{"id":377636,"date":"2026-04-06T09:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T09:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/377636\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T09:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T09:30:11","slug":"joeboys-career-journey-from-viral-video-of-ed-sheeran-cover-to-global-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/377636\/","title":{"rendered":"Joeboy\u2019s career journey from viral video of Ed Sheeran cover to global star"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Before the hits, before the global stages, before Afrobeats became a dominant export, Joeboy\u2019s breakthrough came from a moment that almost didn\u2019t happen. A cover. A post. A little bit of luck.\n <\/p>\n

\n Like many artists coming up without industry access, Joeboy turned to what was available \u2014 social media and recognizable songs. The strategy was simple: reinterpret something familiar and hope it travels.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI got signed to Mr Eazi through social media,\u201d he says.\n <\/p>\n

\n Oluwatosin Oluwole Ajibade popularly known by his stage name, Mr Eazi, is a fellow Nigerian Afropop artist, who founded emPawa Africa, a talent incubator designed to support and develop emerging artists.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t have any access to industry\u2026 and we believed that the best way for us to be seen or heard was to do covers of popular songs,\u201d Joeboy says.\n <\/p>\n

\n One of those was British singer Ed Sheeran\u2019s hit song \u201cShape of You.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n He recorded it, posted it to Instagram, and watched it move. First in Lagos, Nigeria. Then farther.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt went viral\u2026 and a friend of mine tried to send the video to a bunch of established artists. Mr Eazi was one of them and that\u2019s how we started talking,\u201d he explains.\n <\/p>\n

\n That moment became the bridge to everything that followed.\n <\/p>\n

\n It was \u201c100%,\u201d Joeboy says, reflecting on the impact Ed Sheeran\u2019s record had on his journey. \u201cI thank God for Ed Sheeran making that song\u2026 who would have known?\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Today, artists are often told to reverse-engineer success \u2014 to make songs that fit algorithms, to chase moments instead of meaning. Joeboy doesn\u2019t see it that way.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cVirality is not something you should chase,\u201d he says.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s like miracle moments where everything just falls into place.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n That perspective feels earned based on how his career unfolded. His own breakout wasn\u2019t the result of a perfectly timed rollout \u2014 it was a chain reaction. A cover. A share. A co-sign.\n <\/p>\n

\n Platforms like TikTok may now dominate music discovery \u2014 reaching roughly 1.6 billion monthly users, compared to Spotify\u2019s 675 million, according to a University of California, Davis<\/a> study \u2014 but for Joeboy, the principle hasn\u2019t changed: consistency over calculation.\n <\/p>\n

\n As African music continues its global rise \u2014 with arena tours, festival circuits and chart-topping records \u2014 Joeboy still sees the value in small intimate venue performances.\n <\/p>\n

\n His recent Valentine\u2019s show in Lagos wasn\u2019t designed for spectacle. It was designed for feeling.\n <\/p>\n

\"Joeboy<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt was very intimate,\u201d he says.\n <\/p>\n

\n In a genre often associated with energy and scale, intimacy can feel like a departure. But for Joeboy it provides a more intimate connection to his fanbase.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt might not be thousands of people, but (with just) the 400 or 500, you connect more,\u201d he explains.\n <\/p>\n

\n That choice reflects his identity as Afrobeats\u2019 \u201clover boy\u201d\u2014 an artist leaning into softness and emotional honesty at a time when detachment is often more marketable.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cEverybody just wants to be toxic\u2026 it\u2019s kind of cool to not be vulnerable,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, I represent those people that still push that (vulnerability).\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Joeboy\u2019s rise has unfolded alongside Afrobeats\u2019 transformation into a global force \u2014 one that has seen billions of streams worldwide, with Spotify<\/a> reporting that Afrobeats consumption has grown more than 500% in recent years.\n <\/p>\n

\n Songs now travel instantly. Audiences are everywhere.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere was a time when artists didn\u2019t think beyond Lagos,\u201d he says.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cNow you have a chance of your song even being global, these were moments we used to dream of.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But even as the genre expands, his approach remains specific. Less about volume, more about connection.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI don\u2019t think vulnerability makes you less masculine,\u201d he says. \u201cBeing able to be expressive\u2026 takes a lot of courage.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n There\u2019s a throughline in Joeboy\u2019s story \u2014 one that starts by accident and evolves into clarity.\n <\/p>\n

\n He didn\u2019t grow up planning to be an artist. He discovered his voice almost by chance.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI didn\u2019t even know I could sing until I was 17,\u201d he says.\n <\/p>\n

\n Now, he\u2019s not just making music \u2014 he\u2019s building infrastructure. Launching his own label, Young Legend. Investing in artist development and creating pathways that didn\u2019t exist for him.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s a shift from being discovered to helping others be seen.\n <\/p>\n

\n A collaboration with Ed Sheeran would be the obvious narrative payoff \u2014 a clean, full-circle moment.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cOne hundred percent that should happen,\u201d Joeboy says.\n <\/p>\n

\n But whether it happens or not, the story already holds.\n <\/p>\n

\n A global career sparked by a cover. A viral moment that couldn\u2019t be predicted. A reminder that in an industry obsessed with formulas, some breakthroughs are simply chance \u2014 and timing. And at the center of it all, a simple intention that hasn\u2019t changed.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI want people to smile when they listen to my music and to feel good,\u201d he says. \u201cTo know that I made music from a place of love.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before the hits, before the global stages, before Afrobeats became a dominant export, Joeboy\u2019s breakthrough came from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-377636","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}