Nigerian superstar Davido graced South Africa with his presence at the unveiling of his partnership with Martell last Wednesday.
The occasion also served as the launch of Martell Blue Swift in South Africa and, boy oh boy, did I wish I had stayed home!
One of the first red flags should have been the 8pm event’s late start but hey, I was tempted by the “fire guest list”.
It ended up being non-existent. Well, I guess I should be grateful, after all, Davido’s collaborator and brother Focalistic did make an appearance and joined the close to 20 people entourage surrounding Davido.
The media gathered in the lobby bar area of the Leonardo and were subjected to looking at a bunch of random influencers and YouTubers, while being served Martell cocktails.
The only notable celebrities spotted were Bonko Khoza, along with his forever plus one, his wife Lesego, and Zamani Mbatha, who is more famous for his cheating escapades than his acting career.
At 9.53pm, Davido waltzed in surrounded by an entourage that made it tough to see the short man as he proceeded to sit at the section reserved for him.
The cameras immediately came out flashing, as many, including Martell's starstruck brand representatives wanted to get their snap of the “If” hitmaker. He obliged, without so much as a smile.
If the word “bored” was accompanied by a picture in the dictionary, Davido’s face would be there. He looked uninterested in the proceedings.
As if the evening could not get any worse, we were then subjected to speeches by the brand and a rather unique tasting that included pouring the drink onto our hands.
Then there was an odd moment. The Martell Blue Swift bottle was brought out and tissue paper was burnt, leaving me puzzled. All that was missing during the bizarre moment were the sparklers used in nightclubs when big ballers were splurging.
Nomalanga Shozi hosted the event and managed to get Davido off his phone when she pulled him up to the podium to talk about the partnership. He couldn’t stop bragging about how Martell was big in Nigeria’s clubs.
Despite my better judgement, I went ahead and attended Davido’s listening session on Friday at the Four Seasons. What can I say? I am a sucker for a fancy venue and, once again, I was made to wait and wait… Maybe one day I will learn.
At least this time, when Davido arrived at 10.10pm, he was upbeat and interested in the event. I guess an album release does that to an artist.
Davido was happy to chat to Shozi about his new album “Timeless”, opening up about the inspiration behind certain songs, his collaborations with South African artists Musa Keys and Focalistic, his brief hiatus and offering more insight into the man behind the music.
However, his tardiness and blatant rudeness did not sit well with people who had left their homes after a long day of work to listen to him.
Adding insult to injury were the promises of the PR handling the whole event.
Yes, brief interviews were offered, right at the end, as a means to salvage the badly put-together event but, let's be honest, who wants to interview a bored, uninterested artist surrounded by a bunch of people?
Not me. Lesson learned.