Davido's '5ive' welcomes the Afrobeats megastar into an era of change and growth
NEW YORK (AP) — Afrobeats may be the hot sound of the moment, but Davido remembers a very recent past when music from Africa wasn't embraced globally, amid a perception the continent was one of only destitute poverty and primitive lands.
'I remember when Africans used to lie that they were Jamaicans,' laughed the Atlanta-born 'Fall' singer, who grew up between the U.S. and Nigeria. 'The narrative has immensely changed. And thanks to the people who are behind this, because it's not governments … it's the innovators. The musicians. The entertainers. The lawyers. The doctors in America, pushing the narrative of being African.'
The Grammy-nominated artist, who has multiple 100 million-streamed songs on Spotify and is often credited as playing a vital role in the global expansion of Afrobeats, drops his new album, '5ive,' on Friday. Following 2023's 'Timeless,' the 17-track project boasts an international flare with features from Grammy winners Chris Brown and Victoria Monét, as well as Becky G and Afrobeats heavyweights Omah Lay and Victony. Davido began with 80 potential songs, then crowdsourced opinions from family and friends, using a ranking system to help curate the album.
Suffering heartbreak in 2022 after his three-year-old son died from a drowning accident, the 32-year-old now looks at life with new perspective.
'My life was going so fast ... now, things are clearer,' said Davido, who now has five living children. 'After the crazy loss we had, God gave us twins: a boy and a girl. So, life is just different now — the importance of family and good people around you. I feel like the energy is very, very important, and I feel like that energy is what I used to record this album.'
The Associated Press spoke with the megastar about the popularity of Afrobeats, unity and inspiring through grief. The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: What's the album title's significance?
DAVIDO: It's my fifth album. But after I called it '5ive,' I went to go and do more research on the number five and what it entails, which is a symbol of hope, grace, change, growth.
AP: How can Afrobeats not be looked at as a fad once the excitement dwindles?
DAVIDO: Not over-loving the conception of Western validation … one song blows up, two songs blows up — only two songs — and they are running to America to do a tour. What happened to Ibado? What happened to the other places in Nigeria?
The most important thing that will make us last longer is if we don't forget where we came from.
AP: The women of Afrobeats seem united, but it hasn't been that way for the men. Can that change? (Competition, social media jabs and friction between camps have strained the relationship between the genre's biggest stars, Davido, Burna Boy and Wizkid.)
DAVIDO: Recently, the conversation has been had … when I see Bad Bunny working with Peso (Pluma), and Peso working with Farruko, I'm like, yo, there's so much unity.
Imagine if all of us came together and busted out a tour? … We're older now, we are more mature, so I feel like maybe in the greatest future, you might see that happen.
AP: How do you feel about non-Africans adopting the sound?
DAVIDO: They can't do it better than us! I say this to Chris (Brown) every time we play around, I'm like, 'Chris, I can't sing R&B like you, but never in your life can you sing Afrobeats like me!' (laughs) I don't see any problem with it as long as it's done right and everybody's credit is due … at least come use an African producer.
AP: Has your approach to making music changed since suffering an unimaginable loss?
DAVIDO: Music-wise, I don't think it changed a bit because when I get to my artist mode, nothing distracts me. … When I dropped the 'Timeless' album and everything went crazy — like, the most streamed album in the (first) week in Africa ever — we celebrated the album with the people that were with us when we were in trying times.
I feel like that was the beauty of it. And apart from that, I just want people to just look at my story and know that you can overcome anything.
___
Follow Associated Press entertainment journalist Gary Gerard Hamilton at @GaryGHamilton on all his social media platforms.
