I watched the video interview of Tiwa Savage and I have a few thoughts on it.
Seems to me that the basic idea, coming from a PR perspective was to pull a fast Olivia Pope ish on the scandal which broke a few hours ago. And understandably so, Tiwa Savage is a Brand Ambassador for a few top brands such as MTN, Pepsi and Pampers.
Whatever the negative fallout of this impending and scandalous divorce , it’s going to have some downside a bit on the brands she campaigns for. So a fast ‘tell-my-side-of-the-story mode’ had to be employed and fast too.
I don’ t know if a professional PR person was involved with the packaging but it was tacky. Not professionally done, in my opinion. I’m not harping on what she said, as those things are her personal heart cry and she has a right of reply but I’m more interested in the optics of what has been put out.
First, perhaps in a bid to elicit some linear empathy or something, Tiwa was made to think that looking humble and contrite corresponds with tying a dormitory scarf on her head and looking casual in a T Shirt was a good way to send the message home.
I think it only demystified her brand more. This is a video which would be watched for years to come and even more so by her kid. Having tried so hard to be a Beyonce clone in Nigeria (and that’s my perception of her artistic projections all these years), she should have known too that Beyonce never plays with her optics in any way. That scarf and somber look wasn’t the right optics, if you ask me. There are more visually acceptable ways of projecting a diva’s side of the story and her PR team ( if she has any) messed it up there.
I’m asking myself too if the proprietary of having such an interview twenty four hours after the scandal was advisable. For many, it wouldn’t matter but for some, perhaps a little dignified silence would have been advisable. Ma’am, you are supposed to be pop queen. You be ‘ Dorodiva’ . A simple press statement that you and your family would love to have your privacy respected at these trying period and bla bla bla would have kept everyone a bit cool till a proper interview surfaces. Recent clamping up lessons from Toke Makinwa would have helped.
And the spilling though! I really have nothing to say on that much. First, every marriage has peculiar challenges. And couples try to work things out till the pressure point either makes the marriage go South or force the brakes for reconciliation.
I have written many times about couples, especially celebrity couples who ‘flash and form’ seemingly pristine lifestyles on social media and I always end my homilies with the caveat that incessant kudos by one or even both partners to each other on social media at the slightest opportunity, are indications of a festering problem in that marriage. It’s the way it is here. The guy can be pummeling the wife every morning and she still would go up on social media to post his picture with words like ‘the only one for me…my lover, my life’. Incredible.
In her interview, Tiwa said she dreaded his birthdays or wedding anniversaries because of “what people would say”. Sad, when a marriage is predicated on keeping up appearances for the public when it should actually be more private for both couples.
