Stories from “5ive“

I said it during one of my listening sessions with Martel. This was the song that kinda got me into the rhythm for putting this album (5IVE) together. We made it in Malibu.

We were in Malibu having a good time around March 2024. My manager (Asa Asika) brought some stuff from Loudaa (the producer) and the beat for Anything was one of them ones. I

have a really good production team around me and we are able to get things done no matter where I am and when the original producer is not in the same place as me. We had a

set up in Malibu. I recorded it during the trip. It’s a song about my journey through the music industry. I always like to dabble into those kinds of things, to remind people

of how long I’ve been here, because people tend to forget. Just obstacles that we’ve passed, and conquered. So anything that has been put in front of you, any bumper, any

obstacles can be overridden. Be There Still I recorded Be There Still in Lagos, about two Decembers ago (2023). Obviously, it’s the same kind of message like I said on

Anything (another Davido song). Many will go, many will come but I will be here still… You know, my longevity in the game. What people don’t understand is that when I’m in my

cycle of recording, I go to the studio everyday. So I remember we made this in Lagos and it’s a song about my life and story. It’s just Davido.

I recorded Be There Still in Lagos, about two Decembers ago (2023). Obviously, it’s the same kind of message like I said on Anything (another Davido song). Many will go, many

will come but I will be here still… You know, my longevity in the game. What people don’t understand is that when I’m in my cycle of recording, I go to the studio everyday.

So I remember we made this in Lagos and it’s a song about my life and story. It’s just Davido.

I started recording this song in Houston, but finished it in Ghana about 3 years ago (2021). Shizzi (the producer) spends a lot of time in Ghana and I was in Ghana then,

taking a break. Victony had sent me a song idea, but then this was not the beat. It was a demo with a different beat. I don’t know why, but the song sounded better with the

beat that Shizzi sent me. When we were vibing to the beat for CFMF, by mistake I sang “I can’t feel my face no more”. I was like this is sounding good. So I took the hook

from the demo Victony sent me. Then got the verses done with my boy Diende (credited songwriter). We penned it in Ghana.

We made this one during my 2024 trip in Malibu. Any song you hear from Loudaa (the producer), was from that Malibu time. This is a typical Davido record. I love songs with

melodies, songs that talk to women. Anything that makes women feel gingered (excited), it will always work. That’s why when we did Unavailable, I said bro, it was gonna work.

Every girl wants to be unavailable. So I knew 10 Kilo would go, because of the message also. Yes, it’s talking about plus size, women, but there’s also a flip side of it,

like 10 Kilo of gold as well. So it’s a double meaning.

Shout out to Victoria, she’s amazing. I love when I work with an artist, and they act like it’s their own. That’s when you know that somebody is serious about their stuff.

She sent me the song after the last Grammy’s (2024). I told her we should work. I sat on the verses for so long, because I needed it to be perfect. I recorded it in my house

in Atlanta. I have a studio set up there in ATL. She came to the video shoot, we even had dance rehearsals, it was crazy.

I recorded this during the Timeless album time. It was meant for Timeless. I recorded it the same time I recorded FEEL (another Davido song). At the time, I was working with

Blaise (producer). Amazing song, it’s one of my best songs on the album. You know, I like when you drop an album, and people run to the clear hits. I feel like Don’t Know is

gonna be a creeper. It’s like how Away from my Timeless album came, then 8 months later, everyone rushed to Away. It’s gonna be that type of song.

I love the Caribbean. I’m always there, I perform there a lot. My family, we go to the Caribbean every December. Two Decembers ago, we went to St. Kitts, the last one we went

to the Bahamas. I have big Caribbean songs… Risky with Popcaan. I’ve always wanted to work with Shenseea. I love their culture. We’ve actually recorded like five songs in

total, but they just didn’t dropped. R&B was recorded in Malibu. I sent it to Shenseea, she killed it. When I was in Jamaica during my wife’s birthday last year (2024), there

was this guy, I heard his songs and the girls were going crazy, his name is 450. I tapped in early with him, linked up with him. He sent in his verse.

