2024/04/07 by Paul Ayodele Onanuga · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Digital Games and Media #Gender, Feminism, and Media #Music History and Culture
paper · doi:10.1080/19392397.2024.2337633
openalex publication_date 2024/04/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
Beyond the glamour and paparazzi of contemporary popular music, celebrity artistes constantly negotiate intense rivalry with other artistes. This reality might be hinged on several different reasons. In this study, I interrogate Nigerian male artiste rivalry, with recourse to lyrical compositions and online engagements. This is complemented with fans’ online discourses on artiste rivalry, wherein the negotiation of identities is examined. Recourse is made to the tenets of fandom theory, and these are applied to the analysis of purposively selected music lyrics and tweets. In this mix of data, machismo-laden brags and positive self-representation as well as negative-other representations constitute identified linguistic realisations in the artistes’ narratives. On the other hand, fans index and ‘authenticate’ their participation through appellative self-identities, name-calling and through artiste critiquing. Significantly, these manifestations assert the multiplicities of narratives that are activated and which mediate in the online discursive practices of Nigerian male celebrity artistes and their fans.