It was the viral video that sent shockwaves through the global Afrobeats community.
In June 2021, two of Nigeria’s biggest female music superstars, Tiwa Savage and Seyi Shay, were caught on camera in a vicious, highly public spat at a Lagos hair salon. This was not some staged publicity stunt. It was real, unfiltered emotion spilling out in the most public way possible. As onlookers scrambled to pull the stars apart, fans were left trying to make sense of what could have sparked such a fiery outburst.
The tension between both stars has been one of the longest-standing beefs in Nigerian music, especially since their issues aren’t a mere battle for the title of Afobeats’ leading woman, but a personal one that extends beyond music.
The tension between the two stars has been an open secret in the Nigerian entertainment space for years – a simmering rivalry that goes far beyond who gets the next Afrobeats crown.
In this article, we break down the explosive Tiwa Savage vs. Seyi Shay clash, the nasty insults, and the root of their long-standing beef.
1. The Timeline: When Did the Feud Really Start?
While the hair salon incident was in June 2021, Tiwa Savage and Seyi Shay’s rivalry is believed to have simmered since at least 2015. The genesis reportedly began when both artists were ambassadors for a major soft drink brand. When Tiwa Savage was asked in a radio interview about Seyi Shay joining the campaign, her dismissive response seemingly hurt Seyi and set the tone for the professional rivalry.
2. The Diss Track: The Fvck You Challenge of 2019
The core of their feud dates back to 2019. Seyi Shay participated in Kizz Daniel’s trending #FvckYouChallenge, dropping a verse that was widely interpreted as a direct attack on Tiwa Savage.
Seyi Shay sang: “You know I’m not Savage, I pay my bills,” alongside other lines that seemed to reference a love interest. This move, seen as an unprovoked attack, was what Tiwa claimed she could never forgive.
3. The Victoria Kimani Slut-Shaming Scandal
Seyi Shay’s diss was amplified by a controversial verse from Kenyan singer Victoria Kimani, who also participated in the same challenge.
Kimani’s lyrics were far more vicious, allegedly calling Tiwa a “grandma” and making serious, unverified claims about her professional life.
The lyric to the song goes thus: “GRANDMA AFRICAN BAD GYAL, TURNING 45 AND STILL CLAIMING BAD GIRL.YOU CAN BLOCK ME FROM A SHOW BUT YOU CAN’T BLOCK MY BLESSINGS. WE ALL KNOW YOU SELLING PU*SSY AND IT’S SO DEPRESSING”.
Tiwa made it clear in the salon video that she held Seyi Shay equally responsible for the actions of her ‘associate.’
4. Tiwa Savage’s Quote: The ‘Dirty Spirit’ Rejection
Their last confrontation in 2021 occurred when Seyi Shay approached Tiwa to offer a simple ‘hello’ at a popular salon in Lekki Phase One, Lagos. However, Tiwa was having absolutely none of it.
She furiously rejected the gesture, demanding to know why Seyi would approach her with such a “dirty and disgusting spirit.” Tiwa insisted that if Seyi wanted peace, she should have called privately:
“Don’t come to me and think you can say hi with the dirty and disgusting spirit that you have… You don’t try and squash sh-t by saying hi. You try and squash sh-t by calling me on the phone and talking about it,” she said in the viral video of the altercation.
5. Seyi Shay’s Response: Getting the Facts Wrong
In the same episode at the salon, Seyi Shay managed to remain relatively calm during the altercation, defending her greeting as a genuine attempt to reconcile.
However, she also challenged Tiwa’s version of events, hinting at unspoken history and daring Tiwa to “open” the matter publicly:
“The only reason why I greeted you is to try and squash all that is going on and to say sorry. I am not going to listen to this because you got your facts wrong. Tiwa, how about the things that you have done? You want me to open everything here? I am not like you. I am not going to do that.”
6. The Painful Detail: Tiwa’s Vows and Seyi’s Miscarriage
Their issues reached a new low when Tiwa swore a powerful oath on the life of her young son to prove she had never gossiped about Seyi Shay or Victoria Kimani.
In an audio recording that surfaced after the incident, Seyi Shay reacted to Tiwa’s oath, revealing that it was deeply hurtful because she herself had previously suffered a miscarriage.
“It hurt me because I’ve had a miscarriage before, and I know the kind of pain that I felt when going through that, so for another woman not only to skin-shame you but to now tell you that God will not give you a child, that you’ll not have a child. I just thought this woman is out for my blood and she has venom in her that she’s kept for a long time,” Seyi Shay exclusively told Pulse Nigeria.
7. What Next? Moving Past the Drama
Despite the explosive public fight, Tiwa Savage, 45, and Seyi Shay, 39, seem intent on leaving the conflict behind, especially following Seyi Shay’s journey into motherhood.
In a recent interview on the OffAir Show, Seyi Shay provided a fresh perspective on the feud, revealing a surprising detail. She claims a former personal assistant confessed to having an affair with Tiwa’s then-partner.
“She said, ‘I saw what happened and I’m really sorry. It is very detrimental to your career and I feel like I’m the cause of it.’… It turns out the girl was having a relationship with my friend’s partner, and I didn’t even know.”
This revelation, which emerged years after the brawl, suggests the whole drama may have been rooted in corporate competition and tragic miscommunication.
Tiwa’s response, while appearing on a recent episode of the same show, was that the cause of the tension was the disrespectful diss track in the #FvckYouChallenge.
She did not publicly confirm nor deny the story about the PA’s affair on that show, but strongly denied the rumour that she had attempted to block career opportunities (“block bags”) for Seyi Shay and Victoria Kimani.
“I would never do that. I’m so pro-women,” Tiwa said. “I didn’t know where it was coming from. Till today, maybe I need to have a conversation with Shay.”
Her comments came after more than four years of public tension, diss tracks, and the viral salon fight.
Ultimately, Tiwa’s remarks suggest that while she was hurt by the past actions and the public confrontation, she recognized there was the existence of a misunderstanding (particularly regarding the ‘blocking bags’ rumour) and was willing to engage in a private, direct conversation to finally address and clear the air.
