Grammy-winning Nigerian singer Burna Boy has refuted claims made by Logos Olori, a signee of Davido, regarding the use of songwriters by top artists.
In a recent interview with City 105.1 FM, Logos Olori stated that prominent musicians, including his boss Davido, Wizkid, and Burna Boy, often rely on songwriters. He argued that the demands of a busy career necessitate this practice.
“Most people that shame artists for using songwriters don’t know much about the music business. As a musician, you tend to write your songs most times when you are up-and-coming. When you’ve got 10 shows in a week in different countries, you’ll understand that you need a songwriter,” Logos Olori explained.
“Chris Brown has a songwriter, Michael Jackson had a songwriter. Davido is currently on tour immediately after his wedding. He writes his songs sometimes, but most times he has to handle the business part of it. That’s how Burna Boy is, that’s how most artists are—even Wizkid. They don’t just put it out there, but if you check the credits on Spotify, you’ll see they use songwriters as well.”
In response, Burna Boy took to his X (formerly Twitter) handle to clarify his stance. He emphasized that he does not use songwriters, attributing the credits seen on his songs to producers and featured artists due to Western music industry practices.
“Any name you see credited on my songs are only producers of the songs or featured artists, not writers. But for some reason, the western world considers producers as writers of the instrumentals and they just throw their names on there as writers. Nobody fit write for Odogwu,” Burna Boy wrote.
This statement contrasts with Burna Boy’s previous public admission that Peruzzi, another signee of Davido, had written a song for him. Despite this past acknowledgment, Burna Boy insists that he does not use songwriters for his music.
