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Rema Gave An Engaging Performance Of ‘Calm Down’ And ‘Holiday’ On ‘The Tonight Show’

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Last year, Rema shared his debut album Rave & Roses. He’s collaborated with Selena Gomez for a “Calm Down” remix, as well as FKA Twigs for “Jealousy.” Now, he’s bringing his material to late-night television with a new performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

He brought both “Calm Down” and “Holiday” to stage last night (April 5). He enthusiastically performed the two tracks as a hypnotic medley, not losing the watcher’s attention for a second. He engaged the audience the most while playing the celebratory anthem “Holiday,” dancing in a thick cloud of fog.

About joining Rema for a remix of “Calm Down,” Gomez said she was honored to be on the song.

“I’m really excited to see the person that asked me to be on a song that I couldn’t be more honored to do,” the “Lose You To Love Me” singer said. “The song’s fun, I hope people like it. That’s all I want.”

Rema will be hitting some festivals this year. He’s on the roster for Broccoli City Festival next to names like Brent Faiyaz, Jazmine Sullivan, and Lil Uzi Vert. He’s also on the lineup for Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival alongside Bob Dylan, Lil Nas X, and Sam Smith.

Watch Rema’s performance above.

Broccoli City Festival’s 2023 Lineup Includes Brent Faiyaz, Jazmine Sullivan, And Lil Uzi Vert

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Broccoli City Festival has long been one of Washington, DC’s premiere music festivals, highlighting both local talent and rising stars of the wider music world since its inception in 2013. This year’s lineup continues that tradition, including headliners Brent Faiyaz, Jazmine Sullivan, and Lil Uzi Vert.

Outside of the headliners, the 2023 edition of the Broccoli City Festival also includes Afropop breakouts Asake and Rema, hip-hop it-girls like City Girls, GloRilla, Ice Spice, and Lola Brooke, and R&B standouts Coco Jones and Mariah The Scientist. Naturally, local acts like Fat Trel, Backyard Band, UCB, and more will also appear, with a battle of the bands highlighting the regional go-go sound.

The festival is set to take place on July 15th and 16th at the RFK Festival Grounds in Washington, DC. Tickets and more information can be found here.

Last year’s festival was headlined by Ari Lennox and Summer Walker, with appearances from 21 Savage, Don Toliver, Jeezy, Lil Durk, Masego, Tems, and Wizkid. However, it was also struck by controversy when Wale, widely considered the patron saint of DC hip-hop, declared he was pulling out of the show shortly after its lineup was announced due to feeling “disrespected” by his low placement on the flyer. However, the dispute was quickly resolved, with the flyer being updated to include “and friends” to reflect the outreach he does for local acts.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The NBA Celebrated Africa’s Global Contributions With An All-Star Halftime Performance Featuring Burna Boy, Rema, And Tems

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The NBA has become more and more global in the past few years, incorporating a greater volume of international players from Asia, Europe, and especially Africa. In celebration of African contributions to the league (and the league’s partnership with FIBA in creating the Basketball Africa League), the 2023 All-Star Game Halftime Show featured three of Africa’s most prominent Afrobeats/Afropop performers: Burna Boy, Rema, and Tems, who were all introduced by the Toronto Raptors’ Pascal Siakam, who is from Cameroon.

The show opened with Burna Boy, who played his hits “Anybody” and “It’s Plenty,” followed by a truly exuberant performance by Rema, who got the crowd hyped with energetic renditions of “Calm Down” and “Holiday.” Tems came out last to close things out with a huge set of her own featuring “Crazy Tings,” “Free Mind,” her verse from Wizkid’s “Essence,” and her verse from Future’s “Wait For U.”

They were all accompanied by dazzling visual effects, a dance team that incorporated both traditional and modern African dances, and a band that kept the vibe lively. And just when it appeared that things were winding up, Burna Boy returned for renditions of his megahit “Last Last.”

You can watch the performance above.

Burna Boy is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Rema Shares The Joyous ‘Holiday’ Video And The Somber Single ‘Reason You’

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22-year-old artist Rema — who has been praised by Barack Obama and Drake and is set to perform at NBA All-Star Weekend — is rising ever since the release of his debut album Rave & Roses last year. It definitely helps that he’s teamed up with superstars for collaborations such as Selena Gomez for “Calm Down” and FKA Twigs for “Jealousy.”

Rema is back today with the new songs “Holiday” and “Reason You.” “Holiday” comes with a video that watches Rema biking around, dancing in the grocery store, and just having fun with his friends while he raps. There are drinks and video games to really prove the hook: “Every day is a holiday.”

“Reason You” is a slower, more melancholy track, grappling with past relationships against a gloomy beat. Still, the track hits, showing Rema’s impressive musicianship — he can make anthems that make listeners want to dance, as well as tear-jerkers.

Gomez didn’t only work with Rema, but the singer also expressed her enthusiasm for the collaboration. “I’m really excited to see the person that asked me to be on a song that I couldn’t be more honored to do,” she said. “The song’s fun, I hope people like it. That’s all I want.”

Watch the video for “Holiday” above; listen to “Reason You” below.

