“Actor no dey die for film” is a saying that figuratively resonates with me as I reminisce on Victony’s meteoric ascent. The popular street saying (stemming from a main character’s resilience to survive no matter the struggles and battles) this writer believes has chronicled the singer-songwriter’s journey since his breakout in 2021. In the last five years, he has proven to be one of the country’s most distinctive, creatively impressive and defining pop stars, expanding Afrobeats’ horizons.

Even now at a time when it seems the sound is resolving itself around a seismic identity crisis, Victony has consistently proven to be one of its lifesavers. Yet, all these have come at the cost of surviving through different lives without ever really leaving the first one behind.

From an underground rapper turned singer, survivor, hitmaker, and now a pop star, Victony has resiliently spent his career becoming different versions of himself. But with the arrival of his sophomore album Starlife, he gets to freely settle into the one he has spent years fighting for.

STARLIFE, THE ALBUM 💿
AUGUST 21ST. pic.twitter.com/pFmSMvWYBu

— VICTONY (@vict0ny) August 13, 2026

What happens when an artist who has always been in motion finally arrives at a version of himself he can freely live with pleasure? Perhaps it’s this headspace he sought when he sang, “As you can see, I’ve been trying to find my way/but no time for holiday,” a line from “Way Home.” To understand why Starlife matters, you have to understand the many lives that came before it.

Victony: The Rapper, Singer, and Survivor

Before Victony became a connoisseur at crafting melodious hooks and catchiest songs, he started as a rapper circa 2016/2017 within the confines of SoundCloud. The early “Vict0ny” was less concerned with melody than mastery at bars, flows and the competitive spirit of hip-hop.

Hey guys!! I heard @djkaywise is on the search for an upcoming artiste he could help.
Pleasee Kindly RT and tag @djkaywise & @kaywiseENT severely. Cant do it without y’all 🙏😞. Let’s secure this one for the outlaw family✝️💜https://t.co/Q7tNdHo55g

— VICTONY (@vict0ny) April 19, 2020

Despite his transition to a singer, that rapper never completely disappeared. The swagger, bravado, and doggedness still permeated his infectious melodies. But after the pandemic, he unlocked an innate side of artistry he didn’t know he had previously overlooked.

The transition wasn’t a change in delivery; it offered a lens to view and express life differently. His debut EP, Saturn, arrived in 2020, introducing a teenager who was already beginning to move beyond the rapper he thought he would become. The cult classic Outlaw EP would cement and make the transformation explicit.

Victony: The Outlaw

But before he could fully settle into this new identity, his involvement in a near-fatal car accident in April 2021 caused a pause in his artistry. But perhaps when you come from a place like Ojo, resilience is a mantra to surviving.

APRIL 26TH, WORLD STUBBORN DAY. 🛡️ pic.twitter.com/7fkt9q38BC

— VICTONY (@vict0ny) April 26, 2024

More than a comeback story, that moment forced him to reconsider what mattered: family, love, time, and simply being alive. He emerged from that experience with a deeper creative perspective, having confronted something most people his age had never had to think about so directly.

From that recovery, then came the viral hit “Holy Father,” the collaboration with Mayorkun and Davido that catalysed the trajectory of his life. But that was just the beginning of another life.

Victony: The Outlaw King and Hit-maker

If the accident changed Victony’s relationship with life, his second EP Outlaw changed his relationship with identity. Released in 2022, the project marked a significant transition from the artist who was experimenting with singing into one who had become comfortable enough to call himself a singer. More than a project title, it became a worldview for him and his fan base, who embraced it as their tag.

Then came the global hit “Soweto.” Although the song started as another record on Outlaw, it eventually became the record that changed the scale of Victony’s career. It garnered massive traction on social media, crossed borders and eventually received remixes featuring Omah Lay, Rema and Don Toliver. The Rema and Don Toliver version reached No. 5 on Billboard’s Afrobeats chart.

The Outlaw King had become a global star.

Victony: The Stubborn One

But global recognition did not simplify Victony’s story. Perhaps if anything, it complicated it. The natural expectation after “Soweto” was that he would simply continue upward: bigger songs, bigger collaborations, bigger stages. Instead, his music became increasingly interested in what happens beneath the surface of success.

Stubborn, his 2024 debut studio album, became an extension of that tension. He described it as a continuation of his story and explained that its title reflected his refusal to give up while fighting real-time battles. Bringing an array of stars including Asake, Saint JHN, and Shallipopi, the critically acclaimed album wasn’t just stubbornness masked as bravado; it was survival.

With love,
Very Stubborn (E.P)
November 21st. pic.twitter.com/tDEBgGRYKa

— VICTONY (@vict0ny) November 12, 2025

Sequel to that arrived the Very Stubborn EP, the more melancholic, emotionally expressive and vulnerable canvas. Beneath the confidence from the prequel followed a diary of questions drenched in loneliness, love, pressure, ambition and the emotional cost of becoming the person everyone suddenly expected you to be. Very Stubborn was less about announcing a star than understanding the person underneath the star.

And that is where Victony’s different lives began to overlap.

Victony: The Pop Star

Now comes his sophomore album Starlife. And for perhaps the first time, Victony appears less interested in proving that he can survive than in enjoying the pleasures that survival has made possible.

STARLIFE, the album 💿 pic.twitter.com/iJ22Qcys5x

— VICTONY (@vict0ny) August 6, 2026

Where the Victony of Outlaw was fighting for space, and the Victony of Stubborn and Very Stubborn was fighting to remain himself. The Victony of Starlife is poised to be someone who has finally realised that he doesn’t need to fight anymore.

SLICK 🫟👀 pic.twitter.com/BgGEUNoN0A

— VICTONY (@vict0ny) June 24, 2026

The sonic world surrounding this new era has impressively felt sleeker and more expansive. There is a sense of polish and luxury, a freshness in the production and a confidence in the way Victony occupies lead singles like “FRE$H” and “Slick”. He strips every sense of grittiness, hustle, and vulnerable narrative, and trades them for the hedonistic world he now lives in.

That is what makes the title Starlife so fitting. Victony has spent years singing about movement: escaping limitations, surviving difficult seasons, chasing dreams and refusing to be defined by circumstances. He has never been afraid to outgrow himself.

Now, after years of surviving the rat race, he finally chooses to look around and recognise the view. He isn’t trying to become a superstar anymore; he is fully leaning into living like one.