In a long post, the movie-producer and social commentator
suggests that Tiwa Savage and her PR team were only
trying to play a game of damage control, comparing the
interview to something 'Olivia Pope' would have done.
He also suggests that the image of humility portrayed in
the video by wearing a scarve on the singer's head was
not in line with the image she had been trying to project
since she became a hit in the entertainment industry.
Among several other things, Mr. Novia is of the opinion
that Tiwa should have maintained a stance of dignified
silence, and that now that she has blown open all the
secrets of her marriage, her husband, Tee Billz , might be
moved to indeed commit suicide.
Read the full article below:
"I watched the video interview of Tiwa Savage. And I have a
few thoughts on it.
"Seems to me that the basic idea, coming from a PR
perspective, was to pull a fast Olivia Pope ish on the scandal
which broke a few hours ago. And understandably so. Tiwa
Savage is a Brand Ambassador for a few top brands such as
MTN, Pepsi and Pampers .
"Whatever the negative fallout of this impending and
scandalous divorce, it’s going to have some downside a bit on
the brands she campaigns for. So a fast ‘tell-my-side-of-the-
story mode’ had to be employed and fast too.
"I don’ t know if a professional PR person was involved with
the packaging but it was tacky. Not professionally done, in my
opinion. I’m not harping on what she said, as those things are
her personal heart cry and she has a right of reply but I’m
more interested in the optics of what has been put out.
"First, perhaps in a bid to elicit some linear empathy or
something, Tiwa was made to think that looking humble and
contrite corresponds with tying a dormitory scarf on her head
and looking casual in a T Shirt was a good way to send the
message home. I think it only demystified her brand more.
This is a video which would be watched for years to come
and even more so by her kid. Having tried so hard to be a
Beyonce clone in Nigeria (and that’s my perception of her
artistic projections all these years), she should have known
too that Beyonce never plays with her optics in any way. That
scarf and sombre look wasn’t the right optics, if you ask me.
There are more visually acceptable ways of projecting a diva’s
side of the story and her PR team ( if she has any) messed it
up there.
"I’m asking myself too if the proprietary of having such an
interview twenty four hours after the scandal was advisable.
For many, it wouldn’t matter but for some, perhaps a little
dignified silence would have been advisable. Ma’am, you are
supposed to be pop queen. You be ‘ Dorodiva’. A simple press
statement that you and your family would love to have your
privacy respected at these trying period and bla bla bla would
have kept everyone a bit cool till a proper interview surfaces.
Recent clamping up lessons from Toke Makinwa would have
helped.
"And the spilling though! I really have nothing to say on that
much. First, every marriage have peculiar challenges. And
couples try to work things out till the pressure point either
makes the marriage go South or force the brakes for
reconciliation.
"I have written many times about couples, especially celebrity
couples who ‘flash and form’ seemingly pristine lifestyles on
social media and I always end my homilies with the caveat
that incessant kudos by one or even both partners to each
other on social media at the slightest opportunity, are
indications of a festering problem in that marriage. It’s the
way it is here. The guy can be pummeling the wife every
morning and she still would go up on social media to post his
picture with words like ‘the only one for me…my lover, my life’.
Incredible.
"In her interview, Tiwa said she dreaded his birthdays or
wedding anniversaries because of “what people would say”.
Sad, when a marriage is predicated on keeping up
appearances for the public when it should actually be more
private for both couples.
"Like I said, what she said in the interview is her right of
reply. I would sympathise with her beyond the cosmetic
sympathies she’s getting from fans, friends and fiends. She
wanted a fairy tale life, worked hard to build it but found out
that she was kissed by a frog who didn’t turn out to be the
Prince she desired. My sympathy would be on the truncation
of that dream and really not the nightmare she woke up from.
Because she created it with him. And it had its entertainment
value for the fans who lapped it all up.
"He was still legally married, from reports back then which
were either squashed or played down, yet she ignored the
alarm bells and still went ahead to marry him “after the
traditional introduction”. What was celebrated in far away
Dubai was just a reception for the introduction perhaps and
not the legal nuptials. I stand to be corrected on this?
"It’s the classic case of the gullible girls always falling for the
bad guys. And when you ask the question why such girls fall
into that trap, they would reply that ‘I thought I could change
him. That he would change’. Shiooor! His father could not
change him, his mother could not change him but it’s you and
your ikebe that will now change him?"
The gods are wise!
"She has denied the allegations of the trysts she purportedly
had with Don Jazzy, Dr Sid and Tuface. Just as well too.
Because I’m sure those guys must have had some temporary
flaccidity after Tee’s ‘depressed’ rant. Person go just siddon e
own and next tin your name go dey for somebody gbanshing
list! Na wa o.
"And hasn’t this marital incubus taken its toll on her career in
the past year? I think it has. In my opinion, this last album of
Tiwa is crap. It’s quite a flat album. And it’s being received
as such since its release in December. Perhaps the
matrimonial shenanigans distracted the focus."
It’s going to be hard work to rebuild her career from here on.
Hard work.
"But she could just reinvent her career too. She seems like
one who came into the scene with a ferocious focus to be on
top. And she was arguably the biggest female act on he
scene before perhaps a personal yearn for emotional fulfilment
veered her off the path. And in trying to make a comeback, it
hasn’t been easy. The fans have limited patience and other
female rivals have come on the scene.
"Somehow, some comic relief seems to have come out of
this. And it is perhaps culinary by inference. ‘ Edible Catering’.
Talk about choking on one’s swallow! No pun intended.
"I do not know how people psycho-analysed that Tee Blizz’s
instagram rants were as a result of depression. It seemed like
a drunken or spaced-out outcry to me when I read it. And an
accompanying recant on twitter later that his account was
hacked seemed too like some silly sobriety thereafter. It’s
high time these celebrities stop using the hacking excuse to
cover up for infantile discretions.
"In all of this, I do feel some little sympathy for the couple.
But there is a larger lesson to be learnt from all this by them
and intending couples too ; stop trying to keep up with The
Joneses when in actual fact you have forgotten that you are
The Jegedes. Keep the ish real.
"Oh….and if Tee Blizz was really hovering around the Lekki
Ikoyi bridge as reported, for a suicide swim from which he
was saved by Banky and others, then I would advise a whole
squad or eagle – eyed friends to surround all bridges in Lagos
after this Tiwa’s interview.
"She cleaned him out. Finished his ass like he messed up hers
the day before.
"Depression?