Nigeria’s Afro beats popstar David Adeleke popularly known as Davido has released his first album since the drowning of his child last year.
Davido had put his music on hold to enable him come to terms with the tragedy. But he says he was now healing and ‘’ready to stand up.’’
In a statement on Instagram announcing his return to music and release of the new album, the Afro beats star said: “There is a time for everything. A time to grieve and a time to Heal. A time to laugh and a time to dance. A time to speak and a time for silence. Thank you to everyone out there for your love and support that has held me.”
The new album titled ‘Timeless’ is Davido’s fourth studio album and contains 17 tracks with collaborations from British-Nigerian rapper Skepta, Grammy winning Beninese-French singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo, Asake, Focalistic, and The Cavemen among others.
The album seems to have started on a good footing, breaking the record for the biggest first-day streams on Spotify with 4.91 million streams on its first day of release.
It has beaten Burna Boy’s ‘Love, Damini’ which had a record of 1.36M streams on the first day of release in July last year.
The child’s drowning
Davido suggested he was gradually overcoming the trauma of his three-year-old son’s death.
“I recall sitting & staring over the ocean not too long ago, wondering if I could get here again after all I’ve been through… I’m not sure what comes after this but I wanted to give you my heart, soul and energy,” he said.
On his return, the singer gave a special shout-out to his wife who has yet to break her silence since the death - describing her as ‘’the strongest woman I know.’’
Their son, Ifeanyi drowned in a pool at their home in Banana Island - an upscale neighbourhood in the Nigerian commercial capital, Lagos on October 31 last year.
Both Davido and his wife, Chioma, were not at home on the fateful night when the child got into the pool, according to the Lagos state police command.
Doctors at a Lagos hospital declared the boy dead on arrival after he was rushed there.