By Gary Gerard Hamilton, The Associated Press
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The Latest: Combs' ex-girlfriend sobs while recounting ‘hotel nights' that lasted for days
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean 'Diddy' Combs ′ recent ex-girlfriend, testifying under the pseudonym 'Jane,' sobbed on the witness stand Friday while describing their many drug-fueled sex marathons, saying he ignored her when she signaled that she wanted to stop and chided her for crying after one of the encounters. The Latest: Lawyer asks judge to crack down on people who are trying to reveal Jane's identity Jane's lawyer Lindsay Lewis spoke up during a break in testimony while the jury was out of the courtroom. She said some media outlets and social media accounts have or are attempting to reveal Jane's identity. Judge Arun Subramanian didn't immediately act on Lewis' request. He asked her to send him any examples of concerning posts. Subramanian noted that there's little he can do about members of the public doing their own sleuthing to figure out Jane's identity based on what she's said on the witness stand. The judge previously warned reporters and members of the public observing the trial not to describe Jane in detail. He's also told sketch artists not to draw her. Jane was heartbroken when Combs flew to the Caribbean with another woman Soon after co-opting her birthday into a 'hotel night' in 2023, Combs jetted off to Turks and Caicos with another woman, Jane said. She told jurors she saw Instagram posts of Combs and the woman in the Caribbean archipelago, where they spent some of their earliest times together. 'It broke my heart because I just finished my birthday with these guys having sex with me,' Jane testified. Combs was planning the trip during her birthday celebration, which involved her having sex with three men, she said. In a text message, she told him: 'It feels like you used me to get off and then go away for a week.' Jane wrote a frustrated note to Combs but never sent it Irritated with the imbalance of their relationship, Jane poured her thoughts into the Notes app on her phone in November 2021, drafting a message to Combs but never sending it. 'I don't know what you're calling me for, but I'm sorry I don't want to do drugs for days and days and have you use me to fulfill your freaky, wild desires in hotel rooms,' Jane wrote in the unsent missive. Jane said she was tired of waiting for Combs to fulfill promises he'd made to her, such as date nights, togetherness, quality time and doing things she wanted to do — not the 'hotel nights' that had come to dominate their relationship. Jurors hear audio of Jane confronting Diddy about another woman In November 2021, Jane confronted Combs about cheating on her after she saw Instagram posts from a woman who was at his Miami-area estate. In an audio recording played in court, Combs explained that the woman had come to his house to work out. But Jane didn't buy that and responded that the woman had been there for days. Jane said she'd known that Combs was seeing other women, but the Instagram postings reinforced for her that he was giving another woman quality time she yearned for. She said she felt used, telling jurors that at the time she thought: 'It's not me that he wants. It's these nights.' Afterward, Jane said, Combs called her on FaceTime and calmed her down, repeating a pattern she said happened each time she objected to continuing with 'hotel nights.' Jane says the sex marathons caused her to suffer from back pain and UTIs Jane wiped away tears as she recounted the many ill-effects of 'hotel nights,' including constant back pain, frequent urinary tract infections and soreness in her genitals and pelvic areas. Combs' former longtime girlfriend, Cassie, testified she also suffered UTIs after enduring hours of sex during sex marathons involving Combs and male sex workers. Both women testified they were made to have sexual encounters before they were fully recovered from UTIs. Jane is shown photographs of herself and male sex workers during 'freak-offs' The images were not shown to the courtroom audience or on monitors in overflow courtrooms, in keeping with the judge's order barring evidence from being displayed to reporters and the public while Jane testifies. Jane says she arranged some of the 'hotel night' sex marathons Sometimes, it was a surprise to keep Combs happy, Jane said. Other times it was because he demanded it, she said. 'I knew it was to be expected,' she testified. 'He expected me to coordinate a night where we had an entertainer join us.' Combs would often ask for 'hotel nights' in a roundabout way, Jane said, relying on a type of code they'd developed. 'He didn't have to directly, specifically tell me to do things,' Jane said. 'If he said, 'I can't want to see what you have for me,' or something along those lines, I knew what task was being asked of me.' Jane felt obligated to continue doing 'hotel nights' for Combs Jane recalled another occasion where she told Combs she wasn't interested in sexual encounters with other men. On a trip to New York in 2023, she said she told him, 'I didn't want to do it anymore, these nights with these men.' Combs didn't listen, she said, and they proceeded with the encounter. Jane said she objected again in a subsequent conversation and Combs told her she didn't have to engage in such sexual encounters anymore. But Jane said she felt obligated. Just a few months earlier, she had moved into a home that was paid for by Combs. Jane told jurors she was apprehensive about going to New York in the first place because she worried Combs was trying to set up a 'hotel night.' Sure enough, on the flight, she said she received a text message from Combs asking: 