"I Had to... Take a Step Back:” Davido Opens Up About Losing His Son

Davido reflected on the tragedy of losing his son, three-year-old Ifeanyi Adeleke, during a conversation with CNN’s Larry Madowo for an upcoming episode of African Voices.

In the interview, the Afrobeats virtuoso described his journey back to making music—and finding healing along the way—following an extended social media hiatus. The “Over Dem” singer shared that before Ifeanyi had passed, he had completed his fourth studio album, Timeless. In the wake of the sudden tragedy though, he re-recorded the album.

“The album, to me, had three phases. Before my son passed, we had finished the album,” Davido said.

The 30-year-old singer added that although he re-recorded the album during a difficult time, he had to remain strong for the sake of his family and find his way back to the music.

“I know that at the end of the day, people would want Davido to be on stage again, eventually. People would want me to be able to make the thousands of people happy that I do on a daily basis, so obviously, I had to really, really calm myself down, and take a step back,” Davido said.

Davido also shared that the successful rollout of Timeless —albeit under difficult circumstances—made him realize that music is his true calling.

“This has shown me that I was really born to do music, because this situation will break anybody…This situation has shown me that for us to be able to come back and regroup ourselves, gather ourselves and be strong enough to do this record, I feel like that is what we are brought to do in this world,” the singer continued.

The Afrobeats icon also shared that he was overwhelmed with love from the support of people who reached out to him, and that empowered him to get back to the creative process.

“One thing I will say has helped was the support. Personally, the support that I got from people is one of the things that helped me to stand up again,” the 30-year-old singer said. “That was one thing that really, really made me strong enough to stand up again and get back to the studio.”

On March 31, Davido thrilled fans worldwide with the release of Timeless. The 17-track body of work has re-asserted Davido into the Afrobeats conversation, and became a commercial success barely days after its release. The record has since garnered explosive support and admiration from fans across social media.

On April 2, Davido took the stage at the Irving Plaza in New York City to perform to a packed crowd for “A Timeless Night With Davido.” He also performed on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on April 3.