Joy is a 2024 single from Angélique Kidjo featuring Davido, released August 30, 2024 and produced by Shizzi. The record was recorded in New York City after the two ran into each other during the summer — their second studio collaboration after Na Money from Davido's Timeless album in 2023. Angélique Kidjo is a five-time Grammy Award winner and 2023 Polar Music Prize recipient from Benin Republic, one of the most respected voices in African and world music over the past four decades. Davido called it an honour to work with her. She submitted Joy for consideration at the 2025 Grammy Awards in the Record of the Year category.
The song is built around resilience. The central lyric — "I found the joy through all the pain, I found the sun through all the rain" — is direct without being clichéd, and the blend of Yoruba and English in the lyrics gives it a genuinely pan-African character. Kidjo wrote afterwards: "We hope this song can bring the world together for a moment of JOY." The music video, directed by Dammy Twitch and filmed in St. Tropez and Nigeria, dropped October 2, 2024 after the track had already crossed 4 million streams and reached number 7 on the Nigerian National Airplay Chart.
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Davido ft. YG Marley – AwukeWhat makes this collaboration significant beyond the record itself is what it signals. Kidjo is not an Afrobeats artist — she is a world music legend who has been recording internationally since the 1980s. Her choosing to work with Davido twice is a recognition of where Afrobeats stands globally right now, not just as a genre for Nigerian audiences but as a sound that serious international artists want to be part of. Rating: 8/10.
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