'Do you want entertainment tonight?' Jane's testimony resumes Jane, who had been crying steadily when a lunch break was taken, returned composed to the witness stand after the hour-long break. The jury was brought into the Manhattan courtroom shortly afterward. And the prosecutor, Maurene Comey, resumed her questioning, which began Thursday. Immediately, Comey confronted her with a picture of one of the male sex workers. Jane says her longest 'hotel night' lasted three and a half days Cassie, Combs' girlfriend from 2007 to 2018, testified during the trial's first week that her hundreds of marathon 'freak-off' sessions with Combs and a male sex worker usually spanned multiple days in which she and Combs used drugs to stay awake. Jane testified Friday that her longest 'hotel night' with Combs and a male sex worker was three and a half days, while most went 24 to 30 hours. Jane said she relied on ecstasy to dull her senses. 'I just feel like I had to take them. When I wouldn't, it would feel too real, like the atmosphere,' Jane said. 'And I didn't want to feel like it was too real.' In a parallel to Cassie's testimony, Jane recalls how Combs ruined her birthday Jane said Combs brought her to have sex with sex workers on her birthday in 2023, even though she was hoping for time alone with Combs. Jane said she wasn't interested in having her birthday subsumed by Combs' fantasies. She said she turned into something of a robot, telling jurors, 'I would just tune out and kind of get like in a zone.' Jane said Combs' mood soured when she asked for a condom for the sex worker to use. Afterward, Jane said, Combs took her to another hotel suite, where he was loving and gave her cake and flowers. But then, Jane said, another male sex worker came into the suite. When they were finished, Jane said, a third man entered the room. It was 'just hours and hours of that,' Jane said. Combs held sex marathons just weeks before his arrest, Janes says Combs was continuing to have so-called 'freak-off' sex marathons as federal investigators were closing in on arresting him last year, Jane testified Friday. Jane said she was involved in sexual encounters with male sex workers at Combs' Miami-area estate as late as last August, just weeks before his arrest at a Manhattan hotel. Jane estimated there were about five such encounters between February 2024 and his arrest last September. None of them were in hotels, a frequent venue for activities she dubbed 'debauchery' and 'hotel nights.' Federal agents raided Combs' home on ritzy Star Island, along with his home in Los Angeles, in March 2024. Prosecutor focuses on allegations of sex trafficking and forced labor Prosecutor Maurene Comey has been deftly mixing in questions for Jane that cut to the heart of the case, including charges of sex trafficking and forced labor. As Jane was describing her many 'hotel nights' with Combs and paid sex workers, Comey asked her, 'who did the most work' during those encounters. 'It was all me, from just start to finish,' Jane testified. When asking Jane about recruiting a sex worker, Comey underscored the geographic scope of the alleged crimes. Jane testified that she'd booked flights to Los Angeles and New York for the Atlanta-based sex worker. One of Combs' charges is interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution. Later, Comey asked Jane about transporting drugs across state lines for Combs. Jane says she was Combs' drug mule on at least two occasions Jane described how she nervously smuggled pills in her checked luggage on commercial flights from Los Angeles to Miami. Jane said both times Combs asked her to 'pick up a package' at his Los Angeles mansion and bring it with her when she visited him at his Miami-area estate. Jane testified that she wasn't comfortable with the request, but Combs' chief of staff Kristina 'K.K.' Khorram told her: 'It's fine, I do it all the time.' Jane said she delivered the drugs to Combs and ended up using some of the drugs with him. Jane says Combs pressured her to continue having sex, even after vomiting Combs pledged to get clean from drugs in 2023, Jane said, but first wanted to have another of their 'hotel nights,' dubbing it a 'sobriety party.' Jane testified that she typically took drugs to get through the encounters, but abstained that night in a Beverly Hills hotel room as Combs ingested ecstasy and cocaine. After having back-to-back sex with two sex workers, she said, she felt sick and vomited in the bathroom. Jane said Combs came in and told her: 'That's good. You'll feel better now that you've thrown up. So let's go.' Jane then went back to the party and had sex with a third man, she said, telling jurors she was 'repulsed' and 'deeply regretted' doing it. 'I hated it so much,' she said. Prosecutor zeroes in on the control Combs had over Jane One of the prosecution's central arguments is that Combs coerced women to submit to his sexual fantasies by using his fortune to make them reliant on him. To bolster that claim, Prosecutor Maurene Comey had Jane read aloud texts in which she complained to Combs that it seemed that 'hotel nights' were 'the only reason you have me around and pay for the house.' She said in the messages that she was 'doing things that make me disgusted with myself.' Still, she expressed her love for Combs, saying in the messages that 'my heart is really in this and it's breaking.' By September 2023, Combs had been paying Jane's rent for about five months. Comey asked Jane what she feared would happen if she stopped doing hotel nights. 'That he would take it away, that Sean would take the house away,' Jane responded. It was then that Comey asked her how Combs responded to her messages. 