Famous Nigerian musician Adekunle Gold is now a household name in the African music industry, but this wasn’t always so. Adekunle Gold’s fame in Nigeria didn’t start with music. Before he started wowing us with lyrics, he was already blowing our minds with his graphic design skills.
The Best of Adekunle Gold’s Photoshop Reel
Dining with kings
Drake can’t eat alone o
With Nicki Minaj at the BET awards
Adekunle Gold putting moves on the Mona Lisa
Amber Rose wasn’t left out
Pervert moves again
Who wouldn’t want a bath with Kim K?
Our personal favourite when he kicked Jay Z to the curb
Tiwa also enjoyed his attention
The one that broke the internet
On Photoshop, Adekunle Gold had said, “Photoshop is fun; I love the way it makes people laugh and the attention I get. It has helped me meet people that have assisted me with my music career.”
We can’t say for sure that the reason he used to be such a ‘beggy’ singer with songs like ‘Orente’ and ‘Sade’ was closely related to his weird sense of humour. It was inevitable that although the fame his Photoshop gag brought about helped his career, it didn’t help Adekunle Gold’s chances with women at the time.
In an interview early on in his career, Adekunle Gold revealed that Sade was a persona story. A girl named Sade refused his advances, which inspired the song, very cliché if you ask me. Here’s what the ‘High’ singer said in the interview:
I asked a girl named Sade out on a date three years ago, but she didn’t accede to my request. She said she was not ready even though I liked her. The song is about her, and everything I narrated is true, aside from the part where I said my parents were disturbing me. That did not happen.
From his emergence in the music industry, Adekunle Gold has always kept his love life under wraps, even deflecting several questions on the issue. For example, The Headies award winner was asked in 2016 if he was romantically involved with Simi as he was rumoured to be. To which he replied, ‘I’d rather not talk about that.’ He later went on to list the qualities his ideal woman should have. Gold said, ‘She must be hardworking, adventurous and a lover of God.’.
Unlike other musical artists, Adekunle Gold was rarely in the news regarding any romantic affairs. The ‘Sinner’ singer always revealed his desire to get married, explaining that although he is a lover boy at heart, he is also a family man, as we hear in his songs. The only occurrence we have of Adekunle Gold’s media stint on love before his engagement to Simi was a joke he shared with his friend Adesua Etomi. This incident occurred when he ‘jokingly’ asked her out on Twitter, and she gave him conditions to meet. Not long after, she announced her engagement to Banky W.
He said, “People do not know if Adesua is just my friend. They wouldn’t know if my tweet was just banter or if it was real. I guess a lot of people thought it was real, and I was asking Adesua out online. Why would I do that?”
“We were joking, and she is my friend. I even tweeted when she got engaged that I’d not even got the 50 000 retweets she asked for and she was already engaged. It was just banter, but I guess people see what they want to see. Adesua and I never dated; we were/are just friends. If we had dated, I would have worked towards marrying her. I mean, who would not want to marry Adesua? That is if we had dated, but that was never the case.”
KEEPING LOVE LIFE SECRET EARLY ON
In 2017, Adekunle Gold was dealing with touring and was very busy with his music. The media was curious to know if he still had time for relationships and other things men do. He replied, ‘I’m doing everything; man is growing old now, and man’s hot (laughs). You have to balance everything out; I’m a family person, so I understand the power of relationships and career; it’s just balanced.’ When pressed by the interviewer if he was seeing someone, Adekunle Gold said, ‘Of course, I am. The way you see me, I no get babe?’.
Going on to further bolster his point and establish that he is one of the few musical entertainers after ‘something different’ (pun intended). The Sinner crooner said: ‘I’m not freelancing (sleeping about). I beg, oh! Please don’t wreck my home (laughs hysterically).’
Adekunle Gold was quite adamant about keeping his relationship life private in the early days as he didn’t want anything in the media to jeopardize his relationship. These are the statements he made in an interview:
“I don’t have to tell you if I am dating Simi or not. I cannot reveal my girlfriend’s identity because it could be that she does not want to be known. It could be that I want that aspect of my life to be a secret. People know and love me because of my music.”
“I cannot be married for ten years, and people would not eventually find out. When the time is right, everyone will know who my love interest is. Let’s assume that I am dating Simi; what if it does not work out? I’d love to keep that part of my life secret.” This was all the information the world could get from Adekunle Gold on his love life until the end of 2018 when he angrily reacted that he was not in a love triangle with anyone when the question was brought up at the Headies Awards.
ADEKUNLE GOLD AND SIMI
Adekunle Gold and Simi’s relationship reportedly started years ago when they struggled to make a breakthrough in the music industry. For a long time, it was all love and bliss for the young, hardworking couple who were determined to make a name for themselves, as they both held on to their dream of achieving success in a Nigerian music scene where music tastes are diverse and ever-changing while staying through to their unique sounds.
Today, it can be said that they’ve achieved their dreams and that Adekunle Gold has found the woman he described in that interview, even though many can say that he was already describing Simi back then. Simi’s voice makes grown men cry, while Adekunle’s beautiful melodies appeal to females of all tribes and ages.
Many used to fear that the shy, homely Simi might be stolen from Adekunle Gold by the more polished Falz back when the pair collaborated on many musical projects. Fans of Adekunle Gold feared he might be left heartbroken. However, in a shock twist, we found out that Adekunle Gold and Simi had a private wedding in January 2019 and Falz was in attendance,
Fans have been glued to the Nigerian stars’ romance since news of their marriage hit the news after secretly dating for five years. They often share glimpses of their relationship on social media, but these days, another little family member has stolen their shine. Adekunle and Simi welcomed their first child, daughter Deja, in May 2020 and their followers lap up any photos of the adorable one-year-old.
ADEKUNLE GOLD ON THEIR RELATIONSHIP
Speaking to Metro.co.uk to release his new single Sinner, Adekunle said: ‘There’s no pressure ever. We let people know what we want them to know. We’ve been together for six, seven years – what pressure would we feel to bring people into our lives? We’re good.
‘The Black love thing is sweet, but I’m not living my life for Black love. We’re in a relationship that works for us, and if that translates to Black love, Black power, then wonderful, but that’s not what we’re going for.’
The It Is What It Is singer continued: ‘We do that so beautifully, we know when it’s time to work and when it’s time for family. It helps that we’re both musicians, so we understand what the industry entails, the gimmicks and how it’s so easy to get sucked in and forget who you are. We have a healthy balance on everything.’
AG DADDY ON FATHERHOOD
Sharing how fatherhood has changed him, Adekunle explained that he now ‘works harder to give his daughter ‘a better life’ than he experienced growing up.
‘Every day, I think about how I have a job to raise a beautiful queen and in this crazy world that we’re in, you know it’s hard work,’ he said. ‘I’m grateful to be a girl dad; it’s made me even more aware of how crazy it is to raise a child at this new age, so I’m more in tune with everything I need to do to be a responsible dad and a great man at large.’
We wish Adekunle Gold and his family all the best, and we’re happy that even though he was shunned by Sade, AG baby is on his way to being AG Daddy of the Year!