By Tiana Cline



One of the most data-intensive industries is entertainment. Streaming services like Netflix or Apple TV are driven by data, collecting information about what you watch and for how long and using it to make personalized recommendations to keep you online. But that is only one side of how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) is used.



Filmmakers today use data science to forecast box office success and, on the rare occasion, a TV show can be picked up before a pilot has been showed – all thanks to technology. 



But there is another part of the movies where data matters – visual effects (VFX). Even though computer generated images have been popular since the 1990s when films like Jurassic Park and Terminator were released, the amount of data generated today by production houses is unfathomable.



Gretchen Libby is an American visual effects artist who worked at Industrial Light &amp; Magic, the VFX company founded by Star Wars writer and director George Lucas. While she is known around the world for her work on award-winning films like Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Iron Man, and Avatar, she decided to join Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2020 as the director of visual computing to help those who create film and television content do so in the cloud.



Avatar: The Way of Water, most recently, was rendered in AWS. The movie was so computer-intense it couldn’t be stored in the production company’s data center. “Many of us who know about visual effects, computer-generated water is some of the hardest work [you can do],” said Libby at an Amazon’s re:Invent panel.



“My first meeting on Avatar was in 2013,” explains David Conley, an executive VFX producer of Wētā FX, to FORBES AFRICA Conley says that Avatar: The Way of Water pushed Wētā FX to the edges of what computers cand deliver.



“We got to the point where the requirements for rendering this movie were we needed to partner with someone. It has been a huge transition in the history of Wētā FX because we’ve had one of the largest data centers to render all the movies that we’ve been making over the last six years, seven years,” he adds. “And we make about 10 to 15 movies a year.”



With Avatar: The Way of Water, the render workload doubled. The VFX team went from shooting 24 to 48 frames per second, never mind the complexity of the water or other simulations. According to Jon Landau, the film’s producer, most of the scenes in the first Avatar film had two characters.



“Now we have five, 10, 12 characters with hundreds of background extras that need to be generated and rendered,” he says. While someone watching the movie will see a final shot that’s been rendered, behind the scenes, every single shot averages around 500 iterations. “All of those need to be rendered, one after the other… and [Wētā FX] outgrew their capacity to do that on the ground. And it’s not just their capacity – we blew the power grid!” laughs Landau.



GLOBAL PRODUCTION



There are, of course, security concerns that come with having such a big IP in the cloud. “We care very much about protecting our IP at all costs,” explains Landau. “There was a learning curve at the beginning for everybody to understand how to feed the machine and once we got there, the throughput transformed and we were able to – even in the later stages of the film – turn around iterations that really just upped the ante on everything.”



For Landau, the door of possibility has been opened for what the cloud can really do. “It is important to understand the artistry of requiring a project like this is wholly dependent on large amounts of teams coming together and providing lots of different iterations and solutions,” says Conley. “It requires a huge amount of compute power.”



Because Avatar: The Way of Water came together during the pandemic, cloud solved Wētā FX’s big data problem. “We couldn’t architecturally expand our data center because that may require infrastructure that would go to the city council and we all know what it’s like to deal with local government,” Conley says.



Cloud was the only solution – especially considering the stringent content security protocols Disney has on an IP like Avatar. “And I knew that a single frame of this getting out at the wrong time would be devastating not only to Wētā FX but to the project,” he adds. “It took about 14 months to get the first frame and then in eight months, we delivered 3.3 billion thread hours’ worth of content.”



“It’s hard to put in context… there were shots that are so complex, and I’m talking about a four second shot, not an hour-long shot, that would take two weeks to render.



The intense work was daunting and the difference when we went to the cloud was truly powerful,” says Landau. To make movies at a global scale with teams around the world requires combing big data together in a way that connects post-production with distribution and rendering. Through a cloud-based infrastructure, the Wētā FX team have found a way to bring all the entertainment expertise together from inception to script writing, shooting and using the metadata that’s captured on set to deliver final visual effects.



“And that’s what’s exciting for me, those are the next steps. We’re paying the future as opposed to reacting,” says Conley. “What we’ve done here is create a system that allows us to be able to expand the physical and capacity constraints that we want and it gives us the flexibility to move beyond the traditional mortars that restrict us in the post-production space.”

A commuter stands next to a large commercial advertisement

Big Data, Bigger Movies: Does The Future Of The Film Industry Sit In The Cloud

<h2 id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



The number of top-grossing movies starring women and women of color increased slightly last year, according to <a href="https://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/aii-inequality-1600-films-20230216.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">an annual study</a> released Thursday from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at USC, but the number of films starring people of color decreased.



<h2>KEY FACTS</h2>



Of the 100 top-earning domestic movies released in 2022, 44% featured female-identified actors in leading or co-leading roles, compared to 41% that did in 2021—under the 50% of the U.S. population women make up.



This is an improvement from 2007, when just 20% of the top 100 movies had women in leading or co-leading roles.



Of those same 100 films, 29% featured an actor from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group in a leading or co-leading role, down from 32% in 2021 but up from 13% in 2007, and notably below the 40.7% that these groups make up in the U.S. population.



The largest increase was for women of color: 16 of the top 100 movies in 2022 featured a woman of color in a leading role, up from the 11 that did in 2021; two movies also featured nonbinary actors in leading or co-leading roles.



Women over the age of 45 starred in 10 of the top films last year, compared to 35 movies that featured men in this age group in leading roles.



<h2>BIG NUMBER</h2>



31%. That’s how many of the top 100 films per year since 2007—1,600 in total—starred a woman or girl.



<h2>KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Women and people of color have historically been excluded from leading roles in films, as well as in the director’s chair. In 2015, the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite went viral, when the Academy—whose&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/22332389/oscars-academy-diversity-membership-2021" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">voting members</a>&nbsp;were overwhelmingly white—nominated 20 white actors for its honors. The creator of the movement, April Reign, wrote for&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/news/oscarssowhite-nominations-diversity-april-reign-1203467389/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Variety</a>in 2020 that she has often received pushback along the lines of: “Well, there just weren’t enough diverse films to nominate.” And while people of color are still underrepresented, there has been progress, making their exclusion from awards shows a noticeable problem. “When we have this wealth of talent in front of and behind the camera, and they are still not recognized by what is considered the pinnacle in the industry, then we need to take a closer examination” of the Academy and the industry, Reign wrote. In 2018, Natalie Portman made headlines when she called out the “all-male nominees” when presenting the Golden Globe for Best Director. The Oscars did not nominate any women in its Best Directing category this year.



<h2>CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



“The pace of industry change is certainly not a breakneck one,” the Annenberg study said. “The advocacy and activism that may have fueled change in the mid- to late-2010s may have had a short-term impact, but more is needed to achieve lasting improvement.”



<h2>TANGENT</h2>



Some of the 2022 films led by women of color included&nbsp;Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,&nbsp;Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,&nbsp;Nope,&nbsp;Scream,&nbsp;Everything Everywhere All At Once&nbsp;and&nbsp;The Woman King. These performances were awarded at last month’s Golden Globes, where winners included Michelle Yeoh (Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy) and Angela Bassett (Best Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture), who were both also nominated for Oscars.



<h2>FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2023/01/10/golden-globes-2023-abbott-elementary-the-banshees-of-inisherin-win-big/?sh=bd44b0d59c58">Golden Globes 2023: ‘Abbott Elementary,’ ‘The Banshees Of Inisherin’ Win Big</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="http://forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2023/01/24/oscar-nominations-2023everything-everywhere-all-at-once-leads-pack/?sh=282621a435e2">Oscar Nominations 2023: ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ Leads Pack</a> (Forbes)



By Marisa Dellatto, Forbes Africa

European Premiere of Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

More Top Films Starred Women Of Color In 2022, Study Shows

<h2 id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Disney+ lost over two million subscribers, while Netflix gained over 7 million and ESPN+ and Hulu have made slow but steady gains—here’s where the major streaming services stand with subscribers, as of December 31, 2022.



<h2>KEY FACTS</h2>



Netflix:&nbsp;230.75 million subscribers, up 7.66 million from September.



Disney+:&nbsp;161.8 million subscribers, down 2.4 million from September.



Hulu:&nbsp;48 million subscribers, an increase of 800,000 from September.



ESPN+: 24.9 million subscribers, an increase of 600,000 from September.



Peacock: More than 20 million subscribers, up from over 15 million in September.



<h2>WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns HBO Max and Discovery+, has not yet reported its most-recent subscriber numbers. Viacom, which owns Paramount+, will announce its earnings and subscribers on February 16.



<h2>WHAT WE DON’T KNOW</h2>



AppleTV+ and Amazon Prime Video do not make it publicly known how many subscribers they have.



<h2>BIG NUMBER</h2>



38.1% That’s how much of total TV usage streaming represented in December, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2023/streaming-services-remain-most-popular-destination-for-tv-viewing-in-december/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Neilsen</a>. Of streaming usage, 8.7% was attributed to YouTube and YouTube TV, 7.5% was Netflix, 3.4% was Hulu, 2.7% was Prime Video, 1.9% was Disney+, 1.4% was HBO Max, 1% was Peacock and 0.8% was Pluto TV. The remaining 10.7% was other streaming platforms.



<h2>KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Netflix could see its subscriber count increase this year as it rolls out measures to prevent sharing accounts outside of households. The company said 100 million households share passwords, and on Wednesday it launched initiatives in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain to combat the problem. Similar tactics will be used in the U.S. after the first quarter of this year. Major changes are also coming to Discovery+ and HBO Max. Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery said the two streaming platforms would be combined into one unified service, launching sometime this year. However, the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/warner-bros-discovery-to-keep-discovery-in-strategy-shift-11675859633" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wall Street Journal</a>reported Wednesday that Discovery+ will remain a standalone service, and the new service will feature both HBO content and most, but not all, of the content also found on Discovery+. Executives have changed course in an attempt to maintain the app’s roughly 20 million subscribers, who may not want to pay a higher fee for the new platform, sources said.



<h2>FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/02/08/netflix-password-crack-down-begins-in-canada-new-zealand-portugal-spain/?sh=5ddf4d7b2f34">Netflix Password Crack Down Begins In Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/02/08/disney-will-reinstate-dividends-cut-7000-jobs-as-bob-iger-hones-in-on-bottom-line/?sh=7098520a40cd">Disney Will Reinstate Dividends, Cut 7,000 Jobs As Bob Iger Hones In On Bottom Line</a> (Forbes)



By Marisa Dellatto, Forbes Staff

Streaming – Disney+

Disney+ Loses Subscribers As Netflix Gains: Where All The Major Streaming Services Stand

<h2>Topline</h2>



Heading into the 65th Grammy Awards yesterday, Africa already celebrated the nine artists who had been nominated for the prestigious music awards. However, the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles saw four artists take home a Grammy in their respective categories which had the continent continuing the celebrations last night.



<h2>Key Facts</h2>



By far the biggest buzz on social media has been for 27-year-old Nigerian singer Tems who won a Grammy Award in the Best Melodic Rap Performance category for her contribution to the hit song Wait for U – a collaboration of musicians Future and Drake. This win has made her the second female artist from Nigeria to win the award.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1463258592.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-57459" width="579" height="386" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1463258592.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1463258592-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1463258592-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 579px) 100vw, 579px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>


“It’s incredible,” Temilade “Tems” Openiyi told Rolling Stone Magazine last night. “I get to work with people that five years ago were on my playlist. I was jamming to them and now I am working with them&#8230;and I feel like this is only the beginning.”



Openiyi has quite the busy year as the singer has also just been nominated for the 2023 Oscars for co-writing Lift Me Up, one of the songs in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.



South African artists Zakes Bantwini, Nomcebo Zikode and Wouter Kellerman took home a Grammy for Best Global Music Performance for their collaboration Bayethe.



“I think the beautiful story is we met with Wouter chatting about this at the South African Music Awards,” Bantwini said after winning the Grammy about how he met Kellerman at the South African Music Awards. “So we met at the awards in South Africa talking about this particular moment, and today we’re at the Grammys. Come on!”



“This award is not just for us, it’s for everyone back home,” Bantwini said in a statement. “This moment is testament to the fact that our dreams are valid and we can accomplish anything we set our minds on.



“I want every young kid in the ghetto in South Africa to dream big and believe that we deserve to be recognized on the biggest stages in the world.”



<h2 id="h-big-night-for-africa">Big Night For Africa</h2>



The awards were hosted by South African comedian and former The Daily Show host, South Africa’s Trevor Noah for the second time (the first time being in 2022).



Although not every African musician won in their category but in total the artists presented made up 11 nominations at the Grammys this year.



