By Rotimi Ige
Apple Music has announced Afrofusion singer-songwriter, Pawzz (David Tokuma Dekor) as the latest featured artist in its ‘Up Next’ artiste development programme in Nigeria.
“It’s a real honour for me, a young kid from Nigeria’s middle-belt, to be selected as Apple Music’s ‘Up Next’ artiste. I can’t express how grateful I am to Apple Music for their love and support for my music. It just brings so much validation to my journey, the years of sacrifice and striving to achieve my dreams. I couldn’t be happier or more ecstatic about this,” he told Apple Music.
Born and raised in Port-Harcourt, Nigeria, Pawzz has been working diligently for several months alongside distribution and label services company, Freeme Music, in order to fully realise his artist potential. Now, with a clear focus on leveraging his individuality, Pawzz is determined to make a positive impact on the youth through his music, by teaching them to embrace their authentic selves.
His debut EP Prezz Play (2023), available to stream on Apple Music and released through Freeme Music, blends Afrobeats, Afropop, Alté, R and B and Amapiano to create a sound that’s steeped in energy and evergreen melodies, anchored by the uptempo Afrobeats single, ‘Koma’ (2023).
As the newest ‘Up Next’ act to be spotlighted in Nigeria, Pawzz will be featured across Apple Music’s Nigeria’s ‘Up Next’ playlist. The curated playlist features a dynamic class of new and emerging artists, thoughtfully hand-picked by Apple Music editors from around the world. The playlist is genre agnostic and represents a line-up of artistes our global editors are passionate about and eager to expose to a larger audience.
Pawzz joins Novemba, Ogranya, Majeeed, Khaid, Ninety, Young Jonn, T.I Blaze, Browny Pondis, Ajebo Hustlers, Jaido P, Wavy The Creator and SGaWD as Apple Music’s growing stable of ‘Up Next’ artistes from Nigeria.
The vast global ‘Up Next’ roster of past talent includes Grammy-nominated and critically lauded talent like 6lack, Daniel Caesar, H.E.R., Greta Van Fleet, Khalid, Amy Shark, Billie Eilish, Sabrina Claudio, Sigrid, Mr Eazi, Stefflon Don, Bad Bunny, Juice WLRD, Bazzi, Jax Jones, NCT 127, Summer Walker, Tierra Whack, Dean Lewis, Pink Sweat$, Koffee, Megan Thee Stallion, Burna Boy, Clairo, Lunay, Jessie Reyez, Orville Peck, Victoria Monét, Ingrid Andress, Conan Gray, Don Toliver, Rema, BENEE, Holly Humberstone, Natanael Cano, Givēon, beabadoobee, Arlo Parks, Tate McRae, Foushee and Tems.
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