Davido recounts how pageant contestant lost lead role in his iconic ‘Aye’ music video

Nigerian Afrobeats superstar Davido has opened up about the unexpected events that unfolded behind the scenes of the music video for his 2014 hit song, Aye, revealing how a pageant contestant lost the lead role moments before filming began.

Speaking during an interview with Capital XTRA, Davido recalled that production was set to begin when the model’s manager suddenly halted the shoot after receiving a call from the pageant organisers, who insisted she could not appear in the video because she was under contract.

According to the singer, the development left the production team in a difficult position, having travelled nearly five hours to the remote filming location with no option to reschedule.

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“The girl that was meant to be the main girl, she was in like some pageant thing. So we were about to shoot, and her manager was like, ‘Stop, stop, stop… they just called from the pageant that she is under contract and we cannot use the girl for the video,” he recounted

Faced with the last-minute setback, Davido said the team decided to cast the model’s makeup artist as the new lead in the Aye music video.

The award-winning singer noted that the decision turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the video became one of the biggest of his career.

However, he disclosed that the unexpected switch later created tension between the original model and her makeup artist.

“Bro, we had to use her makeup artist. And then the video became so huge, and they fell out. It was so crazy… ‘Like that was meant to be me. You took my role’. What do you want me to do? Davido said come…,” he said amidst laughter

@capitalxtra not the make-up artist stepping up to be in @davido’s music video 😭 #davido #afrobeats #fyp #aye #musicvideo ♬ original sound - capitalxtra