<figure class="wp-block-table"><table><tbody><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Artist </td><td>Country</td><td>Category </td><td>Result</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Temilade “Tems” Openiyi </td><td>Nigeria</td><td>Best Melodic Rap Performance: &#8220;WAIT FOR U&#8221; — Future featuring Drake &amp; Tems</td><td>Won</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Temilade “Tems” Openiyi</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>Rap Song: &#8220;WAIT FOR U” — Future featuring Drake &amp; Tems</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Temilade “Tems” Openiyi</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>Album of The Year: Beyonce’s Renaissance (As a featured artist)</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu- Burna Boy</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>Best Global Music Album: Love, Damini</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu- Burna Boy</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>Global Music Performance: &#8220;Last Last&#8220;</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Angélique Kidjo</td><td>Benin</td><td>Best Global Music Album: Queen of Sheba</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Angélique Kidjo</td><td>Benin</td><td>Best Song Written for Visual Media: The Woman King.</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Edrisah Musuuza-Eddy Kenzo</td><td>Uganda</td><td>Best Global Performance: Gimme Love</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Rocky Dawuni</td><td>Ghana</td><td>Best Global Performance: Featuring Blvk H3ro &#8211; Neva Bow Down</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Wouter Kellerman</td><td>South Africa</td><td>Best Global Music Performance Bayethe by Wouter Kellerman, Zakes Bantwini and Nomcebo Zikode</td><td>Won</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Nomcebo Zikode</td><td>South Africa</td><td>Best Global Music Performance Bayethe by Wouter Kellerman, Zakes Bantwini and Nomcebo Zikode</td><td>Won</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Zakes Bantwini</td><td>South Africa</td><td>Best Global Music Performance Bayethe by Wouter Kellerman, Zakes Bantwini and Nomcebo Zikode</td><td>Won</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>

65th GRAMMY Awards – Red Carpet

Another Historic Night For African Music: Nigeria’s ‘Tems’ Wins Big

<h2 id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



These are the most highly rated movies coming to streaming services in February according to our combined Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores, including Academy Award-winning films and animated favorites.



<h2>KEY FACTS</h2>



Streaming platforms are introducing a number of acclaimed movies and Oscar winners to their catalogs this February.



<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/01/new-on-netflix-the-best-movies-and-tv-shows-coming-and-leaving-in-february-2023" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Netflix</a>&nbsp;will soon make available award-winning films&nbsp;La La Land,&nbsp;Call Me By Your Name, and the&nbsp;Lord of the Rings&nbsp;series, alongside a slate of original content.



Animated hits like the Shrek and Shrek 2 (<a href="https://www.tvguide.com/news/new-movies-and-shows-on-amazon-prime-video-february-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Amazon Prime Video</a>) and How To Train Your Dragon 2 (<a href="https://press.hulu.com/schedule/february-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hulu</a>) are also set to debut on streaming.



<a href="https://pressroom.warnermedia.com/us/media-release/whats-new-hbo-max-february" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HBO Max</a> is adding a few Best Picture Oscar nominees, Gravity andTaxi Driver, and winners The Silence of the Lambs and Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).



<h2>NETFLIX</h2>



1.&nbsp;Call Me By Your Name, February 1&nbsp;(94%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/call_me_by_your_name" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 94%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/call-me-by-your-name" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>).



2.&nbsp;The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, February 1 (93%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_lord_of_the_rings_the_return_of_the_king" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 94%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-return-of-the-king" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



3.&nbsp;La La Land, February 1 (91%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/la_la_land" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 94%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/la-la-land" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



4.&nbsp;The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, February 1&nbsp;(91%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_lord_of_the_rings_the_fellowship_of_the_ring" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 92%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-fellowship-of-the-ring" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



5.&nbsp;The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, February 1 (95%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_lord_of_the_rings_the_two_towers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 87%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-two-towers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



6.&nbsp;It, February 1 (86%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/it_2017" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 69%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/it" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



7.&nbsp;Julie &amp; Julia, February 1&nbsp;(78%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/julie_and_julia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 66%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/julie-julia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



8.&nbsp;The Pursuit of Happyness, February 1&nbsp;(67%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pursuit_of_happyness" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 64%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-pursuit-of-happyness" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



9.&nbsp;Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, February 4 (72%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lyle_lyle_crocodile" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 51%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/lyle-lyle-crocodile" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



10.&nbsp;Operation Finale,&nbsp;February 20 (61%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/operation_finale" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 58%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/operation-finale" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



<h2>HULU</h2>



1.&nbsp;Amour, February 1 (93%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/amour_2013" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 95%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/amour" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



2.&nbsp;If Beale Street Could Talk, February 1 (95%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/if_beale_street_could_talk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 87%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/if-beale-street-could-talk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



3.&nbsp;Hold Your Fire, February 18 (95%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hold_your_fire_2021" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 82%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/hold-your-fire" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



4.&nbsp;How To Train Your Dragon 2, February 1 (92%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/how_to_train_your_dragon_2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 77%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/how-to-train-your-dragon-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



5.&nbsp;Something in the Dirt, February 10 (91%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/something_in_the_dirt" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 76%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/something-in-the-dirt" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



6.&nbsp;50/50, February 1 (93%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/5050_2011" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 72%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/5050" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



7.&nbsp;Superbad, February 1 (88%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/superbad" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 76%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/superbad" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



8.&nbsp;Piggy, February 9 (91%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/piggy_2022" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 72%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/piggy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



9.&nbsp;Arthur Christmas, February 1 (92%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/arthur_christmas" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 69%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/arthur-christmas" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



10.&nbsp;Blade Of The Immortal, February 15 (86%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blade_of_the_immortal" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 72%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/blade-of-the-immortal" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



<h2>AMAZON PRIME VIDEO (ALL RELEASING FEBRUARY 1)</h2>



1.&nbsp;(Tie) Almost Famous&nbsp;(89%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/almost_famous" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 90%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/almost-famous" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



1.&nbsp;(Tie) Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room&nbsp;(97%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/enron_the_smartest_guys_in_the_room" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 82%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/enron-the-smartest-guys-in-the-room" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



1.&nbsp;(Tie) Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am&nbsp;(97%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/toni_morrison_the_pieces_i_am" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 82%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/toni-morrison-the-pieces-i-am" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



4.&nbsp;The Breadwinner&nbsp;(95%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_breadwinner" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 78%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-breadwinner" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



5.&nbsp;Food, Inc&nbsp;(95%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/food_inc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 80%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/food-inc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



6.&nbsp;(Tie)&nbsp;Downhill Racer&nbsp;(85%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/downhill_racer" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 89%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/downhill-racer" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



6.&nbsp;(Tie) Sugar&nbsp;(92%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10009355-sugar" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 82%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/sugar" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



8.&nbsp;Shrek&nbsp;(88%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shrek" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 84%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/shrek" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



9.&nbsp;Devil In A Blue Dress&nbsp;(92%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/devil_in_a_blue_dress" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 78%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/devil-in-a-blue-dress" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



10.&nbsp;Tyson&nbsp;(85%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1208128-tyson" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 83%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/tyson" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



<h2>HBO MAX</h2>



1.&nbsp;Gravity, February 23&nbsp;(96%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gravity_2013" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 96%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/gravity" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



2.&nbsp;Taxi Driver, February 1&nbsp;(96%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/taxi_driver" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 94%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/taxi-driver-1976" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



3.&nbsp;Eighth Grade, February 1&nbsp;(99%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eighth_grade" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 89%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/eighth-grade" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



4.&nbsp;All That Breathes, February 7 (100%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/all_that_breathes" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 86%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/all-that-breathes" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



5.&nbsp;Honeyland, February 1&nbsp;(100%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/honeyland" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 85%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/honeyland" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



6.&nbsp;The Terminator, February 1&nbsp;(100%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/terminator" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 84%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-terminator" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



7.&nbsp;(Tie) Force Majeure, February 1&nbsp;(94%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/force_majeure_2014" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 87%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/force-majeure" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



7.&nbsp;(Tie) Platoon, February 1 (89%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/platoon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 92%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/platoon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



9.&nbsp;The Silence of the Lambs, February 1&nbsp;(95%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/silence_of_the_lambs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 85%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-silence-of-the-lambs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



10.&nbsp;The Miracle Worker, February 1&nbsp;(96%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1013973-miracle_worker" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, 83%&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-miracle-worker" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>)



<h2>KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Though scores from Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic can often be similar, each source uses a unique methodology to calculate scores. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes critics score</a>, known as the Tomatometer, is the percentage of critics that have given the film or television show a positive review. A movie or show with at least 60% positive reviews is given a fresh tomato symbol, while those with a score of less than 60% are given a splat symbol.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/about-metascores" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>&nbsp;calculates a weighted average of critics’ reviews for a film, television show or video game, assigning different weights to each critic and publication depending on importance or quality. Scores are displayed in green, yellow or red — indicating favorable, mixed or unfavorable reviews — and films with a score of at least 81% are designated as “must-see.” Both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic track user ratings, though these are displayed separately from critics scores.



<h2>FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2023/01/24/oscar-nominations-2023everything-everywhere-all-at-once-leads-pack/?sh=2cc1f82935e2">Oscar Nominations 2023: ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ Leads Pack</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2023/01/19/reed-hastings-steps-down-as-netflix-co-ceo-after-rocky-year-for-streaming-service/?sh=10f2df706d6c">Reed Hastings Steps Down As Netflix Co-CEO After Rocky Year For Streaming Service</a> (Forbes)



By Conor Murray, Forbes Staff

Watching Netflix On iPad

The Top-Rated Films—Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu And HBO Max—Streaming In February

Abdul Karim Abdullah, founder and CEO of Afrochella, on Ghana’s popular music and arts festival and that it will return with a new name.



“It all started out as a way to connect with African-Americans in Ghana,” says Abdul Karim Abdullah, CEO of Afrochella, a festival celebrating Africa’s diverse culture that will be rebranded as AfroFuture.



“I noticed there were limited daytime events [where] people can engage and speak to each other,” adds the founder about the beginnings of what has become Ghana’s biggest music festival over the Christmas period.



Abdullah, who also holds a day job working for an international pharmaceutical company as a clinical trial manager for cancer research, was born in the Bronx, New York, where his father and mother, who are Ghanaians, run a restaurant and a trading business respectively.



Growing up in New York, Abdullah was always immersed in the African community. Over the years, he had a dream to re-create some of the carnival events he attended in New York back in Africa where the community would come together to connect. Little did he know that his dream would turn into one of the biggest social events on the African social calendar attracting some of the biggest global superstars from the likes of Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Dave Chappelle and many more to the shores of Ghana.



But for Abdullah, this has been a slow and well thought-out journey.



“When we started the festival, I knew it had to be profitable and I still needed to keep my day job in order to live the lifestyle I wanted to live. But I am also passionate about the job that I do and I never thought I was going to fall in love with cancer research until I started the program in 2011.”



In 2014, after a hiatus of several years away from Ghana, Abdullah returned home over the holidays and had his first epiphany of creating an event bringing the diaspora together when they visited Ghana.



“Secondly, I am a very avid Twitter user and a couple of people from the diaspora were complaining that at Christmas, you come to Ghana and party and go and there is no benefit. I would see that people saw that friends were all coming to Ghana or Nigeria but they never had time to connect with each other on the ground,” says Abdullah.



Three years later, Abdullah and his team decided to do something about it. Prior to this, they had started a business to create Afro-inspired events in New York and they were keen to expand to Ghana.



After several iterations of the concept, they decided to create a festival where people could learn from each other and most importantly, drive the benefits to the people in Ghana as well as those from abroad. And just like that, Afrochella was born. The first event was a steep learning curve for the team. They had no money to hire the big artists so they decided on a strategy to focus on the emerging artists in Ghana who had the potential to be the next big thing.



“What I saw was there was a number of rising artists who were amazing at what they did and I noticed that we just wanted to do an event but we didn’t have any purpose behind it. So those rising star artists inspired me and I wanted to develop something. On December 28 2017, we had our first Afrochella.”



With no proper funding, Abdullah knew he had to get creative to get local businesses interested in partnering with them. They incorporated cultural elements that attracted startups in Ghana to partner with the festival. Today, those rising artists are some of Ghana’s biggest names.



“We only anticipated 2,500 people but we got 4,700 people so our expectations doubled and people traveled from all over the place just for one day.”



But Abdullah was not ready to celebrate just yet.



“We told ourselves, until we repeat what we achieved three times, we will not think this is worth pursuing. In year two, we grew from 4,700 to 12,500 in a stadium and that was the year we got a lot of partnerships and we had the endorsement of the Ghana Tourism Board. In 2019, we became the anchor event for The Year of Return [campaign] and that took us from 12,500 to 16,000 people and we had so many worldwide celebrities and tables sold out completely and we were overwhelmed with the amount of support we got,” says Abdullah.



Afrochella had ushered in a new wave of party-goers and cultural aficionados in Ghana. Five festivals later and the festival is still a hit with Ghanaians, African-American celebrities and the diaspora.



