Afrobeats superstar Davido has revealed how a last-minute casting change led to one of the most memorable moments in the music video for his hit song, “Aye.”
Speaking during an interview with Capital Xtra, the singer recalled that the woman originally selected to play the video’s lead role had to withdraw just before filming because of contractual obligations tied to a beauty pageant.
According to him, the production team was ready to shoot when the model’s manager received a call informing them that she could no longer appear in the video.
The girl that was meant to be the main girl, she was in some pageant thing. So we were about to shoot and the manager said they called from the pageant that she’s under contract and we can’t use her for the video.
With no time to postpone the production, Davido said his team had to make a quick decision.
Instead of cancelling the shoot, they cast the woman’s makeup artist as the lead.
We couldn’t reschedule so we had to use her make-up artist.
The unexpected switch turned into one of the most talked-about stories behind the video.
Released during Davido’s early career, “Aye” became one of his biggest hits and remains one of his most celebrated music videos.
Davido also revealed that the video’s success had an unintended consequence for the two women involved.
The video got so huge that they fell out.
Although he did not go into further detail about what caused the fallout, the singer’s story offered fans a rare glimpse into how an unexpected last-minute decision helped shape one of the defining visuals of his career.