Our Favorite Afropop Moments of 2025 So Far

We’re officially halfway through 2025, and it’s truly giving “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” vibes. This month’s column is going to lean into the good — a few Afropop moments of innovation, excitement, and inspiration that have made waves this year. This is an unranked list — a slice of joy and pride from my perspective. Still, I’d be remiss if I didn’t recognize that around the world and particularly in the African diaspora, it can feel like these achievements pale in comparison to the rampant injustice hitting every corner of the Earth.  

From the U.S. to East Africa, authoritarianism is on the rise. Last week, in Kenya, security forces reportedly opened fire on demonstrators taking part in anti-government protests that commemorated a year since a mass movement began there against unfair tax hikes. Initially, the protests had seemed successful, with Kenya’s President William Ruto announcing that he would not sign the controversial tax bill that was under consideration. However, the government’s harsh response to the most recent round of protests has fostered a deepening sense of resentment toward Ruto and his administration. Accounts of government and police repression have only gotten more gruesome, with Amnesty Kenya reporting that 16 people have been shot and killed as of June 28 and local officials claiming that hundreds have been injured (while also alleging that most of those hurt were police officers). Meanwhile, devastating conflicts still rage in Nigeria, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In the face of unrelenting tragedy, we’re left to balance the beautiful and the calamitous, fighting to retain our humanity along the way. I’ve been thinking a lot about what British Nigerian journalist Julie Adenuga and Afrobeat icon Femi Kuti expressed in the forthcoming HBO Max documentary Wizkid: Long Live Lagos (a highlight of this year in Afropop I’ll say more about later). They spoke about what it truly means to have a global pop star in Wizkid. As I listened, I contended with the way such representation can seem so fickle and inconsequential when so much else is a clear matter of life or death.

“It shouldn’t take for people to like a song for them to feel that there is an entire country and continent of people that are worth investing in,” Adenuga explained, as she and Kuti also imagined the eyes, ears, bodies, and wallets that could be and are being drawn to Africa as it becomes a bigger cultural capital internationally. They imagined how those resources could make a dent in solving the real problems of underdevelopment colonialism left behind. But if nothing else, art, sport, and entertainment remind us of all we are and can create when we have a bit of joy, purpose, and freedom. “Anyone from where I’m from are kings,” Wizkid says in the documentary. “And that’s what matters, the way you see yourself.” So, here are some moments of that very joy, purpose, and freedom to savor.

African Artists Show Up and Out at Coachella

It seemed momentous when acts like Burna Boy, Tems, and Uncle Waffles had taken the stage at Coachella in previous years, but this spring, the range and concentration of Afropop stars in the desert felt deep and unique for such an iconic American festival. This April, there was Nigeria’s Rema, right after his standout show at Rolling Stone’s Future of Music showcase and before he headlined Madison Square Garden for the first time (more on that in a minute). His first weekend debut was plagued by a long delay and technical difficulties, but he bounced back with the type of spectacle he’s near mastering for the second. As another massive export to make the lineup in the same year, Tyla’s slick dance moves and music repping her South African culture shined. Amaarae got her Black Star era off to a rousing start with her set, leaving a sea of Ghanaian flags waving in the audience as the first act from the West African nation to perform solo at Coachella. And the always cool and curt Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 brought real Afrobeat to the scene with a moving sense of conviction and musicality, invoking the spirit of Fela. 

Rema Rages at SXSW 

In March, Rema fans flocked to Austin for his headlining set that closed out Rolling Stone’s Future of Music showcase, following his turn as the magazine’s first Black African cover star. His show at ACL Live at the Moody Theatre hit capacity, which admittedly surprised me for a city not particularly known to be a hub of Black or African culture. The energy was absolutely ferocious, too. To close out his electric set, Rema summoned the dark energy of “Ozeba,” a Heis hit modeled after a Nollywood horror film. “If you wanna take off your shoes, take off your shoes,” he said before it. “If you wanna take off your wig, take off your wig.” While shoes and wigs seemed to remain mostly intact, the crowd took the spirit of the invite to heart, jumping, screaming, and sweating to the sound of an Afrobeats visionary.

Tems Wins a Grammy, Owns Part of a Soccer Team, and Reps Omega Watches

OK, Tems has been making major moves this year, so I’ll go chronologically — you find it motivational, remember that you have the same 185 days left in the year as her. In February, she kicked things off by winning her first Grammy as a lead artist for her single “Love Me Jeje,” which Rolling Stone named the best Afropop song of 2024. She took home the trophy for Best African Music Performance, an award that’s only a few years old. Just 10 days later, it was announced that she had joined Major League Soccer’s San Diego FC’s ownership group with a stake in the team, a contingent that includes Issa Rae. And this month, Tems became a luxurious face of Omega watches, alongside five other women including model Ashley Graham and Academy Award-winner Ariana DeBose. Though we fell in love with her as a tender singer-songwriter, she’s becoming a bona fide superstar and diversifying her impact. It’s lovely to watch.

My Father’s Shadow Becomes the First Nigerian Film to Officially Debut at Cannes

Interestingly enough, this historic feat is tangentially related to Tems. My Father’s Shadow, from Nigerian filmmakers and brothers Akinola Davies Jr. and Wale Davies, is a semi-autobiographical but fictional film that follows a small family over the course of a single day in 1993 Lagos — when then-ruling Gen. Ibrahim Babangida controversially canceled a democratic election, sparking months of fatal vitriol. Wale Davies — who wrote the first iteration of the script that explores the meaning of fatherhood and nationalism — is Tems’ longtime co-manager. He’s also an artist himself, in the rap duo Show Dem Camp, and now heads his own Fatherland Productions, an A&R for Sony Music Publishing in Africa. (Do you people sleep?) Ahead of the premiere at Cannes this month, Davies spoke with journalist Nelson C.J. for OkayAfrica (C.J. is also a Rolling Stone contributor). “As much as I enjoy the hype and the accolades, it’s really about the work,” Davies said. “When it finally goes out into the world, the whole conversation changes, and hopefully some of the dialogue we intended for the film can finally kick off.”

Wizkid: Long Live Lagos Premieres at Tribeca Film Festival 

On June 22, Afrobeats star Wizkid gave the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles a hell of a show, complemented by an entire orchestra. A clip of him performing Kevin Lyttle’s soca classic “Turn Me On” into his own hit “Come Closer” lives rent free in my brain. It felt triumphant to see after screening the forthcoming HBO Max documentary Wizkid: Long Live Lagos, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in New York in June as well. As I alluded to earlier, in following Wizkid as he became the first African artist to play London’s elite Tottenham Hotspur Stadium nearly two years ago, the film makes a case for why these feats matter. It offers a rare, head-on glimpse into the notably private and reserved singer’s personal life, but largely, the film focuses on Wizkid as not just a man but an institution, the tension between the two, and the world of possibility that comes with both. 

Loosies: More Afropop gems to check out now

Bnxn, “Cutesy”
Braye, “I Wish I Had More Time”
Victony, “Glory”

 “Made in Africa” is a monthly column by Rolling Stone staff writer Mankaprr Conteh that celebrates and interrogates the lives, concerns, and innovations of African musicians from their vantage point. You can listen to the Made In Africa playlist here.