1.8 million views within 24 hours of its release, breaking a record previously held by his song Blow My Mind
He then released his third album, A Better Time, which featured stellar guest appearances including Nicki Minaj, Lil Baby and Nas. It climbed the US charts, peaking at number two on the US Heatseekers Albums chart and number four on the US World Albums billboard.
In 2022, Davido was featured on Hayya Hayya, a single from the official Fifa World Cup Qatar soundtrack, alongside American singer Trinidad Cardona and Qatari singer Aisha. Later that year, he held the first Are We African Yet (AWAY) music festival in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was born. The festival would feature leading Nigerian musicians including Kizz Daniel, Pheelz, Lojay and BNXN.
But then, in October 2022, tragedy struck Davido when his son, David Ifeanyi Adeleke Jr, drowned in the pool of the musician’s Banana Island house. He was three years old.
In the eye of this dizzying storm of success and heartbreak, Davido entered the studio, pouring himself into his next album. It would turn out to be his most collaborative yet, involving many of those close to him.
“I am a musician and music to me has never been public,” he says on the heels of his performance at Blu Dubai. “With this album, I took my time. Even with the process of mixing and mastering, and the selection of the songs.”
Normally, Davido prefers to go through the song selection process on his own. But for Timeless, he reached out to family and friends, sending them about 50 recorded tracks and asking for their favourites.
“I had a crazy process to pick the songs for the album,” he says. “I sent them about 50 songs and asked everybody to pick their best 20. From there, I kind of knew what people liked. Even the songs that are blowing up now, we kind of knew that they were going to.”
For Davido, Timeless completes a trilogy that began with his sophomore album A Good Time. The title of the album, he says, is a nod to “how my music is actually timeless”.
“Today, I perform songs that are 13 years old,” he says. “It has the same feeling. Feelings are timeless. My vision for this album is that 10 years later, 20 years later, you’ll play it and have the same feeling.”
The artwork of the album, meanwhile, is dedicated to his late son.
“My son loved elephants,” he says. “He loved jungles, trees and stuff like that. The album has that artistic direction, shoutout to Tycoone, my creative director. It was an amazing idea. The artwork has the hourglass visual, it was beautifully composed.”
Timeless took two years to make. An amapiano record blending elements of afrobeats, dancehall, ragga and afropop, the album features several big and burgeoning talents, including Dexta Daps, Fave, Angelique Kidjo and Skepta.
The album debuted at number 10 in the UK charts and at 37 on the Billboard 200, and also broke the record for most plays on the streaming platform Boomplay Nigeria, raking in 22 million streams in just four days.
Having worked with some of the most luminary names in the industry, Davido says he has a number of collaborations he still hopes for, some of which his audience might not expect.
“I want to work with Harry Styles,” he says. “I’ve worked with Drake already, but I want to do more definitely. I want to work with Billie Eilish and BTS too.”
Davido is currently in the thick of his tour for the album. After his performance in Dubai, he is set to travel to the US and Canada, performing in several arenas before travelling to Europe, Australia, and finishing off in Africa.”
Having performed across the world, Davido says Dubai has a special place in his tour and he always looks forward to his visits.
“Dubai has been lit every single time, since the beginning of my career,” he says. “I remember 10 years ago I had a concert, where 7,000 people show, and then at the Coca Cola Arena. Dubai has a special place. They love me and I love them.”
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Top tips
Create and maintain a strong bond between yourself and your child, through sensitivity, responsiveness, touch, talk and play. “The bond you have with your kids is the blueprint for the relationships they will have later on in life,” says Dr Sarah Rasmi, a psychologist.
Set a good example. Practise what you preach, so if you want to raise kind children, they need to see you being kind and hear you explaining to them what kindness is. So, “narrate your behaviour”.
Praise the positive rather than focusing on the negative. Catch them when they’re being good and acknowledge it.
Show empathy towards your child’s needs as well as your own. Take care of yourself so that you can be calm, loving and respectful, rather than angry and frustrated.
Be open to communication, goal-setting and problem-solving, says Dr Thoraiya Kanafani. “It is important to recognise that there is a fine line between positive parenting and becoming parents who overanalyse their children and provide more emotional context than what is in the child’s emotional development to understand.”
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
Skoda Superb Specs
Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol
Power: 190hp
Torque: 320Nm
Price: From Dh147,000
Available: Now
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UK%20-%20UAE%20Trade
%3Cp%3ETotal%20trade%20in%20goods%20and%20services%20(exports%20plus%20imports)%20between%20the%20UK%20and%20the%20UAE%20in%202022%20was%20%C2%A321.6%20billion%20(Dh98%20billion).%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EThis%20is%20an%20increase%20of%2063.0%20per%20cent%20or%20%C2%A38.3%20billion%20in%20current%20prices%20from%20the%20four%20quarters%20to%20the%20end%20of%202021.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EThe%20UAE%20was%20the%20UK%E2%80%99s%2019th%20largest%20trading%20partner%20in%20the%20four%20quarters%20to%20the%20end%20of%20Q4%202022%20accounting%20for%201.3%20per%20cent%20of%20total%20UK%20trade.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
The five pillars of Islam
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Race card
6.30pm: Handicap (TB) $68,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
7.05pm: Meydan Cup – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (Turf) 2,810m
7.40pm: UAE 2000 Guineas – Group 3 (TB) $125,000 (D) 1,600m
8.15pm: Firebreak Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (D) 1,600m
9.50pm: Meydan Classic – Conditions (TB) $$50,000 (T) 1,400m
9.25pm: Dubai Sprint – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,200m
RESULT
Al Hilal 4 Persepolis 0
Khribin (31', 54', 89'), Al Shahrani 40'
Red card: Otayf (Al Hilal, 49')
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
FINAL LEADERBOARD
1. Jordan Spieth (USA) 65 69 65 69 - 12-under-par
2. Matt Kuchar (USA) 65 71 66 69 - 9-under
3. Li Haotong (CHN) 69 73 69 63 - 6-under
T4. Rory McIlroy (NIR) 71 68 69 67 - 5-under
T4. Rafael Cabrera-Bello (ESP) 67 73 67 68 - 5-under
T6. Marc Leishman (AUS) 69 76 66 65 - 4-under
T6. Matthew Southgate (ENG) 72 72 67 65 - 4-under
T6. Brooks Koepka (USA) 65 72 68 71 - 4-under
T6. Branden Grace (RSA) 70 74 62 70 - 4-under
T6. Alexander Noren (SWE) 68 72 69 67 - 4-under
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
More on Quran memorisation:
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
Biography
Favourite Meal: Chicken Caesar salad
Hobbies: Travelling, going to the gym
Inspiration: Father, who was a captain in the UAE army
Favourite read: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
Favourite film: The Founder, about the establishment of McDonald's
Why seagrass matters
- Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
- Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
- Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
- Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality