Key Takeaways
- Brandy will headline Flytime’s House of R&B at Lagos’ Eko Convention Center on Dec. 20, marking her first performance in the city since 2011.
- The Detty December show caps a banner year that brought Brandy the Black Music Icon Award, a Hollywood Walk of Fame star, and a No. 1 New York Times bestseller for her memoir, PHASES.
- Before Lagos, she will perform in Cape Town and Pretoria, while her daughter, Sy’rai Smith, closes out her own breakout year with her debut project, Cold War, and an acting role in Christmas Everyday.
Brandy is closing out one of the biggest years of her career by returning to Africa.
According to Ebony, the Grammy-winning singer will headline Flytime’s House of R&B in Lagos, Nigeria, on Dec. 20, bringing more than three decades of catalog to the Eko Convention Center as part of the city’s annual Detty December celebrations. The show launches six nights of Flytime programming and marks Brandy’s return to Lagos, where she performed at Classic FM’s Valentine’s concert in 2014.
Her return to Lagos comes at the end of a year packed with major career milestones. Brandy received the Recording Academy and Black Music Collective’s Black Music Icon Award, earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and watched her memoir, PHASES, debut at No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list.
At the same time, another generation of the Norwood family began carving out its own lane.
“This project is kind of speaking my own identity and what I’ve gone through,” Sy’rai said while discussing Cold War. “Having her as one of my biggest inspirations, yes. But I still have my own life and my own journey.”
Brandy’s influence extends beyond vocals. When Sy’rai was asked what advice her mother gave her about surviving the music industry, she pointed to lessons about confidence and knowing when to stand firm.
“Be strong and trust your gut,” Sy’rai said. “Trust in yourself. Trust in God.” She added that Brandy taught her that as long as “you know yourself and you know your worth, you’ll make it far.”
The mother and daughter also shared the screen in Lifetime’s Christmas Everyday, which Brandy executive produced and starred in while Sy’rai made her acting debut. The holiday film featured Brandy’s 2023 song of the same name.
Before arriving in Nigeria, Brandy is scheduled to perform at South Africa’s All White Soul Sessions in Cape Town on Dec. 14, followed by two Pretoria dates on Dec. 17 and 18.
Her Lagos appearance places her in the middle of Detty December, the weeks-long stretch of concerts, parties and cultural events that draws locals, international visitors and members of the African diaspora to West Africa each holiday season.
Wizkid is scheduled to headline the opening concert of Detty December Fest in Lagos on Dec. 18.
