Afrobeats superstar, Rema says he is 'glad to serve' after being 'celebrated by his people' at the 16th Headies Awards where he stole the show bagging three awards.
On Monday evening, the singer wrote on his X (formerly known as Twitter) handle: "Honored to be celebrated by my people, as a soldier of the course I'm glad to serve. Now let's get back to work."
The show, tagged 'Celebrating African Renaissance,' highlights the creativity of Pan-African talent and the event honours the best in Afrobeats and African music.
Rema won the 'Best Male Artiste', 'Digital Artiste Of The Year' and African Artiste of the Year awards at the 2023 Headies which was held on Sunday, September 4, 2023, at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center in Atlanta.
He also accepted the 'Best Music Video' award for his hit song 'Calm Down' on behalf of Director K.
Additionally, Selena Gomez, who collaborated with Rema on the global hit "Calm Down," won International Artiste of the Year, while Director K, who directed the music video for the "Calm Down" remix, won Best Music Video.
Rema also gave a resounding speech at the 16th Headies Award as he called on Nigerian artistes to protect the "institutions that propel them to international success."
The 23-year-old singer delivered an inspiring speech about the Nigerian music industry and Afrobeats.
Delivering his inspiring speech at the award night, the superstar singer urged industry players to protect Afrobeats and stressed that the industry is at risk of losing its acclaim if the ecosystem is neglected in pursuit of personal glory.
Rema also stressed the importance of supporting the Nigerian music industry and stated that even fans are reluctant to pay for tickets to attend Nigerian music concerts because they are unsure if the artistes would perform.
Rema's brilliant speech has been hailed by fans for being insightful and courageous as it echoed the sentiment of fans and stakeholders back home.
At the 16th Headies Awards, Rema won the Male Artiste of the Year ahead of strong contenders-- Asake, Kizz Daniel, Ruger, Omah Lay, and Burna Boy.
He also won the Digital Artist of the Year Award and delivered another wonderful speech.
Rema said: "I remember 2019, when I stepped on the stage and said 'I'm the future', I hope nobody still doubts? Just like Burna Boy said 'I told them'."
He appreciated his record label boss D-Prince, Mavin record boss Don Jazzy, for their contribution to his success story and he also expressed gratitude to his esteemed fans for their unwavering love and support.
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He also celebrated his roots 'Benin City' for nurturing him into becoming a global superstar.
Rema has enjoyed a stellar run and the recent awards add to the plethora of achievements, groundbreaking records, and milestones he has attained in the past year.
His hit song 'Calm Down, featuring Selena Gomez, reached the Top 10 Hot 100 chart and eventually peaked at an impressive No. 3 in June 2023, making it the highest-peaking Nigerian song on the Billboard Hot 100.
'Calm Down' recently became the first song in history to spend one year (52 weeks) on the Billboard US Afrobeats Songs chart.
Similarly, the video of the remix has garnered a total of 619 million views on YouTube to date.
The hit single also attained the impressive feat of being the most-viewed Nigerian music video on YouTube with 523 million record views to date.
