CNN’s African Voices Changemakers takes stars for a drive
African Voices Changemakers airs on CNN International Saturday 16th August 2025 at 08:30 SAST
In a special edition of African Voices Changemakers, CNN’s Lamide Akintobi takes the continent’s favourite stars for a drive while they open up about their life, their work, and everything in between.
Akintobi hits the street of Lagos with Qing Madi, a singer, songwriter and dancer from Delta State, Nigeria. She talks about growing up singing in her local church in Benin City and how it affected her love of music, “Growing up, because my mom was very interested in me as an artist and as a child, I didn't get to fall in love with music. There was church rehearsal. She put me there. I had dance rehearsal, so I was subconsciously like, okay, this is a routine.”
Earlier this year, Qing Madi released the song ‘Favourite Psycho’ which gained a lot of social media attention, being used in popular TikTok videos. She recalls the process of writing the song, “I wanted it to come from a perspective of something I see very commonly in quote, unquote, African homes. Most times African moms tend to shield their kids from what is going on beyond them, so they don't get to really understand how that looks. And I really wanted to write it as if I was in that position.”
Next, Akintobi catches up with Grammy-nominated Afro-fusion star Lojay who says his sound is as smooth and luxurious as a Rolls-Royce. When discussing with Akintobi about what motivates him, Lojay says, “Growing up, I just used to always want to do something that meant something. And then as I started making music, I started getting a connection not only to the music, but also to my community or people that just enjoy my music. So that kind of just brought like a new angle to it.”
Lojay’s joint EP ‘LV N ATTN’ with Starz hit #1 on Apple Music Nigeria in 2021. He delves into his process for making music, “In my normal process of recording music, I always say that melody is the king. Melody is in charge of the entire song. The only thing that's important for me before I start making a song is the intention for the song.”
Akintobi’s next guest is Mr. Fido who shares what he would be doing if he hadn’t had his musical breakthrough, “I would say I had this, crafty side of me whereby I see myself being an actor or a comedian, but if it's not music, maybe movies.”
Akintobi ends the show by talking to Nigerian actor, Tobi Bakre, about the awards he won for his roles in ‘Gangs of Lagos’ and ‘Brotherhood’, “I've done more drama-based movies than action, but because the action ones are the most loved or most popular, everybody kind of sees that. And I wear the crown number one action star out of Africa.”
African Voices Changemakers airs on CNN International at the following times:
Saturday 16th August 2025 at 08:30 SAST and 12:00 SAST
Sunday 17th August 2025 at 04:30 SAST and 19:00 SAST
Monday 18th August 2025 at 04:00 SAST and 18:45 SAST
https://edition.cnn.com/specials/africa/african-voices-changemakers
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