SONG THEFT ALLEGATIONS: Jaywon says he tried to reach Sir Victor Uwaifo to no avail

A week after he was accused alongside singer Simi of song theft by Sir Victor Uwaifo, “This Year” crooner Jaywon revealed in an interview with PUNCH that he tried reaching out to the veteran musician for permission to no avail.

Jaywon revealed that he actually wanted to write an official letter to Sir Victor Uwaifo about the issue but when he asked around, he was told that he (Sir Victor) was not in Lagos.

He said; “There is no way I can talk about my hit song, Joromi, without talking about Sir Victor Uwaifo, who we all grew up listening to his music. The whole idea of the song is different from Sir Victor Uwaifo’s but the title reminds anyone of his song. I cannot take away the fact that his song inspired mine. I felt that I should tap into the current beat making rounds in Africa with the song. My song is a love song and I also saw it as an opportunity to promote my artiste, Twist da Fireman, who was also on the song. He added a different sound to the song. I am happy everyone loves the song. I keep working because it is difficult to know the song people would love, so I keep working till I get it right.

Read also: Majek, ex-manager throw verbal punches as singer says he’ll sue Novia with Dakolo for stealing his song

“The truth is that I actually wanted to write an official letter to Sir Victor Uwaifo about the issue but when I asked around, I was told that he was not in Lagos. It was just the title and they are not even pronounced the same way. I know what it means to tap into someone’s intellectual property. I would not be that stupid to take someone’s intellectual property without proper authorisation from the owner of the song. A lot of people do it but I cannot do such. The instrument I used in my song sounds nothing like what Sir Victor Uwaifo used in his.”

In recent past, Nigerian artists have been embroiled in song theft accusations with the most controversial of them being that of Blackface accusing his former band mate 2face of song theft while Majek Fashek threw verbal punches at his ex-manager Charles Novia for giving Timi Dakolo the go ahead to remix his old song without permission.

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now