From A Producer To A Global Superstar-Chapter 395: After the call

The room felt quieter than it had a few minutes earlier.

Dayo lowered the phone slowly after the call ended and stared at the screen for a moment before placing it on the table. The faint glow from the laptop on the desk still illuminated part of the room where Shino had been working earlier on the teaser edit. Outside the window the city lights were beginning to thin out, the late evening traffic fading into the distant hum that always lingered somewhere in Lagos no matter the hour.

Across from him, Sharon had been watching his expression carefully.

She had not heard every word of the conversation, but she had heard enough of the tone to know that something had shifted. She leaned slightly forward in her chair, resting her elbows on her knees while studying him with the quiet patience of someone who had worked with him long enough to recognize the difference between calm and controlled frustration.

"Dayo," she said finally. "What happened?"

Dayo did not answer immediately.

He leaned back in his chair and ran a hand slowly across his face as if organizing his thoughts before speaking. His mind was moving faster than his expression suggested, replaying the conversation with Davido and examining the gaps between what had been said and what had not.

After a few seconds he exhaled.

"Something about that call doesn’t sit right."

Shino, who had been sitting near the editing desk with one hand still resting on the mouse, turned slightly in his chair.

"What do you mean?"

Dayo looked at both of them for a moment before responding.

"I mean the situation is not as simple as it sounds."

Sharon tilted her head slightly. "The label decision?"

"Yes."

"You think something else is going on?"

Dayo paused before answering. His eyes moved briefly toward the table where the phone still lay, then back to them.

"You have to understand something first," he said slowly. "Davido is not just any artist. He’s one of the biggest names in the industry. If he really wants to push something through, he can push it."

Shino frowned slightly. "So you’re saying the label couldn’t force him?"

"I’m saying it’s complicated," Dayo replied. "But if he strongly believed in the original plan, he would have pushed harder and this might not have been the result."

The room fell silent for a moment.

Sharon leaned back slightly in her seat, her expression thoughtful. She had worked beside Dayo for four years now and had seen him analyze situations like this before. When he began speaking in that careful tone, it usually meant he had already started connecting pieces that other people had not noticed yet.

"So what are you thinking?" she asked.

Dayo rested his elbows on the armrests of the chair and stared ahead for a few seconds before answering.

"I think there’s a chance he misunderstood my intention."

Shino blinked.

"Misunderstood how?"

Dayo shrugged slightly.

"Maybe he thinks the strategy benefits me too much."

The words hung in the air for a moment.

Shino looked confused. "How would it benefit you?"

"You practically wrote the song for free edit4ed the original beat and even gave him a name in places that he had not reached."

Dayo gave a faint smile that carried more fatigue than amusement.

"If the song drops first and becomes massive, the conversation will explode before the album even arrives. People will analyze everything about it. The sound, the arrangement, the direction of the record. Some people might start saying things like I changed his sound or that I shaped the record."

Sharon nodded slowly as the idea settled in her mind.

"And that shifts the conversation," she said.

"Exactly."

Shino sat back in his chair.

"So you think he was worried about that?"

Dayo lifted one shoulder slightly.

"I don’t know for sure," he admitted. "But if I had to estimate the probability, I’d say it’s very high."

"How high?" Sharon asked.

"Ninety percent."

The certainty in his voice made both of them glance at each other.

Sharon studied him more carefully now.

"You’re serious."

Dayo nodded.

"I’m not saying that’s exactly what he was thinking. But the pattern fits."

Shino frowned.

"But the song will still be his song."

"Of course it will," Dayo said calmly. "It carries his name. The video carries his name. The release carries his name. Anyone searching for the record has to say his name first."

He leaned back slightly and folded his arms.

"But perception is not always that simple."

The room remained quiet while his words settled.

After a moment Sharon spoke again.

"So how do you feel about it?"

Dayo did not answer immediately.

He looked toward the window for a moment, watching the distant lights of cars moving along the road far below.

Then he spoke quietly.

"I’m not going to lie. I’m a little disappointed."

Shino straightened in his chair.

"Disappointed?"

Dayo nodded once.

"Yes."

Sharon waited for him to continue.