I recorded this one in Malibu (2024). I got the song sent from Ubi Franklin. He sent me the idea, he has producers. He was doing a recording camp at the time. I was like

come, just fly to Cali. I got his ticket so he came with some material. I hadn’t met the producer before, but I have an amazing engineering team around me that makes me feel

like the producer is there. We penned Awuke, it was written by Moonlight Afriqa. I wasn’t gonna record the song. We were chilling in the parlor, me Chris Brown and his friend

when the song caught me. I was like, this is vibey o. Chris Brown’s friend, he’s Nigerian. He was like “you better record that”. At this time, I and YG Marley were trying to

figure out a record, so I just sent it to him. He nailed it. He came to Nigeria for the video shoot. It was an amazing process.

Victony, obviously we’re under the same (management). Musa Keys, that’s my man. We have one of my biggest songs together, Unavailable. You know I’ve been tapping in with

South Africa since time, before Amapiano became huge. So Victony and Musa already had the record so I came as their older brother haha. I was like I love this record. You

know me, when it comes to finishing music, I know how to take it and turn it up a notch. I did my verse, we recorded it in Lagos around May last year (2024).

Titanium, we recorded this in Malibu. I and Chris Brown, it’s not even about music, he just comes to hang out, we talk about everything. Like we sleep off on the couch

together, smoking, chilling. As he came, obviously we had the studio set up and he listened to the album. He picked the Victoria Monét song, he was like “yo, that gotta be

there”. He loved 10 Kilo, he likes Anything, then he liked Titanium so we got him on Titanium. I went to his house, obviously he has a studio there. That’s where he recorded

his part, in LA.

Crazy enough, I recorded Funds a little bit after the Timeless album. ODUMODU actually sent me the song when Timeless had just came out. We were meant to do Timeless deluxe.

But I ended up not recording it for a long time. One day, I was like, why haven’t I recorded this song? Then I recorded it last year August (2024). And then, I don’t know

where I was, but it just hit me and said I’m gonna put Chike on this song. Obviously, I love Chike’s music, he performed at my wedding. He’s Igbo, my wife is Igbo, you know

I’m really in touch with that culture. That’s how it came together.

Funny enough, this one was recorded a year before the Timeless album (2022). It originally just with me and Tayc. But they both ended up doing an album together. It’s crazy,

they went on tour together. So I was like wow, since you guys are working together, Dadju, oya join this song. This was one of the songs that took long to actually arrange

because Francophone artists are very very specific about how they sound and that made it take long. It was very dope to have two of them on the record.

This story is very, very crazy. So, when Kai Cenat came to Nigeria, he was on a livestream in my car and Omah’s music was playing. I had a mix of songs queued up in my car

and then, it was Omah Lay’s song playing. Obviously, that night was a huge stream. So the next day, Omah tweeted, “I’ve always thought Davido hated me”. I was like, why will

I hate you, you haven't done anything to me. Or are you talking behind my back haha. I was just whining him in the DM. He said, no, no. So thinking about it, if I didn’t do

that stream with Kai, he probably wouldn't have tweeted that and we probably wouldn't have linked. Funny enough, you would think that Davido and Omah Lay wouldn't connect

like crazy. Because, obviously, he's very chill and I'm very out there. But the first time we spoke on the phone, we spoke for like 40 minutes. What was meant to be a quick

call. And when he came to Paris Fashion Week last year, we connected on a major level. So, yeah, as we were talking (after his tweet), I was like, yo, bro, I think we need to

do something. We kept speaking about it and he said he’s getting it and he wanted to send me the perfect song. So after like two weeks went by, I was like “Ah, Omah!”. He was

like “I will send it. I will send something tonight”. He sent it that night and when I first played it, it captivated immediately. I actually had another verse on it but my

guys were like you need to go crazy on it. We need to bring out the craze in people. So I called one of my Igbo writers haha. Some of the verses were done but I called Yung

Alpha (credited writer), amazing artist, amazing producer and then we finished the song in September last year (2024).