In 2022 though, they drew backlash from a much more established festival in the United States. Organizers of Coachella, the hugely-popular annual music and arts desert festival, reportedly filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Afrochella on the basis of leveraging its intellectual property and calling Afrochella the “Coachella of Africa”.



“We cannot really comment on the status of the lawsuit at this time as it is still ongoing but what I will say is we are in a good place,” comments Abdullah.



The brand also offers curated tours across Ghana for those wanting to experience the country’s heritage. Their vision is a lot more streamlined now.



“We have been approached for equity but for us it’s all about keeping the integrity of the event so we haven’t pursued that. We have had partnerships with Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Sony music, Apple music and Hennessey. We also didn’t know who to hire. We had to understand the different roles like health and safety, production, source the different festival managers we needed, security check points and barricades,” says Abdullah.



The brand is still going strong, he attests, confirming that Afrochella will be back as AfroFuture.



“The festival is in a great place! We are ushering in a new era of gap-bridging for the black diaspora.”



As 2022 closed with new partnerships, from Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty to American rap sensation Meek Mill taking the stage, Afrochella has put Ghana on the festival map with the country’s tourism industry reaping the rewards.

#TwitterVoices Dinner: #AfricaToTheWorld

Bringing The World To A Festival In Ghana

The negatives of the 1988 anti-apartheid South African film, Mapantsula, lying in a basement for 35 years, have now been restored, to be unveiled at the Berlin International Film Festival next month. FORBES AFRICA speaks to director Oliver Schmitz about the technical process, its enduring relevance and bringing the film back to social memory.



Cut to the 1980s apartheid South Africa and a film released during that time.



Written by Oliver Schmitz and Thomas Mogotlane, Mapantsula debuted originally at the Cannes Film Festival in 1988, amassing worldwide acclaim.



Now, the 35mm negatives of the film have been restored to a 4k resolution by R3store Studios in London.



In 1988, the film-makers had registered it as an apolitical gangster movie in order to get it past the censor board. The apartheid regime’s Directorate of Publications made 17 cuts of 40 seconds before the film was publicized in South Africa.



“I never cut the film. And we were completely against those cuts. I never approved or saw any version of the film in a cut form,” says Schmitz to FORBES AFRICA.



Key cast and crew members agreed to let the film be pirated on VHS, never earning anything on the African release, but the film was pirated and seen endlessly, he explains.



Recently, Schmitz decided that if he didn’t restore the film, it would either disappear or end up as a bad copy on YouTube. He invested his own money with Aaryan Trivedi, his partner at What The Hero Wants (WTHW).



Color correction, picture and sound processing were done at PurpleDOG Post, a post-production house in Canada, and original analogue audio tracks were enhanced and re-mastered. Final adjustments were made at Studio Mitte.



Schmitz spent a lot of time bringing the vibrancy of the color back from the faded film.



“So now with hindsight and a firmer grasp of the technique – and not changing it because it&#8217;s very important that the same film comes to life again – the color is much more intense. So I&#8217;m very happy about that.”



Arguably, the themes of the film remain relevant today; South Africa has a high crime rate, stark economic inequality, a legacy of enduring violence, employer-employee power imbalances in informal work, and police brutality.



Some would contend that poor black people remain second class citizens, and the film’s representation of how structural racism affects both the criminal and law-abiding person remains pertinent.



Out of interest, Schmitz has been asking South Africans of all ages to comment on how the film impacts them.



“What affirms my opinions in a way is that a lot of young South Africans watch the film, and it feels as relevant to them as it did to another generation back then… And publicizing some of that now, I think a lot of those issues are as valid as they were before, and [while] it is about this very specific time in South African history, the socioeconomic conditions – a lot of them are still very much there.”



Regardless of a change of system, he adds that the system the film explored remains in South Africa in many ways.



“We commented on this at the time, about these characters being agents in their own story; it was very important for us that this film is a celebration in a weird way, because it&#8217;s about resilience and about empowerment, and the characters are not an object, or pawn pieces on a chessboard to show how bad things are, in a sense of suffering.”



The main character Panic is an opportunistic, petty criminal who is caught between individual advancement and the social drive to revolt against apartheid’s injustices.



Schmitz says that while he’s not going to go into a justification of criminality, there’s always been an element where crime is a rebellion against a system and structure, and out of need as well.



The subculture of AmaPantsula developed in the 1950s, considered then in some quarters to be well-dressed “gangsters”. That idea has been debated, as the subculture has also been documented as a response to forced removals by the apartheid regime, according to Unlabelled Magazine in a 2019 article on The Evolution of The Pantsula Subculture.



“I think what it was then was very individualistic, and a kind of way of being a rebel. And what it&#8217;s now as a subculture of music and dance is something more communal,” muses Schmitz.



He says you can draw a thread through time in terms of music and style, with present Pantsula culture paying homage to the past, but he believes as a style and dance, it’s morphed into something else.



In terms of the technical process, he says he never would’ve imagined how much work it would be – with a negative in a basement for 35 years, and chemicals in film that are not static through time.



“There’s blotches, there’s streaking, scratching, there&#8217;s dust, there’s fading. The focus, which kind of disappears, it&#8217;s almost like memories fading, and you have to try and get all of it back,” he explains.



Schmitz recalls how Kodak film had pulled out of South Africa because of the sanctions, so the only stock left was a German high-speed stock, which was more light-sensitive but grainier. Pushing the film material resulted in more grain.



The restoration process made him want to cry, and alternately, sometimes he thought the product looked great. Along the way, there were several committed people who helped bring it back to life, he says.



“Maybe there&#8217;s lessons to learn for other films, and maybe for other South African films so that they don&#8217;t disappear. Because we live in a culture where anything that’s pre-digital, unless it’s pulled into the digital age, it will be out of the communal memory, it will stop existing because it&#8217;s not in our current world.”



The newly-restored film is set to be unveiled at the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) next month.

Still from Mapantsula (1988) film restored 1

From Memory To Technicolor: South African Apartheid-Era Film To See New Life In Digital Age

<h2 id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings stepped down as co-CEO after 25 years at the company’s helm, Netflix <a href="https://s22.q4cdn.com/959853165/files/doc_financials/2022/q4/FINAL-Q4-22-Shareholder-Letter.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> Thursday in its fourth quarter earnings report, after the streaming service added over 7 million subscribers in the last three months of 2022, surpassing expectations as it reported slightly increased revenue after a difficult first half of the year for the content giant.



<h2>KEY FACTS</h2>



Former COO Greg Peters will replace Hastings as co-CEO of Netflix, joining the company’s existing Co-CEO Ted Sarandos, while Hastings—a cofounder of the brand—will stay on as the brand’s Executive Chairman.



The streaming giant reported 230.75 million subscribers, an increase of 7.66 million from the third quarter—more than the 4.5 million it expected to add.



Netflix reported revenue of $7.85 billion in the fourth quarter, roughly 1.2% more than the $7.7 billion reported in the same period last year and falling in line with analyst forecasts.



Net income, meanwhile, went down from last year to $55 million, or $0.12 per share, compared to $607 million one year ago and below average analyst expectations of $0.45 per share.



Netflix shares increased nearly 5% in after-hours trading immediately after the announcement; shares have plunged 37% over the past year, far more than the tech-heavy Nasdaq&#8217;s 23% decline.



<h2>FORBES VALUATION</h2>



Hastings is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/reed-hastings/?sh=4ee7c4012782">worth</a>&nbsp;an estimated $3.3 billion, according to&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;estimates. The 62-year-old owns about 2% of Netflix, which went public in 2002. Sarandos was promoted to co-CEO in 2020.



<h2>KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



The earnings report marks the end of one of the rockiest years in Netflix’s history. In the first quarter, it reported subscriber losses for the first time in a decade, which continued into the second quarter. The streaming giant began adding subscribers again in the third quarter, however, reversing its subscriber losses in the first half of the year. The company blamed the losses in part on households that share accounts and passwords with one another, and launched test programs in some countries to combat the issue. It’s been reported this program will roll out to the U.S. sometime this year. Netflix also launched a cheaper, ad-supported tier in November to increase its subscriber base, though Digiday reported last month the company is falling behind on viewership expectations it promised to advertisers, and the Wall Street Journal reported data showing only 9% of new Netflix users were those who signed up for the ad-supported tier in its first month. Still, Netflix shows released in 2022 saw record viewership. Five of the top 10 <a href="https://top10.netflix.com/tv" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">most viewed English-language shows</a> in their first month on Netflix were released last year.



<h2>TANGENT</h2>



Hastings, 62, tweeted that he will stay on as executive chairman for “many years to come,” and he’s “so confident” in Peters and Sarandos’ leadership. “Twice the heart, double the ability to please members &amp; accelerate growth,” Hastings wrote. He&nbsp;<a href="https://about.netflix.com/en/news/ted-sarandos-greg-peters-co-ceos-netflix" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;he plans to spend “more time on philanthropy” and focus on Netflix’s stock. In a statement, Hastings compared himself to Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who have passed “the CEO baton to others.”



<h2>FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/12/20/netflix-shares-dip-as-first-month-of-ad-supported-subscription-reportedly-disappoints/?sh=47a5f7953a24">Netflix Shares Dip As First Month Of Ad-Supported Subscription Reportedly Disappoints</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/12/15/netflix-reportedly-isnt-meeting-viewership-expectations-for-some-advertisers/?sh=3f954d516a74">Netflix Reportedly Isn’t Meeting Viewership Expectations For Some Advertisers</a> (Forbes)



By Marisa Dellatto, Forbes Staff

Latest Consumer Technology Products On Display At CES 2016

Reed Hastings Steps Down As Netflix Co-CEO After Rocky Year For Streaming Service

<h2 id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



The mother of one of Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims spoke out against the hit Netflix series Dahmer—Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story after its lead actor won a Golden Globe this week, saying the depiction of murderers in pop culture “keeps the obsession” with killers going, making her the latest family member of a Dahmer victim to criticize the series.



<h2>KEY FACTS</h2>



Shirley Hughes, the mother of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tmz.com/2023/01/12/evan-peters-golden-globes-win-slammed-jeffrey-dahmer-victim-mom/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tony Hughes</a>, whose murder by Dahmer in 1991 was depicted in the Netflix series, told TMZ that “sick people thrive on the fame” and added it’s “a shame that people can take our tragedy and make money.”



Actor Evan Peters—who played Dahmer—should have used his Golden Globes acceptance speech to recognize the serial killer’s <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2023/01/12/evan-peters-golden-globes-win-slammed-jeffrey-dahmer-victim-mom/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">victims and their families</a>, Hughes told TMZ, although she added that he shouldn’t have accepted the role in the first place “out of respect for the families still living with heartbreak from losing loved ones.”



Rita Isbell, whose 19-year-old brother, Eric Perry, was killed by Dahmer, called the show “<a href="https://www.insider.com/rita-isbell-sister-jeffrey-dahmer-victim-talks-about-netflix-show-2022-9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">harsh and careless</a>” last year. (Isbell gave a victim impact statement at Dahmer’s 1992 trial that was dramatized in the Netflix series.)



Isbell wrote in a September essay for Insider that she wishes some of the show’s profits had been donated to the children of Dahmer’s victims, saying it’s “<a href="https://www.insider.com/rita-isbell-sister-jeffrey-dahmer-victim-talks-about-netflix-show-2022-9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sad</a>” the streamer is “just making money off of this tragedy. That&#8217;s just greed.”



Perry’s daughter, Tatiana Banks—who was born six months after her father’s murder—told Insider in October the series&#8217; renewed interest in her father’s killer has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.insider.com/daughter-jeffrey-dahmer-victim-errol-lindsey-nightmares-since-netflix-show-2022-10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">opened old wounds</a>, saying that “chapter of my life was closed and they reopened it, basically.”



Multiple family members of victims have claimed they were never contacted about the Netflix series before Dahmer began streaming last year, which has sparked criticism from people like Perry, who said they should have been notified as “people who are actually <a href="https://www.insider.com/daughter-jeffrey-dahmer-victim-errol-lindsey-nightmares-since-netflix-show-2022-10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">still grieving</a> from that situation” (a claim the show’s creators have denied).



<h2>CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



“We’re all&nbsp;<a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2022-09-30/netflix-monster-jeffrey-dahmer-story-controversy-victims-eric-perry-rita-isbell" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">one traumatic event&nbsp;</a>away from the worst day of your life being reduced to your neighbor’s favorite binge show,” Eric Perry, whose cousin Errol Lindsey was killed by Dahmer in 1991, told the&nbsp;Los Angeles Times&nbsp;in September. Perry added that if a company like Netflix is “going to create something that uses real-world people and experiences, you should at minimum contact those people out of respect.”