"It’s not because he changed the plan," Dayo said slowly. "That happens in this industry all the time. Plans change. People adjust. That’s normal I just expected a lot from him never knew it would end like this"

He paused briefly before continuing.

"What disappoints me is the reason behind it."

Shino remained silent, listening carefully.

"I wasn’t trying to take anything away from him," Dayo said. "The strategy I suggested was simply the one that would maximize the impact of the rollout. Releasing the single first allows the energy to build naturally. Then the album arrives at its peak."

He shook his head slightly.

"Now the energy gets spread across everything at the same time. The album will still do well, but it won’t reach the full potential it could have."

Sharon nodded slowly.

"So the project becomes weaker."

"Not weak," Dayo corrected. "Just weaker than it could have been."

Dayo said biy even he was unsure of how weak the album would perform since Davido didnt follow the original plan.

Shino leaned back again.

"That’s frustrating."

Dayo gave a small shrug.

"It’s the industry."

The words came out calmly, almost casually, but there was a quiet weight behind them.

Sharon watched him carefully.

"You still understand his position though."

Dayo nodded slowly.

"Yes."

He rested his hands together in front of him.

"Davido is one of the biggest artists in Africa. When you reach that level, every decision feels like it carries your reputation with it. If he thinks a move might shift attention away from him, even slightly, it’s natural for him to protect his position."

He looked back at them.

"I can’t blame him for that."

The tension in the room softened slightly after he said it.

Shino scratched the back of his head.

"So what happens now?"

Dayo turned his chair slightly toward him.

"Now we move forward."

Shino raised an eyebrow.

"That’s it?"

"Yes."

Shino looked unconvinced.

"That doesn’t bother you more?"

Dayo studied him for a moment before answering.

"Shino."

"Yes?"

"This is the music industry."

The words came out calmly, but they carried the tone of someone delivering a lesson.

"You’re going to see situations like this again," Dayo continued. "People will protect their interests. They will change direction when they feel the balance of attention shifting."

He leaned forward slightly.

"You cannot take those things personally."

Shino nodded slowly, absorbing the advice.

Dayo continued.

"You also have to understand something else. Never assume any situation is fixed. Always be ready for sudden changes."

Shino remained quiet.

"Be self-reliant," Dayo said. "Don’t build your expectations around someone else’s decisions Take me as an example I built from the scratch because not because I don’t trust anyone but because I don’t trust anyone to build or do things my way."

The room stayed silent for a few seconds.

Sharon watched the exchange quietly, recognizing that Dayo had shifted from analyzing the situation to guiding Shino through it.

After a moment she stood up and stretched her arms slightly.

"Well," she said. "That conversation was heavier than expected tonight."

Dayo chuckled softly.

"It happens."

She glanced at the clock on the wall.

"It’s late."

Shino turned back toward the laptop and closed the editing software.

"I think the teaser is ready anyway."

Dayo nodded.

"Good work." 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Shino smiled slightly, relieved that the earlier tension had eased.

Dayo reached for his phone again and glanced at the screen.

"Before we wrap up for the night," he said, "I need to make a few calls."

"Work calls?" Sharon asked.

"No."

He stood up slowly.

"Family."

Shino smiled.

"That sounds more peaceful."

Dayo laughed quietly.

"It usually is."

He stepped away toward the balcony area and dialed the first number. After a few rings the call connected and a familiar voice answered.

"Dayo?"

"Hey," he said warmly. "How are things over there?"

The conversation shifted into a relaxed rhythm as they spoke about everyday things. He asked about how everyone was doing, how the house had been, whether anything interesting had happened during the week.

The tension from earlier slowly faded as the discussion moved through small stories and laughter.

After finishing that call he made another, checking in with family members in Nigeria as well. The tone remained light and casual, the kind of conversations that reminded him that life outside the industry still existed.

When he finally returned to the living room a few minutes later, Sharon was gathering her things and Shino had already packed up his equipment.

"Everything okay?" Sharon asked.

Dayo nodded.

"Yeah."

He looked around the room briefly.

The earlier tension had passed.

The plan had changed.

But the work was still moving forward.

And tomorrow would bring the next step.