The Headies were thirteen days from Toronto. This afternoon the awards moved the 18th edition’s finale to April 10 and 11, 2027, and said sorry to “guests affected by the change.”
That was most of the message. Toronto is still the city in it, and the “Road to The Headies” events will carry on in Nigeria and Canada “with details to follow.” Nobody has said why a show this close to its night needed another six months.
The wait now falls on the music.
Everything up for a Headie this time was released between August 1, 2024 and April 30, 2026. FOLA leads the nominations with 10, most of them for Catharsis and “You,” and he put out his album “9” yesterday, a record this edition can’t see. Wizkid’s Morayo is in the running for Afrobeats Album of the Year. It came out in November 2024. If it wins in April, the trophy arrives nearly two and a half years after the album did.
The Headies have done this before. The 17th edition, the “Back to Base” return to Lagos, was due on April 5, 2025, until the organisers cited “unforeseen circumstances” and pushed it to April 27, telling fans that “many of you may have already made arrangements for the original date.” When that night finally came at the Landmark Event Centre, it ran so late, through so many technical problems, that it stopped before every winner was read. At 3:30 a.m., Best R&B Single, Best Collaboration and Best Rap Album still had no names.
Toronto was supposed to be the answer to nights like that. When the move was announced in June and people at home pushed back, Ayo Animashaun said the city “offers the partnerships, infrastructure, international visibility, and economic support required to deliver The Headies at the scale that African music deserves.” Twelve days ago the Headies were in Nathan Phillips Square, where the artist FOLADAVID painted a Headies trophy beside the Toronto sign.
If April holds, the 18th Headies will arrive almost two years after the 17th.