Chidinma Ekile, Nigerian Project Fame winner revealed to her fans that she’ll be going back to Gospel after a stint with secular music. The talented singer who is widely known for her hit single Kedike shocked her fans with this revelation on the 2nd of May and she seems to be happy with her switch to Gospel.
She was officially decorated and ordained as not just a gospel singer, but a music minister and was signed under EeZee Concepts the record label housing Mercy Chinwo, Judikay, and GUC.
Same Sunday, she also debuted with a gospel video of the single “Jehovah Overdo” which immediately went viral across gospel music blogs and even secular since she was once part of them. It since garnered over 300 thousand views on YouTube.
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Her switch to gospel music didn’t come as a big surprise as she has been giving subtle undertones ever since of a change of course in her career after staying off the radar for almost a year and a half.
But the bottom line is, our dear Chidinma is now a full-time gospel music minister and Mama G.O as she fondly calls herself.
Here we dissect three possible reasons why she made that big career switch.
Her Background Played A Major Role
As we all know, Chidinma Ekile shot to fame via MTN Project Fame’s third edition held in 2010 and began singing secular songs. However, a brief look into her profile reveals that she hails from a middle-class religious family with her father being a disciplinarian and would have naturally frowned at her decision to join the secular industry.
She had her earlier upbringing done partly by the family and the church as she began singing in the choir at the very tender age of 6 and would later become a music director in the church. Now that’s the perfect church girl background and although she would later win the competition, dye her hair red and spot a mohawk, roots are roots and they always find a way to haunt their proteges.
But she’s not the only artist with gospel roots, I mean nearly half of the secular acts started right in the church. Yeah that’s a great point but her case is different, her roots haunted her down and brought her back which is not common.
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She Simply Retraced Her Steps and Went Back To Where She Got Her Start
The project fame came with all the fame anyone can desire. She became a celebrity, a millionaire and a regular face on the spotlight. Although she never had music in the grand scheme of her life’s plan, after winning the show, she decided to give a shot and did great at it.
But then there was a turning point and as earlier stated, her root decided to draw her back. She took a long hiatus from music, deleted all pictures on her Instagram account, and left just one with the caption “Temporarily closed for spiritual maintenance”.
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Even before the Instagram and social life rehab, one of her last singles, before she took the long hiatus, was a gospel sound titled “Holy” which she featured Frank Edwards and thus went underground for an all-out resurrection into gospel music.
So it isn’t really a switch to gospel per say, it’s just a case of returning back to one’s root which is quite rare considering the fame and wealth she has amassed from her previous career. But that will lead us to the last point on why we think she took that decision to return.
The Gospel Music Industry Isn’t Intimidated By The Success Of Its Secular Counterpart
While its crystal clear that her motives for returning back to gospel is based on the fact that she wanted to mend fences with God and reunite with her Christian background, the gospel music industry is another motivation. So if there ever was a time she thought about sticking with the good thing going for her in the secular industry, the success recorded in the gospel version was tempting as well.
One look at Mercy Chinwo, Frank Edwards, Moses Bliss, Judikay and the rest and you can tell she’s losing nothing joining them. It’s a booming industry worth millions of dollars and the fame is competing with that of secular.
So the gospel music industry doesn’t cower for shame or is being intimidated by the booming secular. It’s a stand-alone resurgent entertainment economy that will match its counterpart anywhere in the world.
