Jay'sTrend: Headies 2016 10 things we noticed about the nominations list

Pulse Music has scanned through the list, and we present to you, 10 crucial observations from the list.

The highly-anticipated list of nominees of The Headies 2016 has been released.

The list which comprises of 21 categories covers different genre of Nigerian pop music culture. The complete of nominees was created for the year in review: July 2015 – June 2016.

Pulse Music has scanned through the list, and we present to you, 10 crucial observations from the list.

Check out the complete Headies 2016 Nominations List.

Tekno’s ‘Pana’ and ‘Duro’ missing from list

It’s tough luck for arguably the MVP of Nigeria pop music on this one. The star has had a string of hit songs making him a shoo-in for some of the biggest honours in outstanding performances. But he got only a ‘Next Rated’ award for all his efforts.

According to the organisers of the Headies, the year in review is between July 2015 – June 2016, with only songs released within these period eligible for consideration and nomination. But dates of the release of his biggest songs may have worked against him. Tekno released the smash hit ‘Duro’ June 2015, a month before it would have been eligible for consideration by the Headies organisers. And then his next smash hit, ‘Pana’ was released in July 2016; a month after the window of consideration.

At least he got a nomination though.

None of Yemi Alade’s song was nominated but she’s in for best artiste

Yemi Alade continues to tower over almost every female on the continent, in terms of reach and branding. But at home, where her core fan base is located, the singer’s singles are not exactly hits. During the year in review, Yemi Alade dropped her sophomore album “Mama Africa”, and has gone on to promote the project.

But no single off the project made the list. This just feeds the school of thought which holds the opinion that the singer’s charm and success is as a result of branding, PR and many other components working together as a whole. Isolate the music, and scrutinize it, and it fails to really hold up.

Chocolate City only has Koker…and perhaps Jesse Jagz

Chocolate City has to be one of the highest winning Headies Awards. But they have been in indifferent form over the years. The Headies confirms it, with Koker’s ‘Kolewerk’ being the only current artistes in their rooster nominated for this year’s awards. There’s also Jesse Jagz’s ‘Jaga Love’, but at the moment, he isn’t a Chocolate City artiste.

Connect was produced by T-Spize, not Masterkraft

Masterkraft was nominated for the Best Producer Awards, with his credentials gleaming with credits for the smash hit songs by Phyno – ‘Fada fada’ and ‘Connect’.

But problem is…TSpize produced ‘Connect’. This was a blatant error. How does that category swing now? Take out ‘Connect’, and reevaluate Masterkraft’s chances?

Adekunle Gold’s ‘Pick Up’ is not an alternative song

The Best Alternative Song category is described as a voting category for the artiste whose songs reflect any form or style of music which falls outside the mainstream of recent or past popular musical trends. Out of all the nominees for this year, Adekunle Gold’s ‘Pick up’ sticks out like a sore thumb on the list.

And that’s because it has no business being on that list. The song is Highlife, which went pop. It does not reinvent the wheel, neither does it go a direction that nobody has ever heard. It’s Highlife, and Highlife has been with us since we were born.

Great song, wrong category.

Best Video of the year nominees don’t have their best work on display.

The 2016 Headies Nomination list for Best Video reads: A voting category for the best conceptualist, best directed and most exciting video in the year under review. This award goes to the video director.

And here is the official list.

Emergency (D’banj) – Unlimited La
Mary (Seyi Shay) – Meji Alabi
Soldier (Falz Tha Bad Guy) – Clarence Peters
Made For You – Banky W
Bad – Tiwa Savage feat. WIZKID – Sesan

But problem is, some of the artistes out here do not have their best works out. Perhaps they meant this:

Emergency (D'banj) - Unlimited LA
Right Now (Seyi Shay) - Meiji Alabi
Soldier (Falz Tha Bad Guy) - Clarence Peters
High Notes (Banky W) - Banky W
African Waist (Tiwa Savage)

Number of nominations are irregular

This year, formatting of the nominees list is a bit incongruent. Where some categories have as low as four nominees, some had 5, others 6, and 8. It has been the same for the past two years, but this is the first year that 8 nomineees have been recorded for one single category: Best Pop Single.

A-Q and Boogey got two nominations each

A-Q and Boogey are the biggest winners of the night with two nominations each. The duo are generally regarded as underground insiders and mainstream outsiders leading the genre.

But this year, they got the Headies Mainstream nominations for Hip-hop, in two categories: Best Hip-Hop and Lyricist On The Roll.

The Most Accurate Nomination Category: Best Street-Hop Artiste.

In all the expected conversation and drama, only one category can never be faulted by the Headies, and it’s the “Best Street-Hop Artiste.

The categories looks balanced with the big names dominating alongside the real street hop acts who have had songs to rock the country. They are Small Doctor (Gbera) and 2T Boys (‘Customer Dada Ni’)

Biggest Surprises of The Headies List

The biggest surprise names to make the lists include