Divine Ikubor (born 1 May 2000), known professionally as Rema, is a Nigerian rapper, singer and songwriter. He gained initial recognition with the release of "Dumebi" in 2019. Rema was signed to Jonzing World, a record label owned by Nigerian singer, D'Prince don jazzy of mavin records brother to Mavin Records. He is best known internationally for his 2022 hit single "Calm Down". The remix with American singer Selena Gomez of which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and led the U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart for a record-setting 58 weeks until it was surpassed by Tyla's 'Water' on October 21, 2023.
Early life
Divine Ikubor was born into a Christian family in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. He grew up singing and rapping while he was in secondary school. He attended his primary and secondary school education at Ighile Group of Schools, Edo State. His father and elder brother are deceased, and Rema was left to look after his mother.
Career
He started his music career in churches with Alpha P. In 2018. Rema posted a viral freestyle on Instagram to D'Prince's track "Gucci Gang". The post caught the attention of D'Prince who flew him to Lagos to offer a record deal to the young talent. Rema signed a record deal with D'Prince's Jonzing World, a subsidiary of Mavin Records owned by record producer Don Jazzy, in 2019. He went on to release his self-titled debut EP "Rema" in 2019, which peaked at number 1 on Apple Music Nigeria. On 21 May 2019, Jonzing World, and Mavins released the music video of "Dumebi", a major breakout song from his self-titled EP, featuring a cameo appearance from Diana Eneje. The video was directed by Ademola Falomo and currently has 70 million views on YouTube. Later that summer, In 2019, one of his other most popular songs from the EP gained more popularity when it was placed on former president of the United States of America, Barack Obama's summer playlist.
In September 2020, Rema's songs were included on the FIFA 21 soundtracks.
In May 2021, Rema announced he would be calling his sound "Afrorave", a subgenre of Afrobeats with influences of Arabian and Indian music which has led to him having one of the strongest fanbases in the country known as Ravers.
In September 2021, Rema was unveiled as a brand ambassador for the popular soft drink Pepsi alongside his label mate Ayra Starr.
On 7 November 2022, Rema received an award on stage during his London concert as his songs achieved 1 billion streams worldwide.
Rave & Roses
After Rema signed a record deal with Jonzing World in 2019, he released his debut EP Rema. After two more EPs (the Freestyle and Bad Commando EPs), he released his debut album Rave & Roses on 25 March 2022. The album includes 16 tracks and features from 6lack, Chris Brown, AJ Tracey, and Yseult. The album charted 10 songs on the US Billboard Afrobeats Chart following its debut week. His single "Calm Down", including a sample from fellow Nigerian artist Crayon's track "So Fine", then began charting five months after its official release. It then became the most-viewed Afrobeats video on Youtube. On 26 August 2022, he released a remix of his song "Calm Down" with Selena Gomez which peaked at number 3 on Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on Billboard Global Excl. U.S. Chart.
In February 2023, Rema received the Digital Artist of the Year award at the Soundcity MVP Awards which were held at the Eko Convention Centre in Lagos.
On 28 April 2023, Rema released a version of his debut album Rave & Roses titled Rave & Roses Ultra containing an additional six tracks: "Charm", "Hov", "Reason You", the remix of "Calm Down" with Selena Gomez, "Holiday", and "Dunno Me". It became the first African album to cross one billion streams on Spotify.
Awards
On October 19, 2019, Rema won Next Rated and was nominated for Viewer's Choice at the 13th edition of The Headies. On January 12, 2020, he received the Soundcity MVP Awards for the best new artist. On June 15, 2020, Rema was nominated for Best Viewers Choice: International Act at the 2020 BET Awards. He was nominated for the awards alongside Burna Boy and Wizkid, they were the only Nigerian artists nominated for the 20th edition of the awards. Rema's track Woman reached number fifteen on the World Digital Song Sales. He won the Best Male Artist category and Digital Artist of the Year in the 16th edition of The Headies for his song "Calm Down".
Personal life
Although Ikubor gained admission to study at the University of Lagos in 2022, he left the institution in 2023 due to a strike by the ASUU teaching union.