MTV Base Roundtable crowns Davido’s ‘Timeless’ the album of the year

After an amazing year on the music and entertainment scene, leading youth entertainment brand, MTV Base reconvened for a recap of all the exciting, entertaining moments in 2023 through its renowned roundtable discussion, aka MTV Base Roundtable. Back for its ninth edition, the annual show had the biggest music heads to discuss the hottest topics in music and entertainment.

This year’s star-studded panel included Adams, Award-winning Video Jockey, entertainment entrepreneur, artist cum executive producer; Taymi B, Award-winning On-Air Personality; DJ Big N, Award-winning Disc Jockey; Sunky O, Producer and Lifestyle Connoisseur; Tosin Akinbo, Head of Strategy, Glitch Africa; and Ejino Valentine, Head, Music & Programming, MTV Base.

The Roundtable kicked off with the panel voting on the biggest music moments of 2023 based on a shortlist. It was a tough battle between Rema’s scintillating O2 performance, Tiwa Savage’s performance at King Charles III’s coronation, Tems’ Grammy nominations and BET Awards win, Burna Boy selling out the London Stadium and the Grammys creating an Afrobeats category. The panel eventually settled on the Grammys creating an Afrobeats category as the biggest moment of 2023, with the major reason being that it benefits the entire industry, while the others are about individual successes.

Just before the next segment began, there was a moment to honour the late Oladimeji Aloba, known as Mohbad. Through a vox pop, Nigerians were asked what their biggest 2023 music moment was, most of whom picked Mohbad’s death as truly emotional.

Then, the panel deliberated on the most controversial personalities from a list that included Davido, Portable, Seun Kuti, Rema, Yul Edochie, Teni, Smada, Shallipopi, Blessing CEO, and Very Dark Man, all of whom have had their fair share of controversies in 2023. It was a fiercely contested category, as the judges gave their reasons for their interesting decisions in a process that involved a series of initial votes, which helped them to cut down from 10 celebrities to a final list of the 5 most controversial personalities of 2023; Portable, Blessing CEO, Very Dark Man, Davido, and DJ Smada.

Finally, the panel had to decide on the big one, the album of the year. For this, the judges had to consider three major criteria for ranking the albums — their impact during the year, their international following, and their influence as a body of work in the music scene. From a lineup of 20 albums, the panel picked out the top 10 before deciding the order of these 10. From Taymi B removing her shoe as she passionately defended Asake’s ‘Work of Art’ to DJ Big N dropping some Shakespearian lines as he made a case for Davido’s ‘Timeless’ to be number one, it was a lot of banter and passion that resulted in this final list: Timeless – Davido; Work of Art – Asake; I Told Them – Buna Boy; Eziokwu – Odumodu Blvck; Unruly – Olamide; Maverick – Kizz Daniel; Boy Alone Deluxe – Omah Lay; Presido La Pluto – Shallipopi;; Vibe Till Thy Kingdom Come – Shallipopi and Tequila Ever After – Adekunle Gold.

The repeat of the show on MTV Base shows on (DStv Channel 322; GOtv Channel 72) on Saturday, 6 January at 18:00WAT; Sunday, 7 January at 17:00WAT; Monday, 8 January at 15:00WAT; Wednesday, 10 January at 21:00WAT; Thursday, 11 January at 11:00WAT and Friday, 12 January at 22:00WAT.

The conversation can also be joined on the MTV Base Roundtable via MTV Base’s social media handles @MTVBaseWest.