Do we like Tiwa Savage?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Decent record on women and young creatives, with no harmful words found, but a few public stoushes and thin coverage on LGBTQ+ topics keep it at a 7.
Tiwa Savage is one of the biggest names in Afrobeats. Her path wasn't overnight: she was on The X Factor in 2006, where Sharon Osbourne turned her down, and sang backing vocals for artists like Mary J. Blige and Chaka Khan before going solo.
The best-known legal stoush was in 2019, when musician Danny Young sued her and her former label Mavin Records in a Lagos federal court. He alleged her single One copied his 2009 song and sought N205 million. Reporting from November 2019 says the respondents asked to settle and talks had started; no ruling against her turned up.
In January 2024 she filed a police petition against fellow star Davido, alleging his messages amounted to a threat to her life. The petition says it followed an Instagram photo she posted. The report we read carries no response from Davido, and we found no outcome from the police. It's her allegation, not a finding.
Harm check: we found nothing from her that demeans women, migrants or LGBTQ+ people, and nothing on climate or health misinformation. She has said her album Celia is for “all the different women in different industries killing it.” We found no statements either way on LGBTQ+ rights, so that part of the record is honestly thin.
The recent bumpy bit was late May, when she was filmed at Arsenal's title parade in London days after criticism of her slow response to a mass school abduction in Oyo State. Critics accused her of hypocrisy, though some fans defended her. She had said the situation broke her heart as a mother; the article reports no reply to the parade criticism.
The good stuff is real. In August 2026 she announced a K17.5 million donation to Music Crossroads Malawi for young women creatives, and said she plans a Malawi arm of her music foundation. She also joined a UN Spotlight Initiative visit focused on ending violence against women and girls.