<h2>CONTRA</h2>



Creator Ryan Murphy&nbsp;<a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2022-10-28/jeffrey-dahmer-netflix-ryan-murphy-family-members" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">denied</a>&nbsp;claims that no one from the&nbsp;Dahmer&nbsp;team reached out to the families, saying during an October Directors Guild of America event in Los Angeles that his team contacted about 20 friends and relatives of victims and that “not a single person&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/ryan-murphy-says-he-reached-out-to-20-of-the-victims-family-and-friends-for-dahmer-series-not-a-single-person-responded-to-us-1235250610/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">responded</a>&nbsp;to us in that process,” according to&nbsp;The Hollywood Reporter.



<h2>TANGENT</h2>



During his&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/nbc/status/1613020584946069506?s=20&amp;t=K5hAr0GT8hTwQFSWc17BxA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">acceptance speech</a>, Peters said the series “was a hard one to make” and “a difficult one to watch,” but added “I sincerely hope some good came out of it.”&nbsp;Dahmer&nbsp;was nominated for four Golden Globes, but only took home Peter’s win for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television.



<h2>BIG NUMBER</h2>



962.4 million.&nbsp;That’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2022/12/30/netflix-reveals-its-top-10-shows-and-movies-of-2022/?sh=752645cc859f">how many hours</a>&nbsp;the Netflix audience spent watching&nbsp;Dahmer&nbsp;last year after its September premiere. It was the third most popular series on the platform, following only&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/05/31/stranger-things-4-sets-netflix-viewership-record-in-opening-weekend/">Stranger Things</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2023/01/06/netflix-announces-wednesday-season-two-after-rumors-swirled-about-delay---heres-what-happened/?sh=31f41469608e">Wednesday</a>.



<h2>KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Between 1978 and 1991, Dahmer murdered&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2022/09/28/jeffrey-dahmers-17-victims-and-what-we-knew-them-errol-lindsey-rita-isbell-anthony-tony-hughes/10443235002/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">17 men and boys</a>, the vast majority of who were people of color or LBGTQ. Dahmer also performed cruel experiments on his victims and committed necrophilia and cannibalism. The Netflix series shows how Milwaukee authorities ignored and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/10/11/racism-homophobia-enabled-jeffrey-dahmers-crimes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">downplayed concerns about Dahmer</a>&nbsp;raised by members of the Northside community, a part of the city that is predominantly Black. After being convicted, Dahmer was sentenced in 1992 to 15 consecutive life sentences. He only served three years before he was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/29/us/jeffrey-dahmer-multiple-killer-is-bludgeoned-to-death-in-prison.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bludgeoned to death</a>&nbsp;in 1994 by another inmate.



<h2>FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2023/01/10/golden-globes-2023-abbott-elementary-the-banshees-of-inisherin-win-big/?sh=1e6266fb59c5">Golden Globes 2023: ‘Abbott Elementary,’ ‘The Banshees Of Inisherin’ Win Big</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2022/12/30/netflix-reveals-its-top-10-shows-and-movies-of-2022/?sh=752645cc859f">Netflix Reveals Its Top 10 Shows And Movies Of 2022</a> (Forbes)



By Carlie Porterfield, Forbes Staff

80th Annual Golden Globe Awards – Press Room

Dahmer Victim’s Mother Blasts Netflix Series After Actor Wins Golden Globe—Latest Family Member To Speak Out

<h2 id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water earned $18 million in the U.S. on New Year’s Eve, totaling $1.37 billion globally in the long-awaited sequel’s third week, as the movie earned $31 million more than the second-highest grossing film through Friday and Saturday.



<h2>KEY FACTS</h2>



Avatar: The Way of Water&nbsp;earned $24.4 million domestically Friday and $18 million Saturday, totaling $400 million at the domestic box office.



Puss in Boots: The Last Wish earned $11.16 million domestically through the same two-day period, followed by Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($3.12 million), the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody ($2.68 million) and Babylon ($1.67 million).



The sci-fi sequel is now the 15th highest-grossing film of all time, passing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($1.34 billion), after adding $186 million internationally.



<h2>BIG NUMBER</h2>



$152.8 million. That’s how much&nbsp;The Way of the Water&nbsp;has earned in China—the most out of any other market outside the U.S.



<h2>SURPRISING FACT</h2>



Cameron estimates the film—which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2022/12/avatar-the-way-of-water-grosses-17-million-what-it-means-1234792860/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly</a>&nbsp;cost $400 million to produce—will need to be the “third or fourth highest-grossing film in history” in order to break even, according to an interview with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gq.com/story/james-cameron-profile-men-of-the-year-2022?utm_source=twitter&amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_medium=social&amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_brand=gq&amp;amp;amp;amp;mbid=social_twitter&amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_social-type=owned" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GQ</a>. This will require&nbsp;The Way of Water&nbsp;to earn roughly $2 billion—sitting somewhere between&nbsp;Titanic&nbsp;($2.2 billion),&nbsp;Star Wars: Episode VII &#8211; The Force Awakens&nbsp;($2.06 billion) and&nbsp;Avengers: Infinity War&nbsp;($2.04 billion).



<h2>KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Reviews for Cameron’s sequel have generally been positive, with a 92% audience score on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/avatar_the_way_of_water" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, though the site’s critics have rated the film at 77%. Other critics and audiences have rated&nbsp;The Way of Water&nbsp;67/100 and 7.4/10, respectively, on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/avatar-the-way-of-water" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>. The highest-grossing film released in 2022 is still&nbsp;Top Gun: Maverick, which has since earned $1.48 billion globally.



<h2>FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/markhughes/2022/12/28/avatar-sequel-tops-1-billion-as-second-highest-grossing-film-of-2022/?sh=53a94b687aa8">‘Avatar’ Sequel Tops $1 Billion As Second-Highest Grossing Film Of 2022</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/12/17/avatar-the-way-of-water-rakes-in-53-million-opening-day-which-may-not-be-enough/?sh=477b9328bac3">‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’ Rakes In $53 Million Opening Day — Which May Not Be Enough</a> (Forbes)



By Ty Roush, Forbes Staff

‘Avatar’ Sequel Has Earned $1.37 Billion Globally — Putting It Within Striking Distance Of Highest Grossing Films Of All Time

<h2 id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



As 433 million Spotify users across the world get a peek at what their most popular songs are in 2022 as per ‘Spotify Wrapped’, it does come as a surprise that in sub-Saharan Africa, there’s been a 93% year-on-year increase in the popularity of K-Pop streams.



<h2>Key Background</h2>



According to Swedish audio streaming and media services provider, Spotify, this year, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for over 3 billion hours of streaming for the East Asian musical genre K-Pop.



K-Pop is a form of popular music originating in South Korea that has dominated the music industry globally. The virality of South Korean artist Psy’s 2012 smash hit Gangnam Style, first saw the rise of the genre.



“It’s clear from this data that K-Pop is not just a passing phase, but has a devoted and growing African fandom,” says Spotify’s head of music for sub-Saharan Africa, Phiona Okumu.



Some of the key markets contributing to this increase are Nigeria, where there was a 267% increase in K-Pop streams, Ghana with 236% and Kenya that saw a 140% increase.



Although genres like Amapiano and Afrobeats continued to be on the rise on the continent, it did gain a lot of popularity in 2022 across the globe. According to Spotify, Amapiano became South Africa’s hottest genre, with artists like Ntokozo Mdluli, known professionally as K.O, claiming the seat for the most-streamed song in South Africa with his single SETE.



FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 alum, Kabelo Petrus Motha (Kabza De Small), was 2022’s most streamed artist.



Spotify reported that Amapiano surpassed a billion global streams as they predicted it would in May this year.



In South Africa, Amapiano started out as an underground genre where music was shared amongst artists and producers via applications such as WhatsApp, Okumu said to FORBES AFRICA in August.



“It has since become one of the most popular genres on the continent and has gained great momentum internationally. Amapiano musicians are dominating the South African music landscape.”



“South Africans can be proud of what their creatives in music are achieving. They are making noise in the right places, and at the right time,” says Warren Bokwe, Spotify’s Artist and Label Partnerships Manager in South Africa.



“Streaming has become instrumental in not only enabling the discovery of African music abroad but also in exposing African listeners to new and unexpected sounds,” Okumu adds.



<h2>Big Numbers</h2>



According to Macrotrends, Spotify’s net worth as of December 2022 is $15.02 billion.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon – Season 8

The Rise And Rise Of An East Asian Music Genre In Africa

<h2 id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Disney’s&nbsp;Black Panther: Wakanda Forever&nbsp;continued to top the U.S. box office charts for the fifth consecutive week by raking in an estimated $11.1 million this weekend, according to Box Office Mojo, a streak that is all but certain to be broken next week with the release of James Cameron’s highly anticipated follow-up to 2009’s&nbsp;Avatar.



<h2>KEY FACTS</h2>



Wakanda Forever, the latest superhero film in Disney’s long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe and the direct sequel to 2018’s&nbsp;Black Panther, has recorded total domestic box office sales of $409.8 million so far.



The&nbsp;Black Panther&nbsp;sequel is only the third movie this year to breach the $400 million mark at the box office, and later this week, it will become the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2022/?ref_=bo_yl_table_1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">second-highest-grossing</a>&nbsp;movie at the domestic box office in 2022, only behind the Tom Cruise-led&nbsp;Top Gun: Maverick.



Universal Pictures’ Christmas action-comedy&nbsp;Violent Night&nbsp;finished second on the box office charts for the second consecutive weekend after bringing in an estimated $8.7 million this weekend.



Disney’s latest animated feature&nbsp;Strange World,&nbsp;which has been a major flop for the studio, continued its poor run and reported only $3.6 million to finish in a distant third place.



The lack of any major new release meant an overall grim weekend for the box office, which only managed to gross around $39 million, making it the second worst weekend of the year.



<h2>TANGENT</h2>



The Darren Aronofsky-directed feature&nbsp;The Whale,&nbsp;which stars Brendan Fraser, managed to rake in $360,000 at the box office despite being released only across six theaters in New York and Los Angeles. According to the&nbsp;Hollywood Reporter, the movie’s per-theater weekend average of $60,000 is the best for any movie released this year, outdoing&nbsp;Everything Everywhere All at Once’s $50,000 per theater. Despite&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_whale_2022" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">middling reviews</a>&nbsp;and a somber story, online interest in the film has remained strong after reports of it receiving standing ovations across the festival circuit and the internet’s adulation of Fraser, who is in the middle of a career renaissance.



<h2>WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



The coming release of Disney’s&nbsp;Avatar: The Way of the Water—the highly anticipated sequel to James Cameron’s 2009 blockbuster Avatar—will almost certainly boost next weekend’s box office numbers. But how big an opening the Avatar sequel can score remains a question. The first&nbsp;Avatar&nbsp;is the fourth highest-grossing film of all time at the domestic box office and the highest of all time when global box office numbers are taken into account, with total worldwide earnings of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0499549/?ref_=bo_cso_table_4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$2.9 billion</a>. The follow-up to Cameron’s technical and visual masterpiece has been several years in the making, although it is unclear if the franchise has managed to build any kind of a dedicated fanbase like Disney’s other mega properties like Star Wars and Marvel.



<h2>KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



The Black Panther sequel is close to snapping up the second-place spot in domestic box office sales for 2022 after its strong weekend performance left it just $1.5 million shy of&nbsp;Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness—another Marvel release. Once it outpaces Doctor Strange’s tally,&nbsp;Wakanda Forever&nbsp;will become the most successful Marvel Cinematic Universe distributed by Disney since 2019’s&nbsp;Avengers: Endgame—beaten only by 2021’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt10872600/?ref_=bo_se_r_1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Spider-Man: No Way Home</a>&nbsp;which was distributed by Sony. Despite its success,&nbsp;Wakanda Forever&nbsp;still trails the original Black Panther which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2992866817/?ref_=bo_we_table_1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">raked in</a>&nbsp;$202 million on its debut weekend and ended its run with $700 million in domestic box office sales.



