How Adekunle Gold went from being the ‘King of Photoshop’ to Africa’s newest pop star

How Adekunle Gold went from being the ‘King of Photoshop’ to Africa’s newest pop star

Singer Adekunle Gold went from being the ‘King of Photoshop’ to Africa’s newest and hottest pop star in a matter of few years by grabbing the attention of Hollywood stars on his way to the top, creating his own genre, refusing to sing in English majority of the time and proudly representing his birthplace, Nigeria.

In a time where sounds from the continent have started making an impact on mainstream music – artist like Drake, Rihanna and Beyonce are known to incorporate artistic traits inspired from old and new African musicians into their work – Adekunle insists that the world is ‘late’ on the trend.



The 31-year-old urban high-life singer from Lagos, who was born into the Kosoko royal family of Lagos State, had an unusual rise to fame which unsuspectingly involved the likes of Beyonce and Chrissy Teigen.

The songwriter and former marketing manager spoke exclusively to Metro.co.uk about how he went from having fun on Instagram – as he photoshopped himself into pictures with his celeb crushes – to being regarded a celebrity himself, and a pioneer in urban high-life (a unique genre of music.)


And on the plus side, Chrissy Teigen ‘loves’ his work.

The star gained widespread attention after his 2015 release of Sade – an urban high-life cover of One Direction’s Story of My Life – also recently released his sophomore album About 30, which peaked at number 9 on the Billboard’s World Album charts.

And he isn’t looking to stop there.

The soloist shared: ‘When I started out I always said my hope was never to go mainstream but for the mainstream to come to me.’

But how exactly did Mr. Gold, real name Adekunle Kosoko, get his ‘start’? Well, whatever you do don’t tell him that he came out of ‘nowhere’ because he is not a fan of that narrative.

The musician told us: ‘I was in a band called The Bridge from 2007, we were making music and I went to school [Lagos State Polytechnic] to study Art and Industrial Design and majored in Graphics.

‘So Photoshop started as fun because I was bored and I didn’t know what to do with my time really.

‘I saw a picture of Tiwa Savage [Afrobeat singer] and because I love her so much I thought I’d love to get a picture with her one day.’

The Ire singer described how he realised he could make his own dreams come true and inserted himself into a picture with the Roc Nation artist and the creative quickly became a hit on Instagram after he also ‘took pictures with’ Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, Nicki Minaj and Amber Rose.

Adekunle Gold photoshopped himself with Chrissy Teigen and young Luna (Picture: Adekunle Gold)

But it was when he got the attention of Chrissy Teigen that his following began to blow up after she ‘liked’ a picture of the pair embracing while she was breastfeeding her first daughter Luna.

The co-sign provided Adekunle, who now has 2.5 million followers on Instagram, with the perfect opportunity for him to re-introduce his otherwise unappreciated music to a more attentive audience.



And it was a winning move.

‘So people really loved me for the Photoshop thing and I thought it was time to release a song,’ the Friend Zone singer explained.

Adekunle Gold enjoys a shower with Kim Kardashian thanks to Photoshop (Picture: Adekunle Gold)

‘People really didn’t take me seriously because they thought. “Hmm. This Photoshop guy what is he doing? So when people say that I just came from nowhere, I feel offended,’ he laughed. ‘I’ve been there! You just didn’t see me.’

But people definitely began to see him when he released Sade and follow up track Orente in 2014.

Adekunle received positive reviews from critics who hailed his emergence as the second coming of famed musician and human rights activist Fela Kuti, which lead to his signing to record label YBNL Nation – founded by hip-hop artist Olamide – where he released his debut studio album Gold.

‘And of course, I’d never tell my story without mentioning the fact I got signed to YBNL. Olamide put me on and literally changed my life,’ he mused to us.

And this is something the singer, who proudly sings with a mixture of Yoruba, English and Pidgin English, does often in our interview.

Adekunle pauses often to reflect on his journey, and in spite of the screaming fans he has acquired all over the world – seriously, all you had to do was attend his sold-out concert in London last month – gratitude is something the award-winner often expresses.

And during our chat, the vocalist didn’t stop short of letting us know about the people he feels contribute to his growing global audience.


Adekunle told us of his joy finding out Star Wars actor John Boyega paid tribute to his work on his Instagram Story on his way to the Met Gala in May.

‘One time John Boyega was going to the Met and he was playing my songs in his car like back to back,’ he said after describing how the 26-year-old also recommended his song Ire to his 2 million followers a few weeks ago.

He added: ‘It makes me feel good.’

The suggestion came as social media users debated on what exactly his unique genre should be called as critics elsewhere complained that his older songs ‘sounded the same.’

‘For a long time, I have always said it is urban high life. I feel like with this album [About 30] I have grown a bit to expand a bit more like I have a proper Afrobeat and even pop sounding songs in the album,’ he admitted.

The Pick Up singer added: ‘So I feel like now it makes sense to call my work popular African music. It’s still very heavy on high-life, it’s just that I’m growing and I am really worried about continuing to say that it is just urban high-life.

‘I think it is safe to say I am making popular African music.’

Having said that, the Call On Me singer laughs unapologetically as explains why he sings in his native Yoruba and why he thinks artists like Drake are tapping into the African sound.

‘I think that the world is even really late,’ the Money singer said. ‘They should have discovered us a long time ago.’


The former graphic designer explained: ‘I’m proud of my language and my culture and I want to make sure I always leave a touch and represent who I am.’

The artist, who is also an ambassador of Unity Bank of Nigeria, also revealed why he has no plans for increasing the number of lyrics he sings in English.

‘A lot of things I want to say in English sometimes they don’t even sound as good as they do in Yoruba. Simple,’ Adekunle concluded.

About 30 is now available to download or stream on all major online outlets.

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