‘Freak Me’, which was released on 10 August, has been anticipated since Ciara announced a forthcoming feature with Tekno.
#FreakMe Ft @TeknoOfficial out this Friday!” she wrote. “Been dying to share this with you. Can’t wait! #AfroBeats #AfroWave#FreakMeFriday.”
‘Freak Me’ marks another milestone in the relationship between the American and Nigeria. The relationship received high visibility when she was invited to the 2016 edition of a concert hosted by Nigerian R&B act Darey.
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Also featuring rapper Olamide and Adekunle Gold, the event was extensively covered by the Nigerian media. Thereafter, the singer appeared in a short video that went viral online. In the video, Ciara is seen dancing in a Lagos street. She does the Nigerian dance shoki in the video as she dances to ‘Kukere’, the hit song by Iyanya.
The video might have also been the first connection between Tekno and Ciara as the latter also dances to Tekno’s popular single ‘Duro’ in the video clip.
“UNREAL!!” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “#Dancing, Vibing, and Learning #Nigerian Dance In The Streets Of #Lagos!#DolphinEstates. I couldn’t leave without doing this! The soul, the culture, the passion here is unreal!”
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Besides Tekno’s contribution to the new song, Ciara has also taken a hook from another Nigerian: the new song samples a Tiwa Savage song from the 2015 album R.E.D (Romance Expression Dance). Both ‘Freak Me’ and Tiwa Savage’s ‘Before Nko’ also share female sexual empowerment and availability themes.
To promote the single, Ciara posted two short clips featuring her and other women dancing in the streets of a different African country. This time she does the gwara gwara in South Africa.
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“Thank you to the beautiful people of #Soweto for an incredible time and experience!” she wrote on one of the clips.
“Good times dancing to my song #FreakMe ft @TeknoOfficial in the streets of #Soweto on the block where Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu used to live!” she wrote on the other.