<h2>WEEKEND BOX OFFICE DOMESTIC GROSSES (EST.)</h2>



<ol><li>Black Panther: Wakanda Forever&nbsp;(Week 5) — $11.1 million</li><li>Violent Night&nbsp;(Week 2) — $8.7 million</li><li>Strange World&nbsp;(Week 3) — $3.6 million</li><li>The Menu&nbsp;(Week 4) — $2.7 million</li><li>Devotion&nbsp;(Week 3) — $2 million</li><li>Black Adam&nbsp;(Week 8) — $1.3 million</li><li>The Fabelmans&nbsp;(Week 5) — $1.2 million</li><li>I Heard The Bells&nbsp;(Week 2) — $751,000</li><li>Spoiler Alert&nbsp;(Week 2) — $700,000</li><li>Ticket To Paradise&nbsp;(Week 8) — $600,000</li></ol>



<h2>FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://deadline.com/2022/12/box-office-avatar-way-of-water-wakanda-forever-second-lowest-1235195382/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Weekend Box Office At $38M, Near 2022 Low Before ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’ Soaks Up All The Air</a>&nbsp;(Deadline)



<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/black-panther-wakanda-forever-box-office-leaps-past-1235279679/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Box Office: ‘Black Panther 2’ Leads Otherwise Dismal Weekend, Leaps Past $400M Domestically</a>&nbsp;(The Hollywood Reporter)



By Siladitya Ray, Forbes Staff

Weekend Box Office: ‘Wakanda Forever’ Leads For Fifth Week Ahead Of ‘Avatar’ Sequel Release

<h2 id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



As 2022 comes to a close, music streaming giants Pandora and Apple Music have released their lists of the top music of the year, with Latin artist Bad Bunny dominating both charts, alongside songs from Future, Drake and Tems and Justin Bieber and The Kid Laroi—here’s a guide to the most popular tunes of the year.



<h2>KEY FACTS</h2>



Pandora:&nbsp;Bad Bunny secured the most spots on Pandora’s Top Twenty Thumbed Tracks of 2022, the radio streaming service’s list of listeners most-loved songs of the year, which was released Tuesday and included data starting in mid-November 2021, and “WAIT FOR U,” from Future feat. Drake and Tems earned the top spot on the chart.



Apple Music:&nbsp;Bad Bunny’s&nbsp;Un Verano Sin Ti&nbsp;was the biggest album from November 1, 2021 to October 21, 2022 on Apple Music, the streaming service&nbsp;<a href="https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/top-songs-of-2022-global/pl.a012b60412c6416391c4e1cd3645a45f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;Tuesday, making him the first Latin artist to take the top spot; The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber’s 2021 song “STAY” was the top song on the streaming service globally during that time.



<h2>PANDORA&#8217;S TOP THUMBED TRACKS OF 2022</h2>



<ol><li>“WAIT FOR U,” Future feat. Drake and Tems</li><li>“PROVENZA,” Karol G</li><li>“TO THE MOON,” Jnr Choi</li><li>“I Hate U,” SZA</li><li>“Do We Have A Problem?,” Nicki Minaj and Lil Baby</li><li>“As It Was,” Harry Styles</li><li>“First Class,” Jack Harlow</li><li>“Me Porto Bonito,” Bad Bunny and Chencho Corleone</li><li>“Hate Our Love,” Queen Naija and Big Sean</li><li>“You Proof,” Morgan Wallen</li></ol>



<h2>APPLE MUSIC’S TOP SONGS OF 2022: GLOBAL</h2>



<ol><li>“Stay,” The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber</li><li>“As It Was,” Harry Styles</li><li>“WAIT FOR U,” Future feat. Drake and Tems</li><li>“Super Gremlin,” Kodak Black</li><li>“Easy On Me,” Adele</li><li>“Heat Waves,” Glass Animals</li><li>“Cold Heart (PNAU Remix),” Elton John and Dua Lipa</li><li>“First Class,” Jack Harlow</li><li>“Me Porto Bonito,” Bad Bunny and Chencho Corleone</li><li>“abcdefu,” GAYLE</li></ol>



<h2>KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Last year, Dua Lipa’s “Levitating,” Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license,” BTS’ “Dynamite” and Cardi B’s “Up” were some of the most popular songs, according to Spotify,&nbsp;Billboard, Apple Music and other music players. Harry Styles’ “As It Was” is expected to dominate several 2022 lists, as it spent more weeks at No. 1 on&nbsp;Billboard’s&nbsp;Hot 100 chart than any other song this year.



<h2>FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2021/12/02/most-popular-music-of-2021-dua-lipa-drake-top-billboards-year-end-lists/?sh=107ff09a29aa">Most Popular Music Of 2021: Dua Lipa, Drake Top Billboard’s Year-End Lists</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



By Marisa Dellatto, Forbes Staff

In this photo illustration the Apple Music logo and app is

Most Popular Music Of 2022: Bad Bunny Dominates Pandora And Apple Music Charts

<h2 id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



2022 has been a great year for African music, and it seems that this streak is set to continue as yet another artist from the continent has broken barriers and is being recognized globally. Edrisah Musuuza, popularly known as Eddy Kenzo, has become the first Ugandan to be nominated for the prestigious Grammy Awards.



<h2>Key Facts</h2>



This week, the Recording Academy announced the nominees for the 65th annual Grammy Awards, which will be handed out on February 5, 2023 in Los Angeles.



Musuuza went to Instagram to express what an honor and a great time this is for his country to make it to the list of nominees for the awards.



&#8220;I couldn&#8217;t believe that I&#8217;m nominated in @recordingacademy,&#8221; he shared on Instagram.



And then tweeted: “We are so grateful to God almighty for such a great moment in our country. Fellow artists thank you, this is for all of us. Uganda thank you for raising me. East Africa stand up.”



Musuuza was nominated alongside Ghana’s Rocky Dawuni; South Africa’s Wouter Kellerman; Zakes Bantwini and Nomcebo Zikode; and Burna Boy are all running for Best Global Music Performance.



Five-time Grammy Award winner Angélique Kidjo has also now been nominated for Best Global Music Album.



Nigerian superstar, Tems, is also in the running alongside international rappers, Future and Drake, in the Best Melodic Rap Performance category for the song, ‘Wait For U’.

Screenshot 2022-11-19 at 15.31.39

Uganda’s First Grammy Nomination Adds To Record Year For African Music

Ady Fleming on the music thriving in Rainbow Nation.



By Ross Holland



If you want to truly understand house music, just ask Adrian Fleming, the South African house DJ, music and event promoter and overall music enthusiast also known by his stage name, Ady Fleming.



Fleming has played in nightclubs and concert stages all over Johannesburg and across South Africa, his most notable performances being at the Rocking the Daisies music and lifestyle festival in Cape Town and at Deep Town Jozi, the monthly house party, in Johannesburg. He also plays at popular nightclubs such as And Club and ToyToy in Johannesburg.



He is riding the wave of what is a popular trend these days the world over.



According to Spotify, the period 2020 to 2022 saw Deep House South Africa showing a massive increase in streaming, both locally and internationally; the average year-on-year increase at 75% locally and 73% internationally.



This has seen Fleming expand his horizons with a roster of events and a possible international tour in the works, all whilst working on his new pet project Blun, a club event meant to explore the more dubby side of house music. Fleming has plans of splitting his brand into different avenues: a music agency, a record label and a music production company.



Fleming credits his love for music to his parents who weren’t professional musicians but had a great aptitude for it. Speaking to FORBES AFRICA, he happily recalls the days when he was asked to dance at family gatherings.



“I was a kid who just loved to dance at family functions… house music just gave me that feeling.”



He was in his teens when he had his first encounter with someone mixing music in front of a live audience, and says “it was quite cool”.



He soon learned to spin records from a childhood friend who was a DJ on weekends, and he chose house music, crediting pioneers such as Vinny DaVinci and Oskido who made the new sounds popular in South Africa in the early 2000s.



“We could easily resonate with house music because it had touches of soul, hip-hop, disco… it felt like home,” Fleming states.



At 16, Fleming formed a group comprising of adolescent DJs who played sets in the 2000s in and around Johannesburg South.



Along with other collaborations in the works, his new brand is taking form and Fleming has a busy year coming up. But he takes it all in his stride.



“Music takes time,” he adds in closing. For this particular South African house DJ, the beat goes on, and on.

Screenshot 2022-11-02 at 08.28.15

‘Music That Feels Like Home’: South African DJ On The Growth Of House Music

<h2 id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Rihanna confirmed Wednesday she will release her first new song in five years on Friday, marking the singer’s long-awaited return to music after focusing on her makeup and lingerie lines.



<h2>KEY FACTS</h2>



The single, called “Lift Me Up,” is part of the soundtrack for the upcoming movie&nbsp;Black Panther: Wakanda Forever—Marvel Studios&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/MarvelStudios/status/1585073731524706305?s=20&amp;t=Kd8MD4ZG4hA8AbKWGJqplA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>&nbsp;a video of the movie’s logo, with the letter “R” moving out and glistening, the same “R” Rihanna shared&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/rihanna/status/1585302326318813185?s=20&amp;t=qQ7k1WV_HzaXDt8VlwOWpQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">on social media</a>&nbsp;on Wednesday.&nbsp;



The short clip of the tune shared by Rihanna features her humming.&nbsp;



The song was written as a tribute to&nbsp;Black Panther&nbsp;star Chadwick Boseman, who died from cancer in 2020,&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2022/music/news/rihanna-song-black-panther-wakanda-forever-1235412876/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Variety</a>&nbsp;reported.



Many fans expected Rihanna’s return to music was coming after she announced last month she would perform at the upcoming Super Bowl halftime show.&nbsp;



However, the singer has not announced any plans of releasing her ninth studio album.



<h2>FORBES VALUATION</h2>



Rihanna first became a billionaire in August and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2021/08/04/fentys-fortune-rihanna-is-now-officially-a-billionaire/?sh=580a927f7c96">Forbes&nbsp;estimates</a>&nbsp;her net worth is $1.4 billion.&nbsp;



<h2>KEY BACKGROUND&nbsp;</h2>



Rihanna last appeared on N.E.R.D.’s song “Lemon” in 2017. Her last album&nbsp;Anti&nbsp;was released in 2016. During her hiatus from music, she’s grown her Fenty business empire, including her Fenty Beauty makeup line, her Fenty Skin skincare line and her Savage X Fenty lingerie line. This year, she confirmed she was pregnant with her first child, with her boyfriend, rapper A$AP Rocky. The couple&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tmz.com/2022/05/19/rihanna-asap-rocky-gives-birth-welcomes-baby-boy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly</a>&nbsp;welcomed a baby boy in May.&nbsp;



<h2>WHAT TO WATCH FOR&nbsp;</h2>



Wakanda Forever&nbsp;is the sequel to 2018’s wildly successful&nbsp;Black Panther, and will be released in theaters on November 11. The first movie’s soundtrack was curated by Kendrick Lamar, and his song for the film with SZA, “All The Stars,” was nominated for the the Oscar for Best Original Song. Rihanna’s annual Savage X Fenty fashion show hits Amazon Prime Video on November 9, and is set to feature performances by Burna Boy and Anitta, and appearances by Sheryl Lee Ralph, Cara Delevingne and Simu Liu.&nbsp;



<h2>BIG NUMBER</h2>



9. That’s how many Grammy awards Rihanna has won.&nbsp;



<h2>FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/09/25/rihanna-will-headline-next-years-super-bowl-halftime-show/?sh=ecf577b1e7ca">Rihanna Will Headline Next Year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/01/31/rihanna-is-pregnant-and-expecting-baby-with-boyfriend-aap-rocky/?sh=6f4f991877a5">Rihanna Is Pregnant And Expecting Baby With Boyfriend A$AP Rocky</a>(Forbes)&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2021/08/04/fentys-fortune-rihanna-is-now-officially-a-billionaire/?sh=f9b2acc7c96b">Fenty’s Fortune: Rihanna Is Now Officially A Billionaire</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)

Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever” Premiere

Rihanna Released Her First New Music In Five Years On Friday

<h2 id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ song “Unholy” earned the top spot on the&nbsp;Billboard&nbsp;Hot 100 on Monday after three weeks in the top ten, making them the first nonbinary and transgender artists, respectively, to rank No. 1 on the singles chart.



<h2>KEY FACTS</h2>



In the week ending October 20, “Unholy” received 25.3 million streams, 21.5 million radio airplay impressions and 19,000 downloads.&nbsp;



The song is the first No. 1 of either Smith’s or Petras’ careers, though Smith has been behind popular hits like “Stay With Me,” “I’m Not The Only One” and “Dancing With A Stranger.”&nbsp;



The song was released September 22 and debuted at No. 3 on the Hot 100, before ranking at No. 2 for the last two weeks.



“Unholy” has spent four weeks at No. 1 on the U.K. Official Charts, and four weeks as the top song on Spotify’s weekly global Top Songs chart.&nbsp;



Like many recent chart hits, “Unholy” is popular on TikTok, where over a million videos have been made to it.