Burna Boy, Rema, And Tems Are The Performers For The 2023 NBA All-Star Game Halftime Show

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There is perhaps no greater sign of the rise of Afrobeats (aka Afropop, aka Afrofusion) in the US than this: The upcoming 2023 NBA All-Star Game features a wealth of Nigerian stars as halftime performers. Burna Boy, Rema, and Tems have all been announced as the performers for the halftime show, along with the performers for the national anthem and a pregame show featuring none other than Post Malone.

In addition to the three huge names listed above, the NBA announced that the pregame show will be performed by Post Malone, while the US national anthem, “Star Spangled Banner,” will be performed by singer-songwriter Jewel, who was actually born in Utah, where All-Star Weekend is being held this year (she was raised in Alaska, though. It probably can’t be easy finding too many nationally famous stars from Utah). Meanwhile, the Canadian national anthem, “O Canada,” will be sung by R&B star Jully Black.

Burna Boy, Rema, and Tems have all have huge breakouts in the past year or so. While Burna gained notoriety, headlining festivals like Afropunk and the upcoming Afro Nation in Miami, Rema teamed up with American pop star Selena Gomez on a remix of his breakthrough hit “Calm Down.” Likewise, Tems had a huge year, winning a Grammy for her collaboration with Drake and Future on “Wait For U,” for which she was also the first African artist to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. She also penned Rihanna’s Wakanda Forever ballad “Lift Me Up” while contributing her own cover of “No Woman, No Cry.”

The 2023 NBA All-Star Game will be held on Sunday, February 19 at 7 p.m. ET on TNT.

Burna Boy is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Which Artists Got Their First Gold Or Platinum Award In 2022?

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2022 was an unusual year for music. Despite more records being released than ever before, there were only a handful of new hits; Billboard recorded only a dozen new No. 1 singles, while only new 23 albums reached the top of the Billboard 200. Those numbers reflected a dip from prior years, thanks to many of the songs and albums that topped the charts reigning for weeks at a time.

Meanwhile, the Recording Industry Association of America recently welcomed its “class of 2022” — the artists who earned their first Gold or Platinum certification last year. Among the 39 performers are TikTok favorites like Armani White, Bella Poarch, and GAYLE, while runaway success GloRilla stayed “F.N.F.” all the way to her own first certification. International artists also broke in a big way stateside with Afrobeats crooners Fireboy DML and Rema joining K-pop girl group TWICE in racking up the plaques.

A Gold certification denotes 500,000 units sold, while a Platinum record has sold 1,000,000 units. In the streaming era, one album sale is calculated as 1,500 on-demand audio and/or video song streams, which also counts as 10 track sales. In order for a qualifying track or album to be certified, often a label must request certification, so technically there might be one or two songs out there that qualify but were not certified. You can see the full list of singles courtesy of RIAA’s Twitter account below.

Rema And Selena Gomez Show Off Some Laid-Back Looks In Their ‘Calm Down’ Video

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Two weeks after releasing the Selena Gomez remix of his hit song “Calm Down,” Afrobeats star Rema has followed up with the official video. The simple, sweet clip pairs the two singers on a variety of sets made up like a living room, a breakfast nook, and a garage, where they dance gently as they perform the song. Both are styled in laid-back looks; Rema rocks a few button-up shirts with elaborately braided hair adorned with cowrie shells, while Selena does corset tops with slacks and jeans.

Shortly ahead the release of the “Calm Down” remix, the Only Murders In The Building star shared a promo teaser in which she said, “I’m really excited to see the person that asked me to be on a song that I couldn’t be more honored to do. The song’s fun, I hope people like it. That’s all I want.” Meeting Rema backstage at his show in LA, she encourages him to “have fun” on stage, while he admits that he’s “shaking” to meet her. The remix could certainly go a long way toward driving his popularity stateside, opening up his music to a whole new audience. Meanwhile, it’s also a great way for Selena to get her feet wet as she apparently prepares to return to the spotlight herself after sharing a video of herself in a recording studio.

You can watch the video for the “Calm Down” remix above.

Rema And Selena Gomez Share A Dreamy Remix Of ‘Calm Down’

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Afrobeats superstar Rema is turning up the heat with a remix of his single, “Calm Down.” Joining him on the updated track is Selena Gomez, adding a bit of seductive flavor.

Driven by a bouncy drum and a dreamy guitar, the song features Rema finding a woman who stands out in the crowd, as he sings, “I see this fine girl, for my party, she wear yellow / Every other girl they dey do too much, but this girl mellow.”

Gomez comes in, giving into his affections, singing, “Don’t you ask, you know you’re allowed / When it’s you, I can’t say no.”

In an interview with Complex UK, Rema talked about becoming an Afrobeats sensation and helping popularize the genre in the US at just 22 years old.

“…I want to thank God for getting me this far,” he said. “Being able to travel from territory to territory and share my music with people, that’s a big thing for me, my generation and Afrobeats. I’m just playing my part in this whole movement; I’m making my impact the best way I can. Most of all, I’m just grateful to see people appreciate my hard work and ambition.”

Check out the lyric video for “Calm Down” above.