Paris was the place to be on June 25, 2025, as Martell kicked off the first-ever Afrobeats Live, an intimate gathering celebrating culture, community, and the sound that’s taken over the world. The event, held in the heart of the city, brought out some of Africa’s biggest stars. But at the center of it all? Davido, who helped bring the night to life as a headliner and longtime Martell partner. During the event, cognac house announced a new three-year partnership with the Afrobeats icon — a major move in their mission to support cultural ownership and global storytelling.

Between laughs, cocktails, and a room of tastemakers and creatives, REVOLT caught up with Davido for a candid one-on-one. From unreleased music with Chris Brown to how a Victoria Monét collab fell into his lap, he let us in on the moments behind his fifth studio album 5IVE and why fatherhood is so important to him.

Why is "With You" so short? The fans love it and wish it was longer.

[Laughs] So you gotta go play it again.

Oh, that’s exactly what everyone has been doing — running it back nonstop. That repeat button is tired of me.

But if you think about it, these days music is actually short. Really sit down and think about the biggest records that have come out recently — they’re like two minutes... You know what I’m saying?

Did you expect the song to blow up like that? It reached over 45 million Spotify streams, and the music video has over 13 million views.

Funny enough, before I put the, “If I speak English, oh oh,” verse on… I changed it two days before I submitted the album. A lot of my close friends liked the other verse, but when it came out, they were like, “Yeah, it makes sense.” There was another verse originally on that record. It was in my top three, top four. I knew it was gonna go, but I didn’t think it was gonna go like this, honestly. And it happens like that sometimes in music and in life in general, but I’m happy everything went well, man.

Your album 5IVE feels like a global soundscape from Afrobeats to R&B to reggaeton. When you were building it, did you go in wanting to make a statement about where you are as an artist, or did it just come together naturally?

I mean, I’m a big fan of myself. I’m very versatile with all kinds of music. But with 5IVE, I was just recording so much music at the time — all kinds of music, R&B, pure Afrobeats, whatever you wanna call it, reggaeton, Caribbean… everything. I met a lot of cool people. I met Victoria Monét during the Grammys two years ago. Through our producer. I’m very big on R&B music — a lot of people don’t know that. Usher, Summer Walker — I’m a huge fan of Summer Walker. We have records together. But yeah, I feel like there’s Afro in everything, so I just try to bring my own flavor every time. I like just matching them up. I told Victoria when we were making the record, I said, “Yo, feel comfortable. Don’t feel like you ever have to convert to my sound — just do your thing and I’ma do my thing.” That’s how I always do it, and it came out amazing.

It definitely did come out amazing. You and Victoria Monét snapped on “Offa Me.” What made you want to work with her?

I liked that one record she had. My daughter was a big fan, so that kinda helped me as well. Victoria is a hard worker. I love people [who] are very into what they do. You know what I’m saying? She made it easy. We came together, and she was working on Afro music at the time. And she sent me that record — actually, I got the record. She didn’t even know how I got the record. I got it through a producer. It just landed with me. I finished the record, sent it back to her, and she loved it. We shot the video just like that.

At one point, you said you and Chris Brown had enough music for a joint album. Is that still in the vault? Any chance we’ll see that project come to life?

Actually, yeah. Definitely in the vault. Me and CB got, like, over 20 records — done and undone. We’re definitely gonna get the album ready. We just did London the other day.

That was when he brought you out as a surprise guest for one of his “Breezy Bowl” tour stops. How was the whole experience?

It was amazing. Shout out to him. I’m just happy for him as a whole. He’s [deserves] everything that’s going on for him now. And just to see it happening in real time — and being around — I know how hard he works. I’m just happy for him. But yeah, definitely me and Chris Brown definitely have a lot of songs to create an album. I think he’s dropping an album soon. I’m dropping another one, too. After that, we’ll probably come together and figure it out.

Both of you are always dropping music. Who’s more likely to pull up late to the studio, you or Chris Brown?

Me, probably. I’m telling you — Chris don’t play. He keeps me on my feet, even when I work with him. Imagine somebody a gazillion times bigger than you working ten times harder. It’s always amazing just being around him and just working with him every time.

Martell has been rocking with you for years, and you’ve headlined their first-ever Afrobeats Live panel in Paris. What made you want to be part of this moment?

First of all, Martell is family. That’s one. Two, I like to talk. I like to give people information about the culture, how it’s going. So yeah, I’m always down for that. And obviously, Martell has been family since we signed on. There’s no project or idea that I bring to them that they deny. Apart from just being a brand ambassador, I call them my partners because every idea I bring, they come through. They invest in it — not only financially, but just being around. They’ve been really good to me, and I’ve been good to them. It’s been a really, really good relationship over the years.

Afrobeats Live is about more than music, it’s about culture, ownership, and growth. What’s the bigger message you wanted the culture to take from this event?

Just how we can all connect and how we have to understand that it’s bigger than us.
Really show the world what we’re doing. We know what we’re doing, I know what I’m doing but really show the world and explain what we’re doing every chance we get. Whether it’s an interview, whether it’s a panel, whether it’s a concert, whether it’s a pop-up — whatever it may be, bring your A-game.

As Afrobeats continues to expand globally, how do you personally make sure the culture stays rooted in where it came from even as it crosses into new spaces?

I mean, we have good representatives. So apart from myself, there are other artists that are doing their thing — producers, label execs. In every label, there are Africans pushing for us African artists to do better. But I think just us as a whole — the fans in the diaspora pushing, playing our music for their friends like I used to do back in the day. Just little things count. You know? The little things count. And I’m just happy that eventually, we got here.

You’ve opened so many doors for Afrobeats around the world. But what’s one thing you still want to see happen for the genre?

Everything I could ever imagine is happening. Not only music-wise, [but] food, fashion, just the culture as a whole. It’s growing every day. You [were] talking about ownership. I want us to have more festivals. Like the last time I came for Fashion Week — half of the models were African. I knew because obviously I’m from there. The culture is just on a rise as a whole. You have people [who] are proud now to [say], “I’m from Nigeria,” “I’m from Ivory Coast,” “I’m from Mali.” Really going back to find where they're from. So, that’s exciting.

You’ve always shown love for your kids. What’s one thing fatherhood has taught you that you carry into your music or career?

I don’t really be like, “Yeah, I’m a dad, I'm going to the studio.” That part of me is just me being Davido. My family life is different. But being a dad — I grew up with love. My mom passed when I was young. My dad was literally my mom and dad. My dad don’t play with us. He doesn’t play with the kids. I feel like growing up with that love transcended to us. Me and my siblings, not just me — we don’t play with our kids at all. That’s something we do. That’s God’s blessing.