<h2>TANGENT</h2>



With the release of the album&nbsp;It’s Only Me, rapper Lil Baby became the third artist in history to chart at least 25 songs on the Hot 100 simultaneously, following Drake, who in 2017 charted 27, and Taylor Swift, who charted 26 last year.&nbsp;



<h2>WHAT TO WATCH FOR&nbsp;</h2>



Swift’s new album&nbsp;Midnights&nbsp;was released Friday and became the most-streamed album on Spotify in a day. The work is largely expected to dominate next week’s chart.&nbsp;



<h2>BILLBOARD HOT 100 TOP 10 SINGLES</h2>



<ol><li>“Unholy,” Sam Smith and Kim Petras&nbsp;</li><li>“Bad Habit,” Steve Lacy</li><li>“As It Was,” Harry Styles</li><li>“California Breeze,” Lil Baby</li><li>“I Like You (A Happier Song),” Post Malone feat. Doja Cat</li><li>“I Ain’t Worried,” One Republic&nbsp;</li><li>“You Proof,” Morgan Wallen</li><li>“Forever,” Lil Baby feat. Fridayy</li><li>“Super Freaky Girl,” Nicki Minaj&nbsp;</li><li>“Real Spill,” Lil Baby</li></ol>



<h2>BILLBOARD 200 TOP FIVE ALBUMS</h2>



<ol><li>It’s Only Me, Lil Baby</li><li>Un Verano Sin Ti, Bad Bunny&nbsp;</li><li>Return of the Dream Canteen, Red Hot Chili Peppers&nbsp;</li><li>Dangerous: The Double Album,&nbsp;Morgan Wallen&nbsp;</li><li>The Highlights,&nbsp;The Weeknd&nbsp;</li></ol>



<h2>KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Smith’s debut album,&nbsp;In The Lonely Hour, was released in 2014. They have been nominated for six Grammys and have won four. Last week, Smith announced their fourth studio album&nbsp;Gloria&nbsp;will be released on January 27. Smith came out as nonbinary in 2019. Petras was born in Germany and appeared on talk shows when she was young to talk about her transgender identity. She started releasing music in 2008 and released her debut album,&nbsp;Clarity, in 2019.



<h2>FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/10/03/steve-lacys-bad-habit-ends-harry-styles-record-breaking-no-1-run-for-now/?sh=57d9e04d280a">Steve Lacy’s ‘Bad Habit’ Ends Harry Styles Record-Breaking No. 1 Run—For Now</a>



(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/09/26/harry-styles-parade-of-success-continues-with-a-record-breaking-week-on-billboard-chart/?sh=535bfc033714">Harry Styles’ Parade Of Success Continues With A Record-Breaking Week On Billboard Chart</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/09/19/tiktok-spurs-steve-lacys-bad-habit-toward-no-1-spot-on-billboard-charts-but-can-he-top-harry-styles/?sh=26754a1d1977">TikTok Spurs Steve Lacy’s ‘Bad Habit’ Toward No. 1 Spot On Billboard Charts—But Can He Top Harry Styles?</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



By Marisa Dellatto, Forbes Staff

2022 iHeartRadio Music Festival – Night 1 – Show

Sam Smith And Kim Petras Become First Openly Nonbinary And Trans Artists To Reach Billboard’s No. 1

<h2 id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Actress Judi Dench on Wednesday became the latest high-profile critic of the upcoming season of&nbsp;The Crown&nbsp;on Netflix, pushing the streaming service to clearly label the show a work of fiction, as worries grow that the series could portray the royal family—and the new king, Charles III—in a poor light after Queen Elizabeth II’s recent death.



<h2>KEY FACTS</h2>



In an open letter to Netflix published in&nbsp;The Times&nbsp;of London, Dench&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/scobie/status/1582819506522816512/photo/1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">called</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-crown-is-crude-and-cruel-says-dame-judi-dench-l6wzqpns9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">out</a>&nbsp;two&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/why-the-crowns-new-season-is-the-most-controversial-yet-wtxhdtq3p" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rumored plotlines</a>&nbsp;in the fifth season—“that King Charles plotted for his mother to abdicate” and that he “once suggested his mother’s parenting was so deficient that she might have deserved a jail sentence”—as reasons&nbsp;The Crown&nbsp;should consider adding disclaimers at the start of each episode clarifying the show is “fictionalised drama.”&nbsp;



The 87-year-old dame called the plotlines “cruelly unjust,” and said she fears “a significant number of viewers, particularly overseas,” could view them as accurate.&nbsp;



Former U.K. Prime Minister John Major—who is reportedly portrayed in the upcoming season having a conversation with Charles, Elizabeth’s eldest son and the current king, about getting the queen to abdicate the throne in the 1990s—called the alleged plotline &#8220;a barrel-load of malicious nonsense” and denied that it happened.



A Netflix spokesperson&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-63283024" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told reporters</a>&nbsp;the show is a “fictional dramatisation, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors” during a time period that “has already been scrutinised and well-documented by journalists, biographers and historians.



<h2>CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



“The time has come for Netflix to reconsider—for the sake of a family and a nation so recently bereaved, as a mark of respect to a sovereign who served her people dutifully for 70 years, and to preserve its reputation with its British subscribers,” Dench wrote.&nbsp;



<h2>WHAT TO WATCH FOR&nbsp;</h2>



The fifth season of&nbsp;The Crown&nbsp;premieres on Netflix on November 9, and will show its version of the royal family living through the 1990s.&nbsp;



<h2>KEY BACKGROUND&nbsp;</h2>



This is not the first time&nbsp;The Crown&nbsp;has faced calls to add a fiction disclaimer. In 2020, several prominent Britons asked the company to add the warning to its episodes, including U.K. culture secretary Oliver Dowden and Princess Diana’s brother, Charles. Helena Bonham Carter, who played Princess Margaret in the series, said the show has a “moral responsibility” to state that it’s a work of fiction, not fact. In response, Netflix said it has “no plans, and see no need, to add a disclaimer,” as it has always presented&nbsp;The Crown&nbsp;as a drama, and “we have every confidence our members understand it’s a work of fiction that’s broadly based on historical events.” When the fourth season aired two years ago, it depicted the affair between King Charles III and Queen Camilla Parker-Bowles. Some viewers took to the royal’s official Instagram in response and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.insider.com/the-crown-fans-trolling-prince-charles-and-camilla-social-media-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">posted comments</a>&nbsp;about Princess Diana on photos of Parker-Bowles, who is now queen, causing Charles’ office to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a34794646/charles-camilla-twitter/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">temporarily restrict</a>&nbsp;the ability to leave comments on its Twitter account.



<h2>TANGENT</h2>



Deadline&nbsp;reported Monday that Netflix delayed its docuseries about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle until 2023, as executives worried about releasing two controversial projects about the royal family so close together, and so close to the queen’s death.&nbsp;



<h2>FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/10/17/netflix-reportedly-delays-harry-and-meghan-doc-after-the-crown-backlash-heres-why/?sh=69678253b18c">Netflix Reportedly Delays Harry And Meghan Doc After &#8216;The Crown&#8217; Backlash—Here’s Why</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/09/15/interest-in-the-crown-and-other-royal-media-surges-after-queen-elizabeths-death/?sh=563dc26e6d07">Interest In ‘The Crown’ And Other Royal Media Surges After Queen Elizabeth’s Death</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/11/29/netflixs-the-crown-should-include-disclaimer-that-its-fiction-uk-culture-official-says/?sh=78cdff767636">Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ Should Include Disclaimer That It’s Fiction, U.K. Culture Official Says</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/07/30/children-are-off-limits-hbos-the-prince-slammed-for-parodying-8-year-old-prince-george/?sh=187ef9dc4126">‘Children Are Off Limits’: HBO’s ‘The Prince’ Slammed For Parodying 8-Year-Old Prince George</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



By Marisa Dellatto, Forbes Staff

“The Crown” Filming

Controversy Over ‘The Crown’ Grows: Judi Dench Says Netflix Should Add Disclaimers To Series

Liked Black Panther? The Woman King, starring Viola Davis and Thuso Mbedu, is a tough, rewarding epic on sisterhood and empowerment. Director Gina PrinceBythewood tells us more about the just-released historical film shot in South Africa.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-style-large">‘Telling the story of us!’&nbsp;</blockquote>



BASED ON A TRUE STORY, THE WOMAN KING (released in September) introduces Agojie, the all-female warrior regiment that protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with fighting skills and a fierceness that ‘the world has never seen’.


<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GinaPrinceBythewood-Pic-636x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-56568" width="337" height="543" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GinaPrinceBythewood-Pic-636x1024.jpg 636w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GinaPrinceBythewood-Pic-186x300.jpg 186w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GinaPrinceBythewood-Pic-768x1237.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GinaPrinceBythewood-Pic-953x1536.jpg 953w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GinaPrinceBythewood-Pic-1271x2048.jpg 1271w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GinaPrinceBythewood-Pic.jpg 1581w" sizes="(max-width: 337px) 100vw, 337px" /><figcaption>Photo by Ilze Kitshoff</figcaption></figure></div>


Although based on past events, the themes explored in the movie look at issues like racism, gender-based violence and female oppression, to name a few, that still plague Africa today.



“There are some difficult things we deal with…[but we] wanted to be truthful [about] it,” the film’s director Gina Prince-Bythewood says in an exclusive interview with FORBES AFRICA.



“But we also wanted to focus on the decision that was being made at that time, historically, and have the Agojie and Nanisca represent that huge faction of the kingdom, in real life, who wanted it abolished.



“So [it] was helpful to be able to put that into the world to connect from then to now in our mentality, as a whole, of not being our own oppressors. And just seeing the value, seeing our beauty, and living in that knowledge that we are warriors, [and] we can resist. So the toughest thing was also ultimately the most rewarding thing.”



Davis’ Nanisca has multiple moments in the film where she disarms other characters both with her words and her body blows to her enemies – mostly men.



For Davis, who was also a producer on the film, The Woman King was an important story because she saw herself in it.



“The fact that they were women is what disarmed their opponents…,” says Oscar-award-winning Davis in a press statement. “I saw my femininity in [the film]. I saw my blackness in it. I saw a really important part of history in it. I always say any part of history is important, even the small parts. And I think that it is a story that the world is hungry for.”



The power of representation has been at the forefront of storytelling in recent years, especially since the Black Lives Matter protests. There has been this call out, if not cry out, for television and film to look at how stories are not diverse or reflective enough for a lot of the audiences that consume media.



Prince-Bythewood says that she wanted to build an ensemble that represented the diversity of the diaspora.



“Film and TV are so powerful. I just know the way I grew up, and not being able to see myself reflected anywhere, I felt invisible. It is incredibly tough to grow up like that to never see yourself heroic, to never see yourself oftentimes even portrayed at all, to not see your humanity.


<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-12-at-15.27.12-1024x693.png" alt="" class="wp-image-56566" width="635" height="429" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-12-at-15.27.12-1024x693.png 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-12-at-15.27.12-300x203.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-12-at-15.27.12-768x520.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-12-at-15.27.12-1536x1040.png 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-12-at-15.27.12-2048x1386.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px" /><figcaption>Photo by Ilze Kitshoff</figcaption></figure></div>


“We have women from West Africa, and African-American women. That was all intentional, to bring us all together to tell the story of us. I love the energy that it brought to set.”



Prince-Bythewood says that in filming in Africa, what she loved most was the crew as it reflected the diverse society we live in today.



“It was the most diverse crew I’ve ever had in my career. I always want, but more so for this, the faces behind the camera to mirror the faces in front of the camera.”



“Shooting this film in South Africa was the joy of my life,” adds Davis. “I felt like I was home…I felt a part of the earth, the sky. I felt at home. And I don’t think that you can recreate it on a soundstage. I think that this story is very black and very African.”



“There are so many things I love but I think the line I quote the most is when Izogie (played by Lashana Lynch) tells Nawi (played by Thuso Mbedu) ‘you are more powerful than you even know’. I love that narrative. I love a black woman saying that to another black woman.



“I’d love the audience to see that and know and believe it. That is the message I want to impart to all of us.”

Screenshot 2022-10-12 at 15.26.49

EPIC ON EMPOWERMENT: Director Gina Prince-Bythewood on Hollywood’s The Woman King shot in South Africa 

<h2>Topline</h2>



Trevor Noah is stepping down from The Daily Show after seven years. He took over the USA late-night talk and satirical news television program after Jon Stewart left.



<h2 id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



“One of the things I found myself experiencing through-out the night and even today was a feeling of gratitude,” says Noah, speaking of his journey with co-worker Roy Wood Jr. and correspondents, as well thanking the audience on The Daily Show.



“It’s been absolutely amazing. It’s something that I never expected,” says South African Noah of his time as anchor. “I found myself thinking throughout the time of everything we’ve gone through; the Trump presidency, the pandemic, just the journey, more pandemic and I realize that after the seven years, my time is up.”



He adds that during the two years spent at his apartment, hosting The Daily Social Distancing Show, he was not able to do stand-up comedy, and he realizes “there’s another part of my life I want to carry on exploring,” hinting at his return to stand-up.



<h2>Background</h2>



In his time in the USA, Noah has won an Emmy for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series in 2017, as well as hosted the GRAMMY awards in 2021 and 2022.



He also became the first African to host the White House Correspondent Dinner in 2022, asking people to donate to KwaZulu-Natal flood victims.



According to Celebrity Net Worth, Noah is worth $100 million.



