What happens when a music video goes viral? Gastrocomedy and prosumer recreations of Timaya’s I Can’t Kill Myself

Abstract

This article analyses the circulation of Timaya’s 2019 music video I Can’t Kill Myself as a means of contemplating contemporary media consumption in Nigeria. Beginning with the premise that media forms are best understood as taking part in a complex web of interactive relationships, the article examines the form, content, and relevance of short videos uploaded on YouTube in response to Timaya’s work. The videos provide a means of charting audience engagement with the diverse kinds of audio and visual materials vying for attention in a milieu characterised by sped-up access to means of audio-visual production and dissemination. By tracking such productions, we are able to grasp the socio-political issues that constitute predominant concerns for the prosumers and their target audience, such as the increasing unaffordability of certain food items in the country. Also, the comic representation of food and eating featured in the videos enables us to contemplate the cohesive capacity of humour.