Off the back of the biggest Afrobeats song of 2022, and his breakout debut album Rave & Roses, Rema announces his highly-anticipated North American tour dates. The 14-stop tour produced by Live Nation and Duke Concept will feature support from Nigerian musician Victony and will kick off on July 15th in Washington D.C. with a performance at Broccoli City Music Festival, thereafter, making stops in New York City, Houston, Chicago, and more before wrapping in Los Angeles on August 17th.
In addition to the headlining tour, Rema also officially announces the deluxe edition of his debut album Rave & Roses ULTRA, arriving this Friday. A little over a year after the release of Rema’s debut Rave & Roses he’s back with the deluxe “ULTRA” version which is bulked up with additional hits that Rema that released after the album including the Selena Gomez version of “Calm Down”, “Holiday” and “Reason You.” These three tracks are joined by a further three completely new and unheard tracks.
Alongside the tour announcement, “Calm Down” reached one billion combined global streams (original track and Selena Gomez version) on Spotify alone. It has become the highest charting African song of all time on the US Singles Chart. Recently, Rema performed the single and “Holiday” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and captivated fans during his halftime show performance at NBA All Star game. The single earned him his first top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 1 on the Billboard Global (Excl. U.S) chart and has become the best performing Afrobeats video on Youtube of all time. “Calm Down” has received unwavering support across India and The UAE, it was the first No. 1 single on the debut MENA chart, and now Rema is the 63rd most streamed artist on Spotify with over 39 million monthly listeners, the highest amount an artist from Africa has ever achieved.
Rema is a superstar already. Championed by no less than Barack Obama and Drake, his songs such as ”Iron Man” and ”Dumebi” have already changed the game forever. Continuously demonstrating wisdom way beyond his 23 years, Rema is paving the way for his generation with his mission statement of taking Afrobeats around the globe being central to everything he does. To some, his success may appear to be overnight but his musical journey began as a young teen in the church. Rema, aka Divine Ikubor, was born and bred in Benin City and has risen to mainstream consciousness with his unmatched vocals, fusion of genres & ease at being unapologetically himself. Gracing the front covers of The Fader & Dazed & Confused in his career’s infantry, he continues to add to his list of career highlights becoming one of Apple Music’s Up Next artists in 2020, joining the FIFA 2021 soundtrack, and catching the attention of; Radio 1, 1Xtra and Kiss. Rave & Roses gives us a glimpse into the story of Rema the superstar as he tries to navigate life, the fame, love and sex while creating a sonically pleasing and exciting experience.
22-year-old Nigerian rapper, singer and songwriter Victony released his debut EP, Outlaw, in 2021. The release was a remarkable feat given earlier that year, Victony was involved in a near death car accident. He suffered leg injuries and had to use a wheelchair for months. Despite multiple surgeries and a long recovery, Victony found time to record several acclaimed singles that year, including “Pray”, and the Mayorkun collab “Holy Father,” which has earned more than 20 million streams on Spotify (released Jan 2022). He has also collaborated with Grammy-winning producer Rexxie to release a dance capsule, “Nataraja.”
In October of 2022, Victony released the music video for his single “Soweto,” which has clocked over 54 million views since its release. The song has over 30 million audio streams, and on TikTok it has over 1 million creates and over 1 billion views across all videos. Rolling Stone listed the track as #15 on their top Afropop songs of 2022. In March of 2023, Victony released the hit remix of “Soweto” featuring Don Toliver and Rema. The song has been blowing up since then and has landed on Spotify’s Viral 50 lists.
Upcoming Live Dates:
Europe:
6/1 – Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound Barcelona
6/8 – Madrid, Spain @ Primavera Sound Madrid
6/9 – Porto, Portugal @ Primavera Sound Portugal
6/24 – Reims, France @ La Magnifique Society
6/25 – Paris, France @ Solidays Festival
6/28 – Roskilde, Denmark @ Roskilde Festival
6/30 – Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands @ WOO HAH! x Rolling Loud
7/2 – Maramande, France @ Garorock Festival
7/4 – Montreux, Switzerland @ Montreux Jazz Festival
7/12 – Tønsberg, Norway @ Slottsfjell Festival
7/13 – Bern, Switzerland @ Gurtenfestival
North America:
7/15 – Washington, DC @ Broccoli City Music Festival
7/16 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore Philadelphia
7/21 – Boston, MA @ Citizens House of Blues Boston
7/22 – New York, NY @ Coney Island Amphitheatre
7/23 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues Cleveland
7/26 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
7/28 – Houston, TX @ Bayou Music Center
7/29 – Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom
7/31 – Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall
8/2 – Minneapolis, MN @ Uptown Theater
8/3 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
8/5 – Montréal, QC @ Osheaga Music Festival
8/6 – Toronto, ON @ History
8/11 – Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
8/12 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
8/15 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
8/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern