Afrobeat star Divine Ikubor a.k.a Rema, said having Selena Gomez on the remix of his hit ‘Calm Down’ has taken the song to new heights.
Rema who is having a sell-out show at Brixton Academy in London said that working with Gomez came naturally and was happy the song is number one in countries he has never even heard of.
“Calm Down” was an instant hit after it was released as it quickly raced to 100 million views on YouTube in less than three months.
“It was not on some label vibe,” he told the Guardian UK.
“She’s been rocking with my music for a while. I dropped the offer and she embraced it.” “Though the song hit No 1 in countries I didn’t even know about. But Selena opened doors for it, she took it further than I could.”
“I’m happy the western people are hopping on this sound, I don’t see another way it can work out.”
Talking about his music influences, he revealed that the late Victor Uwaifo was a standout. It was even Uwaifo’s son Andre Vibez that produced ‘Calm Down.’
“People are gonna fight with me, I don’t want to fight people’s legends,”
“I don’t understand why Nigerians are not talking [about him]. Yes we’re talking about Fela [Kuti], big respect – but Victor Uwaifo? The scene in Benin is amazing. The only thing we don’t have is a spotlight.”
