Davido's '5ive' welcomes the Afrobeats megastar into an era of change and growth

NEW YORK (AP) — Afrobeats may be the hot sound of the moment, but Davido remembers a very recent past when music from Africa wasn’t embraced globally, amid a perception the continent was one of only destitute poverty and primitive lands.

“I remember when Africans used to lie that they were Jamaicans,” laughed the Atlanta-born “Fall” singer, who grew up between the U.S. and Nigeria. “The narrative has immensely changed. And thanks to the people who are behind this, because it’s not governments … it’s the innovators. The musicians. The entertainers. The lawyers. The doctors in America, pushing the narrative of being African.”

The Grammy-nominated artist, who has multiple 100 million-streamed songs on Spotify and is often credited as playing a vital role in the global expansion of Afrobeats, drops his new album, “5ive,” on Friday. Following 2023’s “Timeless,” the 17-track project boasts an international flare with features from Grammy winners Chris Brown and Victoria Monét, as well as Becky G and Afrobeats heavyweights Omah Lay and Victony. Davido began with 80 potential songs, then crowdsourced opinions from family and friends, using a ranking system to help curate the album.

Suffering heartbreak in 2022 after his three-year-old son died from a drowning accident, the 32-year-old now looks at life with new perspective.

“My life was going so fast ... now, things are clearer,” said Davido, who now has five living children. “After the crazy loss we had, God gave us twins: a boy and a girl. So, life is just different now — the importance of family and good people around you. I feel like the energy is very, very important, and I feel like that energy is what I used to record this album.”

The Associated Press spoke with the megastar about the popularity of Afrobeats, unity and inspiring through grief. The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

DAVIDO: It’s my fifth album. But after I called it “5ive,” I went to go and do more research on the number five and what it entails, which is a symbol of hope, grace, change, growth.

DAVIDO: Not over-loving the conception of Western validation … one song blows up, two songs blows up — only two songs — and they are running to America to do a tour. What happened to Ibado? What happened to the other places in Nigeria?

The most important thing that will make us last longer is if we don’t forget where we came from.

DAVIDO: Recently, the conversation has been had … when I see Bad Bunny working with Peso (Pluma), and Peso working with Farruko, I’m like, yo, there’s so much unity.

Imagine if all of us came together and busted out a tour? … We’re older now, we are more mature, so I feel like maybe in the greatest future, you might see that happen.

DAVIDO: They can’t do it better than us! I say this to Chris (Brown) every time we play around, I’m like, “Chris, I can’t sing R&B like you, but never in your life can you sing Afrobeats like me!” (laughs) I don’t see any problem with it as long as it’s done right and everybody’s credit is due … at least come use an African producer.

DAVIDO: Music-wise, I don’t think it changed a bit because when I get to my artist mode, nothing distracts me. … When I dropped the “Timeless” album and everything went crazy — like, the most streamed album in the (first) week in Africa ever — we celebrated the album with the people that were with us when we were in trying times.

I feel like that was the beauty of it. And apart from that, I just want people to just look at my story and know that you can overcome anything.

Follow Associated Press entertainment journalist Gary Gerard Hamilton at @GaryGHamilton on all his social media platforms.

Davido poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Davido poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Davido poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Davido poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Davido poses for a portrait on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

A court in Moscow on Wednesday convicted one of the leaders of a prominent independent election monitoring group on charges of organizing the work of an “undesirable” organization and sentenced him to five years in prison.

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia’s leading election watchdog Golos, has rejected the charges as politically motivated. The case against him is part of the monthslong crackdown on Kremlin critics and rights activists that the government ratcheted up after invading Ukraine in 2022.

After a judge of the Basmanny District Court delivered the verdict, Melkonyants, 44, told several dozen supporters and journalists from the glass defendant's cage: “Don't worry, I'm not despairing. You shouldn't despair either!”

Golos has monitored for and exposed violations in every major election in Russia since it was founded in 2000. Over the years, it has faced mounting pressure from the authorities.

In 2013, the group was designated as a “foreign agent” — a label that implies additional government scrutiny and carries strong pejorative connotations. Three years later, it was liquidated as a non-governmental organization by Russia’s Justice Ministry.

Golos has continued to operate without registering as an NGO, exposing violations in various elections, and in 2021 it was added to a new registry of “foreign agents,” created by the Justice Ministry for groups that are not registered as a legal entity in Russia.

It has not been designated as “undesirable” — a label that under a 2015 law makes involvement with such organizations a criminal offense. But when it was an NGO, it was a member of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations, a group that was declared “undesirable” in Russia in 2021, and the charges against Melkonyants stemmed from that.

The defense argued that when ENEMO was outlawed in Russia, Golos wasn't a member, and Melkonyants had nothing to do with it.

Melkonyants, a renowned election expert and lawyer by training, was arrested in August 2023 and has been in custody ever since.

Ella Pamfilova, chair of Russia's Central Election Commission, the country's main election authority, spoke out in his support at the time, telling Russian business daily Vedomosti about the case: “I would really like to hope that they will handle this objectively. Because his criticism, often professional, helped us a lot sometimes.”

Independent journalists, critics, activists and opposition figures in Russia have come under increasing pressure from the government in recent years that intensified significantly amid the war in Ukraine.

Multiple independent news outlets and rights groups have been shut down, labeled as “foreign agents” or outlawed as “undesirable.” Hundreds of activists and critics of the Kremlin have faced criminal charges.

Melkonyants' defense team said after the verdict that they will appeal. Lawyer Mikhail Biryukov told reporters that “there is no evidence" in the case that he and others on the defense team consider “politically motivated, pretentious.”

"We will fight for Grigory’s freedom, because an illegal, unjust verdict should not exist. It should not stand (in the appeal proceedings). We all hope that the law will prevail,” Biryukov said.

Memorial, Russia's prominent human rights group that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, has designated Melkonyants as a political prisoner.

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia's leading independent election monitoring group Golos looks at the media as he stands in a cage in a courtroom prior to a hearing in Basmanny district court in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia's leading independent election monitoring group Golos looks at the media as he stands in a cage in a courtroom prior to a hearing in Basmanny district court in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia's leading independent election monitoring group Golos looks at the media standing in a cage in a courtroom prior to a hearing in Basmanny district court in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia's leading independent election monitoring group Golos who faces up to six years in prison, looks at the media standing in a cage in a courtroom prior to a hearing in Basmanny district court in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)