Following Jon Stewart as anchor was an unenviable task as a relative unknown at the time, but Noah transformed the show for the future, making political and world-events less morbid and yet was still sensitive to serious topics. While public opinion is always divided on how to handle comedy and politics, for many South Africans, Noah is the main reason anyone watched The Daily Show or knew this much about USA events.

63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards – Telecast

Trevor Noah Leaves The Daily Show

Kobina Ackon, popularly known as Wode Maya, is Ghana’s first YouTuber to hit over a million subscribers. His channel creating positive African content has won him followers and a fortune.



AT JUST 23 YEARS OLD, AMERICAN YOUTUBE megastar Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, has reportedly amassed over 10 billion views on his YouTube channel, and taken home a staggering $54 million in 2021 by posting hilarious and philanthropic content.



In 2019, CNBC reported that a survey done by Danish toy-maker Lego found that about a third of children aged between eight and 12 dream of becoming vloggers or YouTubers; the survey polled kids in the United States, China and the United Kingdom.



But that trend has now slowly also made its way into Africa. And young content creators on the continent are glued to their monitors and screens to catch up on all the social media action and monetize it, just like their global counterparts.



KobinaAckon, popularly known by the moniker Wode Maya,is one such African sensation – he is Ghana’s first YouTuber to hit over a million subscribers.



But Ackon never aspired to be a digital star. He had wanted to become an aeronautical engineer. He and his family had humble beginnings in the Western Region of Ghana, where they lived five siblings to one room and used rice bags as school bags. Ackon was taught from an early age the value of humility. After completing his secondary school education in Ghana, Ackon relocated to China to further his studies as an aeronautical engineer.



But contrary to what most people believe, success on YouTube did not come overnight for him. In fact, it was a slow and steady rise filled with trial and error tracking analytics that would guide him to the right blend of content to identify a niche that would give him six-figure success.



That said, the genesis of his YouTube channel was quite an by accident.



“I never wanted to be a YouTuber. During vacation, I couldn’t travel because I didn’t have money to go back to Ghana and so we spent our time in our dorms. So, a friend came to me and said ‘let’s go out and shoot a video’. I was the main character in that video.



“Afterwards, they gave me the video and I realized I didn’t have a pen drive or anywhere to save this video so I decided to save it on the internet and that is when I saved it on YouTube,” recalls Ackon. That video became a sensation amongst his friends and based on the positive feedback, Ackon decided to do another video detailing how he met his Chinese girlfriend. He got a 1,000 followers but unfortunately his subsequent efforts didn’t fare too well.



“I did more comedic videos and people said you are not funny and they stopped watching them. But I had a passion for it so I kept doing it and started doing more research on the platform. That is when I started consuming a lot of content on YouTube and realized I can actually be a millionaire on YouTube.”



But his Eureka moment would come after convincing his father to let him try content creation rather than engineering.



“So, I kept on pushing for two years and trying to make it work until my dad found one of my videos and got extremely mad at me and that is when my mum came in and said I can do whatever I want and she will take care of my dad. Two weeks later, my dad gave me his blessing and told me one thing that changed the game for me. He said you speak Chinese, so why don’t you use the Chinese language to bridge the gap between Africans and Chinese people and that was my breakthrough,” avers Ackon. He took his father’s advice and his channel grew to 8,000 subscribers. Ackon had found his niche and things began to slowly take off. He began making videos to help the Chinese better understand Africa and Africans and before long, he had peaked at about 100,000 subscribers.



But even then, something wasn’t adding up for Ackon.



“I felt like the videos I was doing was attracting Africans to China but China was not my country and I am trying to change the narrative of Africans living in China but it was still not working. So, I said to myself ‘let me come to Africa and preach about Africa to Chinese people’.”



That’s when he discovered that even Africansdidn’t know much about other countries on the continent. In 2018, he made the decision to start profiling the continent of Africa to not only the Chinese but to Africans both at home and in the diaspora. He received a loan from a Chinese friend who booked him on a pan-African tour of five countries.



“When I did that, within a month, I had 50,000 people following my channel. And it had taken me four years to get to 100,000 people. It showed me that a lot of people were yearning for African content,” says Ackon.



Today, with over 1.1 million subscribers, Ackonsays he is raking in anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 a month from his YouTube channel. Most of his revenue comes from YouTube advertisements as well as from charging up to $10,000 a pop to profile Africa’s brightest entrepreneurs.Along the way, he has also picked up some invaluable pearls of wisdom from them.



“The youth of Africa don’t really have mentors and during Covid is when I had the chance to spend time with African entrepreneurs and they changed my life in the way of investment and I actually started investing in 2021. I had money but it was sitting in a bank and I didn’t know what to do with it because our parents taught us that if you have money, keep it in the bank, get married buy a house and buy a car and that is what I was doing. Until I met entrepreneurs and that is when I decided to invest in land, buy real estate and hired a team of about 10 people who work for me to expand the brand,” says Ackon.



His next milestone is to interview Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, on how he built his wealth. He also wants his channel to only push out positive African narratives to the world.For now, he certainly has the world’s attention.

Untitled

CHANNELING FAME: Meet Ghana’s first YouTuber to hit over a million subscribers

<h2 id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



The Crown, the Emmy-winning fictionalized drama chronicling the life of Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family, has returned to Netflix’s Top 10 this week after the monarch died on September 8, as overall interest in media showcasing the royals has increased.



<h2>KEY FACTS</h2>



In the week ending September 11, Season 1 of&nbsp;The Crown&nbsp;was the No. 7 most-watched English series on Netflix, with 17.5 million hours of the show viewed.&nbsp;



Clips of HBO Max’s The Prince, an animated satirical comedy about Prince George, Prince Harry’s episode of Oprah Winfrey’s AppleTV+ series The Me You Can’t See, and The Crown have been trending on TikTok this week, as interest in the royal family surges.



Meghan Markle’s podcast&nbsp;Archetypes&nbsp;<a href="https://podcastcharts.byspotify.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">remains</a>&nbsp;the No. 2 show on Spotify in the U.S., despite&nbsp;<a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/meghan-markles-podcast-paused-mourning-queen" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">not releasing</a>&nbsp;new episodes during the mourning period for Queen Elizabeth II.&nbsp;



Forbes has reached out to AppleTV+ and HBO Max for comment.



<h2>WHAT TO WATCH FOR&nbsp;</h2>



Season 5 of&nbsp;The Crown&nbsp;is set to debut in November. Imelda Staunton has taken over the role of Queen Elizabeth II from Olivia Coleman. Jonathan Pryce will play Prince Philip, Dominic West is Prince (now King) Charles, Elizabeth Debicki is Princess Diana and Olivia Williams is Camilla Parker Bowles (now Queen Consort). Come Season 6, newcomers Ed McVey and Meg Bellamy&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2022/tv/global/the-crown-casting-prince-william-kate-middleton-1235358208/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">will take on&nbsp;</a>Prince William and Kate Middleton. Season 5 will focus on the 1990s.&nbsp;



<h2>KEY BACKGROUND&nbsp;</h2>



Queen Elizabeth II died at age 96 last week at her home in Scotland. Her funeral is scheduled for Monday. She is currently lying in state at Westminster Hall.&nbsp;The Crown&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/the-crown-season-6-paused-queen-elizabeth-ii-death-1235364831/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">paused production</a>&nbsp;of Season 6 the day after Queen Elizabeth II passed, and a spokesperson for the company&nbsp;<a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2022-09-14/the-crown-back-in-netflixs-global-top-10-after-queens-death" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>production will also stop on Monday, during her funeral. Season 6 will be the show’s final season, though it’s not clear whether it will take on the queen’s death, or Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s rift with the family.&nbsp;



<h2>FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/09/15/new-details-released-on-queens-funeralheres-what-to-know/?sh=40a2c3ed2ae0">New Details Released On Queen’s Funeral–Here’s What To Know</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/09/14/meghan-markles-new-round-of-mistreatment-snubs-and-conspiracy-theories-during-return-following-queen-elizabeths-death/?sh=12fdf2b333ce">Meghan Markle’s New Round Of Mistreatment: Snubs And Conspiracy Theories During Return Following Queen Elizabeth’s Death</a> (Forbes)



By Marisa Dellatto, Forbes Staff

Interest In ‘The Crown’ And Other Royal Media Surges After Queen Elizabeth’s Death

<h2 id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Amazon Prime Video’s&nbsp;Lord of the Rings&nbsp;prequel,&nbsp;The Rings of Power,&nbsp;attracted more than 25 million viewers worldwide on its first day, Amazon&nbsp;<a href="https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/lord-rings-rings-power-attracts-more-25-million-global-viewers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a>&nbsp;Saturday, making it the streaming platform’s biggest premiere ever.



<h2 id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Amazon premiered the first two episodes of the epic fantasy series based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s writing in more than 240 countries and territories Friday.



The highly anticipated eight-episode season is scheduled to run until October 14.



The release of the&nbsp;Lord of the Rings&nbsp;spinoff comes less than two weeks after HBO Max’s&nbsp;House of the Dragon, the prequel series to&nbsp;Game of Thrones, set an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2022/08/house-of-the-dragon-premiere-ratings-game-of-thrones-1234754303/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HBO record</a>&nbsp;for a premiere with nearly 10 million Americans watching, only to outdo itself last week when it pulled in 10.2 million viewers in the U.S., according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2022/08/house-of-the-dragon-episode-2-ratings-hbo-1234756320/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IndieWire</a>, which used data from Nielsen and first-party data.



<h2 id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



$715 million. That’s how much the series is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-lord-of-the-rings-expensive-11661482048" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">estimated</a>&nbsp;to have cost to produce, the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal&nbsp;reported, with some budget&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2022/09/02/amazons-the-rings-of-power-certainly-looks-like-a-billion-dollars-at-least/?sh=6d96580a1d95">estimates</a>ranging between $750 million and $1 billion, which would make it the most a production company has spent on a TV series.



<h2 id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



It’s been 19 years since the premiere of director Peter Jackson’s final film in the&nbsp;Lord of the Rings&nbsp;trilogy,&nbsp;The Return of the King, which grossed more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$378 million</a>&nbsp;in the United States and Canada, including $72 million on opening weekend, according to IMDb. Worldwide, it grossed $1.1 billion, slightly higher than the final movie in the&nbsp;Hobbit&nbsp;trilogy,&nbsp;The Battle of the Five Armies&nbsp;(2014), which made&nbsp;<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2310332/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$962 million</a>&nbsp;worldwide and $255 million in the U.S. and Canada alone. Amazon Prime Video&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/robcain/2017/11/14/amazons-250m-lord-of-the-rings-purchase-price-is-1000-times-what-tolkein-first-got-for-it/?sh=49ce91727273">paid</a>$250 million for the adaptation and production rights from Tolkien’s estate in 2017, committing to five seasons.



<h2 id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2022/09/02/amazons-the-rings-of-power-certainly-looks-like-a-billion-dollars-at-least/?sh=6d96580a1d95">Amazon’s ‘The Rings Of Power’ Certainly Looks Like A Billion Dollars, At Least</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://deadline.com/2022/09/lord-of-the-rings-viewership-rings-of-power-amazon-jeff-bezos-tolkien-1235107279/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">‘LOTR: The Rings Of Power’ Forges Biggest Premiere Viewership Ever For Amazon Prime Video</a>&nbsp;(Deadline)



<a href="https://www.thewrap.com/lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power-premiere-draws-25-million-global-viewers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Premiere Draws 25 Million Global Viewers – Amazon Prime Video’s Biggest Ever</a> (The Wrap)



By Brian Bushard, Forbes Staff

RPAZ_S1_UT_210709_GRAMAT_00291_R2_thumb

25 Million Watched ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Spinoff ‘Rings Of Power’ Premiere

<h2 id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



At the U.K. premiere on Tuesday of Amazon Prime Video’s new series The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos <a href="https://variety.com/2022/tv/global/lord-of-the-rings-rings-of-power-premiere-london-1235354449/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">thanked</a> showrunners Patrick McKay and John D. Payne for ignoring his input “at exactly the right times.”



<h2>KEY FACTS</h2>



Amazon announced in 2017 it had partnered with J.R.R. Tolkien’s estate for a multi-season&nbsp;Lord Of The Rings&nbsp;series, and it&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/will-amazons-lord-rings-series-be-tvs-expensive-show-all-time-1058129/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">was reported</a>&nbsp;the company paid roughly $250 million for the rights to the story.&nbsp;



Bezos was said to be personally involved in the negotiations for the rights, <a href="https://variety.com/2017/digital/news/lord-of-the-rings-amazon-1202606519/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Variety</a> reported at the time.



