Rema has once again proven his status as one of Nigeria’s global sensations with his new single, ‘Baby, (Is It A Crime).’ The new song, which was released on Friday, February 7th is set to be one of Rema’s biggest yet, as it already landed a whopping 1.32 million Spotify streams on its second day. Rema’s new song, ‘Baby, (Is It A Crime)’ samples the famous 1985 hit, “Is It A Crime” by Nigerian-British singer, Sade Adu.
A 1-minute snippet was first released in November 2024, to tease listeners before its official release in February 2025. Upon its release, the highly anticipated song hit a huge milestone, earning the second-biggest opening day for an African song on Spotify. The song has garnered over 1.5 million views on YouTube since Friday.
One can say that the ongoing success of Baby (Is It A Crime)’s ongoing success isn’t particularly surprising. This is because Rema is no new cat in the world of record-breaking streaming numbers. Since the release of ‘Dumebi” in 2019, the Afrobeats star has held his fans, at home, and abroad with the Rema Charrn, rising sporadically as one of Africa’s biggest breakout stars.
In a recent interview, one of Nigeria’s pioneer hip-hop stars, Timaya hailed Rema for being the leader of Nigeria’s new generation of musicians, and that cannot be more true. Rema’s “Calm Down” is today, one of Nigeria’s most popular Afrobeats sounds, and this was before the remake with Selena Gomez. Before the collabo, “Calm Down” had already made it to the Top 3 on the UK Singles chart, landing several award nominations.
These include the BRIT Awards for International Song of the Year, and Swiss Music Awards for Best Hit International, among others in 2024. The song won Best Music Video at the 2023 Headies held in Atlanta, Georgia. The song’s remake with Gomez went on to bag more than 12 international awards and surpassed 2 billion streams on Spotify. This also made it the most streamed song by an African artist on the music platform.
In 2024, the Benin-bred singer released his sophomore album, HEIS, with hit singles, “Benin Boys” and “Ozeba”. The album, which was released two years after his debut Raves and Roses, was a festival of collaborations Some of the artists that made it to the US World Albums Top 7 are Shallipopi on ‘Benin Boys”, Odumodublvck on “War Machine”.
The dedication and artistic excellence that accompanies Rema’s new songs are proof that the singer has no intention of calming down. Despite his early success and quick breakthrough, the Nigerian pop star understands is set to do more and credits his family as his motivation. He stated that “I feel like my family has grown bigger by how much love I receive and how much people have supported me to achieve my vision”.
Fate smiled on Rema and his hard work in 2019 when D’Prince found and signed him to Jonzing World. Today, that young teenager, Divine Ikubor is not only a renowned Nigerian star. Half a decade later, he has evolved into a global superstar, basking in the league of Afrobeats Big 3 – Wizkid, Davido, and Burna Boy.
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