'He said: 'Girl stop,'' Jane answered. Combs taps his fingers as Jane sobs As Jane broke into sobs talking about how she 'just really wanted my partner to get sober' when she tried to do a 'hotel night' without drugs in October 2023, Combs tapped his fingers against one of his legs, occasionally glancing toward the jury or his lawyers and away from Jane. Jane texted Combs that she wanted to stop having 'hotel nights' Jane tried to put an end to so-called 'hotel nights,' texting Combs in 2023 that she longed to return to the early days of their relationship, before the drug-fueled encounters started to dominate their time together. Jane told Combs that she felt obligated to perform for him and that she regretted ever getting involved in the encounters, writing: 'ever since I opened Pandora's box, I haven't been able to close it.' 'I don't want to keep feeling like that,' she wrote, telling Combs that she wanted them to 'talk like adults and figure out where we're going from here.' Combs responded: 'Girl, stop.' Jane sometimes leaned into Combs' fantasies even though she 'didn't like them' Jane acknowledged sending sexually explicit text messages to Combs between their hotel encounters, telling jurors she wanted to convey her love and interest in having sex with him — not strangers. At times, she said, she did lean into his fantasies, sending graphic messages describing what she said she wanted to do with sex workers while Combs watched. On the witness stand Friday, she said she sent those messages because she wanted to make him happy. In reality, she said, she wanted the encounters to stop. 'I didn't like them,' she said. 'I was realizing this was becoming the dynamic of what we were.' Jane says Diddy stopped condom use during 'hotel nights' Jane testified that Combs intervened to stop a man she identified as Don from using a condom, even after she requested it. The moment was captured in audio played for the jury. She said it happened during their first 'hotel night,' which Combs had arranged, and that he blocked condom use again in a later encounter. Jane testified that Combs 'guilt tripped me out of it. It wasn't something he wanted to see.' Prosecutors play audio of 'hotel night' encounter. Later, Jane breaks down sobbing Prosecutors played an audio tape in which Jane asked a man to wear a condom who was about to have sex with her. It was the first time jurors in the trial, now in its fourth week, heard any recording from what Jane has called 'hotel nights' and what Cassie called 'freak-offs.' During hotel nights, a male sex worker would have sex with Jane while Combs watched, according to testimony. Later in the testimony Friday morning, Jane broke into sobs as she described crying on two occasions during 'hotel nights' with Combs. In tears, Jane says Diddy ignored her resistance to group sex Jane wept as she told jurors how Combs ignored her 'subtle cues' that she wanted to stop engaging in sex acts during their drug-fueled 'hotel nights.' She said she'd tell him she was tired or hungry or make gestures and facial expressions indicating that she didn't want to continue. Combs, she said, would tell her to keep going and 'finish strong.' Asked by a prosecutor why she didn't tell him directly that she wanted to stop, Jane said, 'I just, I don't know,' as she cried loudly. Jane's second day of testimony starts with sexual topics Comey, the prosecutor, questioned Jane about sexual subjects right from the start on Friday, beginning with a trip Jane said she took with Combs to Las Vegas in 2023 when they had a 'hotel night' with an 'entertainer.' The prosecutor asked Jane if Combs ever used the word 'freak' with her. Jane said he would say 'he wants his freak.' She said she understood that to mean 'he wanted me to be wild and sexual.' Jane's description of 'hotel nights' has closely paralleled Cassie's earlier testimony about 'freak-offs' she had with male sex workers, under Combs' direction. Jane returns to the courtroom Jane is back to resume her direct examination by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey. The jury has entered the room. Combs, wearing a dark sweater on Friday, is conversing with his lawyers and writing notes. The judge gave prosecutors a small victory prior to the resumption of testimony when he ruled that statements Jane made that cast a disparaging light on the sexual performances she endured during her three years of dating Combs can be used during her examination. Defense lawyers had argued they should be inadmissible. But the judge said the opening statement by the defense opened the way for admission of the exhibits because the defense asserted that Jane was a willing participant and that sexual activities were all consensual. Judge meets with attorneys before jury arrives As he has throughout the trial, Judge Arun Subramanian is meeting with prosecutors and defense lawyers in the courtroom on Friday before the jury is brought in so disputes about evidence can be settled. The judge also discussed efforts to improve the ability of Combs to communicate with his lawyers from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he has been held since his September arrest. The Associated Press
2 hours ago
Film Festival showcases what artificial intelligence can do on the big screen
NEW YORK -- NEW YORK (AP) — Artificial intelligence 's use in movie making is exploding. And a young film festival, now in its junior year, is showcasing what this technology can do on screen today. The annual AI Film Festival organized by Runway, a company that specializes in AI-generated video, kicked off in New York Thursday night with ten short films from around the world making their debut on the big screen. 'Three years ago, this was such a crazy idea,' Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela told the crowd. 'Today, millions of people are making billions of videos using tools we only dreamed of.' The film festival itself has grown significantly since its 2023 debut. About 300 people submitted films when it first began, Valenzuela said, compared to about 6,000 submissions received this year. The one and half-hour lineup stretched across a range of creative styles and ambitious themes — with Jacob Alder's ' Total Pixel Space" taking home the festival's top prize. The 9-minute and 28-second film questions how many possible images — real or not — exist in the digital space, and uses math to calculate a colossal number. A stunning series of images, ranging from the familiar life moments to those that completely bend reality, gives viewers a glimpse of what's out there. Meanwhile, Andrew Salter's 'Jailbird," which snagged second place, chronicles a chicken's journey — from the bird's perspective — to a human prison in the United Kingdom to take part in a joint-rehabilitation program. And 'One,' a futuristic story by Ricardo Villavicencio and Edward Saatchi about interplanetary travel followed in third place. The 10 films shown were finalists selected from thousands submitted to Runway's AI Film Festival this year. The shorts will also be shown at screenings held in Los Angeles and Paris next week. How AI is used and executed is a factor judges evaluate when determining festival winners. But not every film entered was made entirely using AI. While submission criteria requires each movie include the use of AI-generated video, there's no set threshold, meaning some films can take a more 'mixed media' approach — such as combining live shots of actors or real-life images and sounds with AI-generated elements. 'We're trying to encourage people to explore and experiment with it,' Valenzuela said in an interview prior to Thursday's screening. Creating a coherent film using generative AI is no easy feat. It can take a long list of directions and numerous, detailed prompts to get even a short scene to make sense and look consistent. Still, the scope of what this kind of technology can do has grown significantly since Runway's first AI Film Festival in 2023 — and Valenzuela says that's reflected in today's submissions. While there are still limits, AI-generated video is becoming more and more life-like and realistic. Runway encourages the use of its own AI tools for films entered into its festival, but creators are also allowed to turn to other resources and tools as they put together the films — and across the industry, tools that use AI to create videos spanning from text, image and/or audio prompts have rapidly improved over recent years, while becoming increasingly available. 'The way (this technology) has lived within film and media culture, and pop culture, has really accelerated,' said Joshua Glick, an associate professor of film and electronic arts at Bard College. He adds that Runway's film fest, which is among a handful of showcases aimed at spotlighting AI's creative capabilities, arrives as companies in this space are searching for heightened 'legitimacy and recognition' for the tools they are creating — with aims to cement partnerships in Hollywood as a result. AI's presence in Hollywood is already far-reaching, and perhaps more expansive than many moviegoers realize. Beyond 'headline-grabbing' (and at times controversial) applications that big-budget films have done to 'de-age' actors or create eye-catching stunts, Glick notes, this technology is often incorporated in an array of post-production editing, digital touch-ups and additional behind-the-scenes work like sorting footage. Industry executives repeatedly point to how AI can improve efficiency in the movie making process — allowing creatives to perform a task that once took hours, for example, in a matter of minutes — and foster further innovation. Still, AI's rapid growth and adoption has also heightened anxieties around the burgeoning technology — notably its implications for workers. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees — which represents behind-the-scenes entertainment workers in the U.S. and Canada — has 'long embraced new technologies that enhance storytelling,' Vanessa Holtgrewe, IATSE's international vice president, said in an emailed statement. 'But we've also been clear: AI must not be used to undermine workers' rights or livelihoods.' IATSE and other unions have continued to meet with major studios and establish provisions in efforts to provide guardrails around the use of AI. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has also been vocal about AI protections for its members, a key sticking point in recent labor actions. For Runway's AI Film Festival, Valenzuela hopes screening films that incorporate AI-generated video can showcase what's possible — and how he says this technology can help, not hurt, creatives in the work they do today. 'It's natural to fear change ... (But) it's important to understand what you can do with it," Valenzuela said. Even filmmaking, he adds, was born 'because of scientific breakthroughs that at the time were very uncomfortable for many people."
Hamilton Spectator
3 hours ago
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AP PHOTOS: David Beckham to be awarded a knighthood by King Charles
London, ENGLAND (AP) — David Beckham, the former England soccer captain who has been an ambassador for the U.N. children's fund for two decades, is to receive a knighthood in next week's honors list from King Charles III, according to U.K. media reports Friday. Without citing sources, the BBC said Beckham is set to receive further recognition both for his soccer career, and his contributions to British society. ____ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