The first season of the show, which is eight episodes long, cost $465 million to make, the&nbsp;Hollywood Reporter&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/amazons-lord-of-the-rings-cost-465-million-one-season-4167791/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;last year, and Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke&nbsp;<a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2021/05/amazon-justifies-lord-of-the-rings-series-budget-1234636906/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;in May the budget went to “building the infrastructure of what will sustain the whole series.”&nbsp;



At Tuesday’s premiere, Bezos joked that it’s “every showrunner’s dream…to get notes on scripts and early cuts from the founder and executive chairman.”&nbsp;



Bezos, a lifelong Tolkien fan, said one of his sons warned him to “please don’t eff this up.”



The billionaire defended choosing relatively unknown showrunners to helm the series, calling it “one of the best decisions we made.”



<h2>WHAT TO WATCH FOR&nbsp;</h2>



The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power&nbsp;premieres on Amazon Prime Video on Friday.&nbsp;



<h2>KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



The Rings Of Power&nbsp;takes place in Middle-earth thousands of years before&nbsp;The Lord Of The Rings&nbsp;and&nbsp;The Hobbit. The&nbsp;LOTR&nbsp;trilogy cost roughly $285 million to make, and the Hobbit trilogy cost a reported $623 million.&nbsp;



<h2>TANGENT</h2>



The Rings Of Power&nbsp;is directly competing with HBO’s&nbsp;House of The Dragon, another fantasy prequel to the&nbsp;Game Of Thrones&nbsp;series. HOTD premiered last week, and is already breaking audience records for HBO and HBO Max.&nbsp;



<h2>FORBES VALUATION&nbsp;</h2>



$152.9 billion. That’s Bezos’ estimated net worth, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-bezos/?sh=4d3edd9e1b23">Forbes</a>, making him the No. 3&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#f0faf073d788">richest person in the world</a>&nbsp;on Wednesday.&nbsp;



<h2>FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2022/08/31/the-rings-of-power-review-a-breathtaking-return-to-middle-earth-and-the-lord-of-the-rings/?sh=270995ca7a30">‘The Rings Of Power’ Review: A Breathtaking Return To Middle-earth And ‘The Lord Of The Rings’</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/08/29/house-of-the-dragon-episode-2-viewership-was-even-higher-than-record-breaking-premiere/?sh=485910cc2181">&#8216;House Of The Dragon&#8217; Episode 2 Viewership Was Even Higher Than Record-Breaking Premiere</a> (Forbes)



By Marisa Dellatto, Forbes Staff

Amazon Unveils Its First Smartphone

Here’s How Involved Jeff Bezos Was In Amazon Prime’s ‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’

<h2 id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



The same-day viewership for the second episode of House Of The Dragon increased 2% compared to last week’s record-breaking premiere, HBO <a href="https://twitter.com/InsideHBOMax/status/1564348792563912705?s=20&amp;t=Nrn-0fxsqacEwlqzVx8W8w" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> Monday, as the Game Of Thrones spin-off becomes a runaway success for the network.



<h2>KEY FACTS</h2>



Sunday’s episode garnered 10.2 million views, according to Nielsen and first-party data, compared to the 9.986 million that HBO said watched the series premiere last week.



The premiere has now <a href="https://twitter.com/InsideHBOMax/status/1564348794916859904?s=20&amp;t=Nrn-0fxsqacEwlqzVx8W8w" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">been seen</a> by nearly 25 million viewers in one week. 



<h2>KEY BACKGROUND&nbsp;</h2>



House Of The Dragon&nbsp;is a spin-off of&nbsp;Game Of Thrones&nbsp;focusing on the House Targaryen. Its first episode had the largest audience of a new original series in HBO history. As of Friday, viewership of the episode had doubled to 20 million viewers. The series has already been renewed for a second season.



<h2>FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/08/26/house-of-the-dragon-has-now-been-seen-by-20-million-viewers-and-is-already-renewed-for-second-season/?sh=6d47b0f22ba8">‘House Of The Dragon’ Has Now Been Seen By 20 Million Viewers—And Is Already Renewed For Second Season</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/08/22/house-of-the-dragon-episode-was-largest-cable-or-streaming-premiere-of-the-year-samba-tv-says/?sh=1f4795055abb">‘House Of The Dragon’ Earns Largest Premiere In HBO History</a> (Forbes)



By Marisa Dellatto, Forbes Staff

‘House Of The Dragon’ And ‘The Rings Of Power’ Series Photo Illustrations

‘House Of The Dragon’ Episode 2 Viewership Was Even Higher Than Record-Breaking Premiere

Untitled design (42)

PART OF THE PLAYLIST: Ten African Artists To Watch

Untitled design (41)

THE PLAYLIST: AFRICA’S TOP 20 MUSICIANS

Nigerian creative Mo Abudu is bringing Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman as a film, directed by Biyi Bandele, who passed away early this month.



EbonyLife Group CEO, Mo Abudu, is bringing Professor Wole Soyinka’s 1975 stage play Death and the King’s Horseman as a feature adaptation, in a project with streaming service Netflix.



Nigerian playwright and iconic novelist Soyinka is the first Black winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature — and its first African winner.



The film, set to be the first Yoruba language movie ever to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September 2022, is based on actual historical events that took place during British colonial rule in Nigeria.



“Our goal whenever we tell African stories is to be truly authentic and stay as close as possible to the original work. In this case, it was especially important because Professor Soyinka’s work is already well-known globally and he is one of the greatest literary talents of our time. It is a great honor to be trusted with telling this compelling African drama steeped in our local traditions,” says Abudu in an interview with FORBES AFRICA.



Soyinka’s play was adapted as a feature film by famed Nigerian playwright and director Biyi Bandele, who passed away on August 7, the month before its premiere.



The filmmaker had grabbed global headlines with his directorial work of the best-selling Chimamanda Adichie book Half of a Yellow Sun and the most recent Netflix series Blood Sisters.



“Biyi’s death was a complete shock and unexpected. We were all planning to make it to the TIFF and he was over the moon. He poured everything into this depiction and it is a real loss to the industry,” says Abudu, reportedly the first African to sign a multiple deal with Netflix in 2020.



Death and the King’s Horseman is expected to air after its screening at TIFF.

Mo Abudu, image supplied by EbonyLife

Iconic Nigerian Nobel Laureate’s Play To Come To Life

In June, Senegalese-born Khaby Lame became the most followed star on TikTok. The social media app’s market is particularly growing in Africa’s biggest economy with more influencers tuning to it to make a living.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large">“During Covid I started posting videos on TikTok initially because I was bored.”</blockquote>



TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has become one of the world’s most downloaded apps with more than 2 billion downloads according to figures from the platform.



In Africa too, the social media platform has made followers and fortunes for its many stars.



Senegalese-born Khaby Lame is one such example.



He became the most followed star on the social media app with 142.5 million followers in June this year, catapulting him from a humble factory worker living in Italy to landing glamorous and lucrative sponsorships with brands such as Hugo Boss.



His rise has resonated with Africans all over the world and the sensation to become the next big TikTok star has reached fever pitch particularly in Nigeria; little wonder for Africa’s biggest economy.



In recent years, the country is amongst the most active users of TikTok on the continent according to a report by international broadcaster Deutsche Welle.



In recent times, the ‘Don’t leave me’ challenge created by Nigerian TikTok star Josh2Funny became a viral sensation attracting the likes of Greek-Nigerian NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and other Hollywood celebrities.



With an unprecedented youth unemployment rate in Nigeria, social media has become a medium for Gen Z creators to earn a living. Spurred on by the negative effects of the coronavirus, TikTok reportedly attracted millions of users who wanted an escape from the lockdown.



According to TikTok, its market share in Nigeria peaked at about 50% in 2021.



“During Covid, I started posting videos on TikTok initially because I was bored. Then I realized people were gradually engaging with my content and it became a form of therapy for me because it helped me cope with the stress of being in lockdown every day,” says EmekaG, a TikTok creator in Lagos.



Like him, many young Nigerian creators are hoping to build their own unique brand on the social media platform to help them engage with brands and ultimately make a living as TikTok influencers.



The appeal of the platform lies in its micro-video sharing interface which allows users to create short, funny videos and share them on the platform as well as other apps like Instagram.

Juventus v Villarreal CF: Round Of Sixteen Leg Two – UEFA Champions League

TikTok’s Superstars In West Africa And Growing Market

<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large">But the business side, you have to learn about it. Because that’s not natural, we’re not born with that knowledge, you need to learn it.</blockquote>



Spotify Monthly Listeners: 1.2 Million YouTube Total Average Views: 382 Million SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORTH Instagram: 15.3 Million Twitter: 5.3 Million Facebook: 7 Million TikTok: 1.8 Million



In 2018, Tiwatope Savage won Best African Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards, becoming the first woman to win the category. It marked a milestone but also the responsibility to do more for both young Africans and African women trying to enter the industry.



Currently on her European Tour and speaking to FORBES AFRICA from Norway, Savage says: “I feel like I carry a lot of that burden, as a female, as a leader and female Afrobeats artist. Coming into the game, there really wasn&#8217;t that many females doing it, and there still isn&#8217;t. But there&#8217;s more now than when I started.”



Savage was born on Lagos Island in Nigeria and describes her upbringing as quite strict as the only girl growing up with three brothers, which is why she started in the music industry quite late.



“But it felt good to be protected. And my parents were very strict about us getting good grades in school. My dad and my mom did listen to music, but I didn&#8217;t grow up in like a musical home where my parents were into music or singers. It was more like ‘you&#8217;re going to grow up to either be a doctor or a lawyer, not a musician,” she explains.



This is quite the common theme for many young women on the African continent where it was expected that you either enter a traditional career or a ‘traditional’ home where you would become a housewife.



This is also why Savage chose to go into music much later, in fact, she obtained her business degree first.



“I got my first degree in business and accounts. I also went to Berklee College of Music. I studied jazz. So I got a second degree in music.”



The business degree has come in handy too for her as an artist.



“It’s called the music business,” laughs Savage. A lot of artists, in her opinion, would find it difficult to succeed in this industry not because of their lack of talent but due to a lack of knowledge when it comes to the business aspect of things.



Savage jokingly calls herself “shrewd”, diligently going through all her contracts, business details, and the receipts “for even just a Starbucks coffee”.



“It&#8217;s as important, sometimes even more important for you to be able to handle the business element because the music thing, and the entertainment part comes naturally; that&#8217;s a gift that God has given to you naturally,” Savage explains. “Sometimes you don&#8217;t even have to think about that, you just have to harness that gift. But the business side, you have to learn about it. Because that&#8217;s not natural, we&#8217;re not born with that knowledge, you need to learn it.



“At the end of the day, you can&#8217;t leave your business or your finances to complete strangers unless maybe your mom or your brother is managing you.”



Savage moved to London when she was 11 but says her heart has always been with the continent even when in America collaborating with artists such as Snoop Dogg and Fantasia. It was when in Los Angeles in 2012 that Savage was inspired by the growth of the Nigerian music industry, around which time Afrobeats was gaining in popularity.



Savage chose to move back to Nigeria.



What made her return? She puts it simply: “It was the sound.”



“There was something so raw about it. There was a soul that I wasn&#8217;t getting from the music that I was surrounded by, living in America… I would find myself listening to it in the car, in my house. And, obviously, but when I go out to clubs, or when I go out to wherever; I probably wasn&#8217;t intrigued then. And I found that I was bored. I just wanted to go home and listen to the latest Wande Coal song.”



And so she did.



“It&#8217;s so good to be African now. We are so proud of it and we’re shouting about it from the rooftop.”



But there’s still much work to be done in the industry, especially for women and young people.



“When I started, I didn&#8217;t come into it trying to be sexy, but I was labeled that. It was hard for a lot of people to accept because women shouldn&#8217;t have tattoos, women shouldn’t really wear revealing clothes, especially women who are married or a woman who is a mother,” Savage explains.



“So obviously there was so much backlash. And now, a lot of female artists too, who are coming in, who are sexier, or have tattoos, or are more controversial than me don&#8217;t even get 10% of [the backlash I got]. And that&#8217;s fine. But it was the journey that was hard to get the culture to understand and embrace that. And sometimes, you know, that&#8217;s just your calling and you&#8217;re the scapegoat.”



In a story as old as time, the music industry still has work to do when it comes to equal opportunities for female artists.



Although Savage believes that transformation is only 10% better, the work that needs to happen is for female artists to be given the same sort of preferences as their male counterparts.



“We just want the same equal platform…,” says Savage. However, that said, Savage thinks the future of the African music industry at this point looks promising. This is a fitting sentiment even as the second part of Savage’s Water &amp; Garri album is set to release in August.



“The future looks beautiful right now, it looks like you know when you just have a newborn baby, and it&#8217;s just like it could do no wrong,” she laughs. “I really don&#8217;t know what the future would hold. I can&#8217;t tell but I would only hope that African music will and should become a stable genre.”

Category: Entertainment