Brief history of simisola Bolatito Ogunleye (simi)
Simisola Bolatito Ogunleye (born April 19, 1988), professionally known and referred to as Simi, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter.Simi started her career as a gospel singer, releasing her debut studio album in 2008 titled Ogaju.Her career came into spotlight in 2014 after she released "Tiff", a song which was nominated in two categories at The Headies 2015 and further brought her to mainstream recognition. Simi is currently signed to X3M Music under which she released her sophomore studio album Simisola.
2006–13: Early beginnings and Ogaju
Simi grew up dancing and singing as a member of her local church's choir until she wrote her first song at the age of 10. Her professional musical career started in 2008 following the release of her debut album titled Ogaju which contained songs like "Iya Temi" and "Ara Ile" with the entire musical production from Samklef.
2014–present: Restless, Chemistry and Simisola
In January 2014, Simi released an EP titled Restless which gained her new grounds and further earned her a record deal with X3M Music. The EP contains a 5-track cover of popular songs by international acts like Rihanna's "Man Down" and Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain".
On January 9, 2014, Simi released two singles titled "Tiff" and "E No Go Funny", with the former receiving massive airplay and accepted generally among music critics. The video for "Tiff" was released on August 30, 2015 and directed by Josh Clarke.The song went on to be nominated in the "Best Alternative Song" category at the 2015 edition of The Headies.
In 2015, Simi won the "Most Promising Act to Watch" category at the 2015 Nigeria Entertainment Awards. In an interview with Leadership Newspaper, Simi said she is working on her sophomore album scheduled to be released in 2016.Upon the release of a single titled "Jamb Question" which later featured Falz in the remix, Simi was listed as one of the artistes to watch out for in 2016 by NotJustOk.
On 14 February 2016, she released "Love Don't Care", an Oscar Heman-Ackah-produced ballad which was received to positive critical reviews and massive airplay. The song condemns the discrimination of love because of tribal and social prejudices.The music video of the song was directed by Clarence Peters. In October 2016, she was nominated in the Best Breakthrough Act category at the 2016 edition of the MTV Africa Music Awards.On 27 October, Simi collaborated with Falz to release Chemistry, a project Oghene Michael of 360Nobs described as an "experiment of the word art". In December 2016, Simi was nominated in three categories at The Headies 2016 award ceremony, winning one category.[19] In 2017, she won songwriters of the year award at African Music Awards AFRIMA 2017.
In anticipation of her second studio album Simisola, a 12-track album which features only Adekunle Gold as guest artiste,Simi released two singles "Smile for Me" and "Joromi" backed with music videos which were directed by Clarence Peters and Aje Films respectively. She unveiled the album's tracklist via Instagram on September 1, 2017 before it was released on September 8 to relatively positive reviews and went on to debut at number five on the Billboard World Albums chart.
List of singles as lead artist, showing year released and album name
"Ara Ile"2008Ogaju"Emi L'Onijo"2012Non-album singles"Take a Chance""Chocolate Brown""Don't Judge Me (cover)"2013"Bibanke (cover)""Marvin's Room (cover)""Tiff"2014Simisola"E No Go Funny"Non-album single"Jamb Question"2015Simisola"Jamb Question (Remix)" (featuring Falz)Non-album singles"Open and Close""Love Don't Care"2016Simisola"Smile for Me"2017"Joromi"
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award ceremony | Prize | Recipient/Nominated Work | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2015 Nigeria Entertainment Awards | Most Promising Act to Watch | Herself | Won | 1 |
| 2015 City People Entertainment Awards | Most Promising Act of The Year | Won | 2 | ||
| 2015 Nigerian Music Video Awards | Best RnB Video | "Tiff" | Nominated | 3 | |
| Music Video of The Year | Nominated | 4 | |||
| Best Soft Rock/Alternative Video | "Jamb Question" | Nominated | 5 | ||
| 2016 | The Headies 2015 | Best Alternative Song | "Tiff" | Nominated | 6 |
| Best Vocal Performance (Female) | Herself | Nominated | 7 | ||
| 2016 City People Entertainment Awards | Female Artiste of the Year | Won | 8 | ||
| Nigerian Teen Choice Awards 2016 | Choice Upcoming Female Artist | Won | 9 | ||
| 2016 MTV African Music Awards | Best Breakthrough Act | Nominated | 10 | ||
| The Headies 2016 | Best Recording of the Year | "Love Don't Care" | Nominated | 11 | |
| Best R&B Single | Nominated | 12 | |||
| Best Collaboration | "Soldier" (with Falz) | Won | 13 | ||
| Best Vocal Performance (Female) | "Love Don't Care" | Won | 14 | ||
| 2017 | 2017 City People Entertainment Awards | Best Collabo of the Year | "No Forget" (with Adekunle Gold) | Won | 15 |
| 2017 Nigeria Entertainment Awards | Best Afropop Female Artist | Herself | Nominated | 16 | |
| Best Album | Chemistry (with Falz) | Nominated | 17 | ||
| AFRIMA Awards | Songwriter of the year | Herself | Won | 18 |
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