Loading AI tools
Lekan Osifeso Jnr. (born 28 April 1996), popularly known as Lojay, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and producer.[2][3] He peaked at number 8 on the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart with his song "Monalisa", which features Chris Brown and Sarz.[4][5] He received a nomination for the Headies Award for Next Rated artiste at the 2022 Headies Award.[6][7]
In 2023, Lojay alongside Nigerian singer Davido were featured on the song "Sensational" by Chris Brown. The song debuted at number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100, serving as Davido and Lojay's first entry on the chart.[8] The song earned him his first career nomination at the Grammy Awards, receiving a nomination in the Best African Music Performance category.[9]
He graduated from the University of Portsmouth, UK in 2018.[10] His family lived in Ikorodu and then in Victoria Island, Lagos. Lekan has shown great potential and inclination towards music since he was a child. While in secondary school at Nigerian Turkish Secondary School in Nigeria, he was in a local rap group called Dkoy. While in Dkoy he released hits like Kilode. As his mother was a pastor, Osifeso went to church regularly, as a family routine during his formative years.[11] While growing up, Chris Brown was one of his favorite singers.[12][11]
Lojay's stage name is an abbreviation of the first letters of his full name "Lekan Osifeso Junior" (LO-J). He picked interest in music and singing as an adolescent. And pursued his passion through his teenage years.[1] He is fluid with the genre of music he does and switches from one gnere to the other. In an interview with Nataal, he said[11]
"I don't have a genre and I'm not going to put myself in a box just because people expect it....anyone that wants to put me in a box is free to do so. As long as you are jamming and connecting to the gbedu(song), you can call it anything you want. If I do rock tomorrow, nobody should fight me."
He started music professionally in 2016 on a part-time basis while he was still an undergraduate and then went on to focus solely on music after obtaining his degree.[2] In December 2017, Lojay released his debut EP, Midnight Vibes, which consisted of five tracks. The titles of the tracks from the EP are Atarodo, Alomo, Kele, 10K Splaw and Whine & Bubble.[13]
In 2019, he released the single "Ariel"and in 2020 he released another single titled "Ogogoro". Between his initial sojourn into the music industry in 2016 and the release of his breakout songs in 2021, Lojay dropped several singles including Along, Kuli Kuli, Over the Bar amongst others.
In May 2021, his sophomore EP titled LV N ATTN (stylized from Love and Attention), which was a duet EP alongside producer Sarz, was released. It was a five track EP that contained his breakout singles which he released earlier that year titled "Tonongo" and "Monalisa", a song he went on to remix with Chris Brown.[14][15] As well as LV N ATTN, a track with the same name as the EP, in which he featured Wizkid.[16] The two other tracks are titled Panty! and Park O X3. The body of work earned a nomination for The Headies award for next rated artiste for the year 2021/2022.[6] In November 2021, he and Zlatan Ibile were featured by DJ Neptune on the song titled Only fan.[17]
In 2022, he took part in the Heineken UEFA Champions League trophy tour in Nigeria.[18][19]
In March 2023, Lojay released his second solo EP titled Gangster Romantic.[20] "Monalisa" was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) later that month.[21]
EPs
Singles
As featured artist
| Year | Award ceremony | Prize | Recipient/Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | The Headies | The Headies Award for Next Rated | Himself | Nominated |
| Best Afrobeats Single of the Year | "Monalisa" - Lojay & Sarz | Nominated | ||
| Headies' Viewer's Choice | Nominated | |||
| Best Afrobeats Single of the Year | Nominated |
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
