Afrobeats singer Shoday has opened up about his deepest fear in the music industry: losing relevance after achieving success. In a candid interview with the Wahala Podcast, the artist admitted that the anxiety of waking up one day to find his songs no longer connecting with audiences weighs heavily on him.
Fear of Losing Relevance
Shoday expressed his insecurity about the transient nature of fame. 'My biggest insecurities, I always have anxiety. What if I'm not popping again? Like what will happen to me? What if the music is not working again? When I see people that they've once had an era and now I see them struggling to just live; whenever I wake up, those things used to bother me,' he said.
The singer described the mental toll of watching former stars struggle to maintain their status after their peak moments. He noted that the thought of losing everything he had built through music was genuinely distressing.
Considering Quitting
When asked if he had ever considered walking away from music entirely, Shoday admitted the thought had crossed his mind more than once. 'There are sometimes that everything feels like it's not working and you're just like, let me just quit and go,' he said. He added that creating music only to see it poorly received was one of the most demoralising aspects of his career.
'Sometimes you draw people who don't like it and it makes you go, let me just stop. Let me go and do something else,' he confessed.
Purpose Over Doubt
Despite these doubts, Shoday believes his success is not accidental. 'If this is not my calling or purpose, I'm not even supposed to blow up in the first place,' he said, framing his viral songs as evidence of a larger purpose rather than luck.
Shoday rose to wider recognition on the back of songs that gained significant traction online, establishing him as one of the more promising voices in Nigeria's contemporary Afrobeats and Afropop space. His comments reflect a vulnerability that few artists at his level speak about openly.
The Pressure of Sustaining Success
The gap between achieving a breakthrough and sustaining it is one of the music industry's least discussed pressures, particularly in a space as competitive and fast-moving as Nigerian music. Shoday's candidness highlights the mental health challenges that accompany fame, even for rising stars.
