Davido teases ‘Nakupenda’ with TXC, Zlatan and a star-studded lineup of South African and Nigerian heavyweights set to drop this Friday, December 12, turning the festive season into one massive cross-continental party with a track that already has TikTok and Instagram Reels buzzing.
The Afrobeat superstar surprised fans Monday evening with a cinematic poster styled like a blockbuster movie billboard: a glowing Johannesburg sunset behind Davido, TXC twins Tarryn and Clairise Rory, Zlatan Ibile, Scotts Maphuma, Shoday and Al Xapo, all striking dramatic poses. The caption simply read “NAKUPENDA 🌅 THIS FRIDAY 13TH DECEMBER” followed by a heart-explosion emoji.
A 15-second studio preview Davido posted on his Instagram stories reveals a bouncy amapiano-logba hybrid beat produced by TXC themselves, with Davido delivering a silky Swahili-tinged chorus, “Nakupenda, nakupenda we, baby mi nakupenda,” while Zlatan peppers the second verse with his trademark street Yoruba slang.
Scotts Maphuma adds his signature piano soul, Shoday brings melodic Naija flavour, and Al Xapo closes with a hypnotic baritone chant that is already being turned into TikTok dances across Pretoria and Lagos.
The collaboration arrives at the perfect moment. TXC are still riding the wave of becoming the first South African DJ duo to win Best New International Act at the 2025 BET Awards in June, while Davido is fresh from selling out the 20,000-capacity FNB Stadium in Johannesburg last month.
Zlatan, never one to miss a continental link-up, has been posting behind-the-scenes clips from the video shoot in Soweto showing him learning the gwara gwara from TXC.
Pre-save links went live on Spotify and Apple Music within minutes of the announcement, immediately rocketing the single into the top 10 most pre-added tracks globally. Nigerian blogs are already calling it “the December detention anthem”, while South African Twitter has crowned it “the braai soundtrack of 2025”.
Industry insiders say the track was recorded in one marathon 14-hour session at TXC’s private studio in Randburg when Davido flew in unannounced after his Timeless Tour wrapped in Cape Town.
“OBO walked in at 2 am with Zlatan and said, ‘Let’s give Africa the biggest December song ever.’ By sunrise we had the final mix,” one engineer present told YFM.
With six artists from two countries on one record, ‘Nakupenda’ is shaping up to be more than just another collaboration; it feels like a festive unity statement at a time when amapiano and Afrobeat are busy conquering the world separately.
On Friday, expect every club, braai, beach and family gathering from Lagos to Cape Town to be shaking to the same infectious chorus. The countdown to December 12 has officially begun.
