Quizzes

Stacks

Shows

Podcasts

Newsletters

Naira Life

Love Life

Hustleprint

Love Currency

Sunken Ships

What She Said

My Bro

So You Don’t Have To

Interview With…

Zikoko Memes

Jollof Road

Cholera Outbreak Update

Follow our socials

  • It was Favour Iyiowo’s mother who first told her she looked like Ayra Starr. She had been watching an advert the Afrobeats musician did for a hair brand when she saw someone she could’ve sworn was her daughter.

    Since then, Favour’s life has changed. A tech enthusiast, she is active online, particularly on X, where she has cultivated a following. More than once, she has been dragged for being a catfish of the “Rush” singer. She says she doesn’t lean into the resemblance, but it doesn’t help either that her name on X has been “Sabi Girl” (Ayra’s Starr’s nickname) for a while.

    In an interview with Zikoko, she opened up about the ups and downs of looking like one of Nigeria’s biggest stars, why she doesn’t want to be called a catfish, and how she navigates life online.

    This is Favour’s story as told to Dennis

    It could have been just any other regular day at my house. My mother was watching TV in the sitting room, and I was tucked away on my phone, most likely on X (formerly Twitter). Then she called me. If I’m being honest, she didn’t just call out my name — she screamed it.

    She was sure of what she was about to say. She had seen me on TV. It had to be me. She was certain. 

    I laughed. Because even though my mother thought it was me, and even though I stood there thinking this could be me, I knew it wasn’t.

    It was Ayra Starr, and she was in an advert for the hair brand Darling Nigeria. At the time, she was still coming up. The world was getting to know her. I already knew her and was a fan of her music. That was the first time someone told me I looked like Ayra Starr. It wouldn’t be the last.

    Get More Zikoko Goodness in Your Mail

    Subscribe to our newsletters and never miss any of the action

    ALSO READ: Ayra Starr’s Fashion Evolution: From Y2K Aesthetic to Style Icon

    I don’t actually see the resemblance, but I think that is common with most people who are told they look like celebrities. Many don’t see it. But from what I’ve noticed, the resemblance must be striking—so much so that it has opened doors for me.

    I’ve gotten jobs just because I look like Ayra Starr. I’m currently studying Mass Communication at the University of Calabar, but I’m also an influencer on X. There have been instances where people offered me influencing gigs for looking like her. I have modelled for an eyelash technician, a lip care brand and a skincare brand. They all highlighted my resemblance to Ayra Starr. I guess they expected to sell more because I looked like her. It’s experiences like those that make looking like a celebrity worth your while. 

    I don’t lean into it, but I see why someone might think I do, even if just for fun. For a while now, my name on X has been Sabi Girl. It is also an expression I use frequently in tweets I post. Obviously, she sang “Sability,” and also has called herself “Sabi Girl” many times. But it is because I am a fan of her music that I use it, like some of her other fans do. 

    I have never met her, but I want to. I know it would be a great delight to meet her.

    That being said, my experience as a celebrity lookalike hasn’t been all positive. There have been people who’ve dragged me for filth, claiming I was an Ayra Starr catfish account. I don’t mean this in a funny, wild fan kind of way. I mean dragged in the way that people get dragged on social media. I see them randomly in my replies. There have been people who have slid into my DMs claiming I was an Ayra Starr catfish. Sometimes, people don’t follow the whole story or get to the root before joining in a pile-on. So even when they realise it’s just confusion, many have already checked out of the conversation. It’s really crazy. I’m just grateful none of it has gone viral.

    When I started being active on X, this was not what I anticipated. I didn’t know that people would claim that I looked like a celebrity. I’m a tech enthusiast. I may not be able to code yet, but I like having fun on social media and just learning new things. I just want to graduate from university, grow and be the best version of myself.

    Zikoko readers are currently giving feedback about us this year. Join your voice to theirs by taking this 10-minute survey.

    ALSO READ: I Went Viral for Looking Like Davido — Now I’m Paying the Price

    [ad]

  • Idris works in academia as a lecturer, with ambitions to become a professor. He has no interest in entertainment, but his resemblance to musician Davido has been a source of surprise for many fans and for him.

    In 2018, a picture he posted to celebrate his birthday went viral. He hadn’t expected to be called a “low-budget Davido,” but that was one of the comments from bemused fans of the superstar.

    In an interview with Zikoko, he opened up about the first time he was called a Davido lookalike, how it has affected him, and why he sometimes feels the need to live up to the OBO lifestyle.

    Davido Lookalike

    As Told To Dennis

    When I walked into Mami Market during NYSC in 2018, I had no expectations. I had been standing for what felt like hours and was exhausted from the marshals screaming. Everything just seemed too much, and I needed to catch my breath. Then a female corper I had never met said it: “You look like Davido.”

    The first time someone told me I looked like Davido was back in secondary school. He had just dropped “Dami Duro,” the hit that catapulted him to fame, and I had mastered his signature dance from the music video. I went to St. Gregory’s College in Obalende, where we had an annual event in December called Funfair. The boys liked it because there was a disco hall where students from our sister school, Holy Child, came to party. Boys meet girls and…you get the picture.

    ALSO READ: Inside the Mind of A Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Fan

    “You look like Davido,” someone said. I can’t even remember their name. But that was the beginning of a new phase in my life as a celebrity lookalike.

    Since then, countless people have randomly accosted me, shocked by what they claim is my resemblance to the superstar. I never really saw it myself. Sure, we might have a similar skin tone, maybe even the same height, but that was where the resemblance ended — at least in my eyes.

    Then, I went viral on X (then Twitter) during my final year of university, where I studied Business Management. It was my birthday, and I had posted a picture that my cousin had taken of me at home. Some days later, a friend frantically called me. I assumed it was to wish me a happy birthday, but instead, he said, “Bro, you’re trending online.” It turns out that the influencer Pamilerin had made a tweet about my picture. I searched for it recently, but he must have deleted it. Still, that moment remains one of the wildest experiences of my life. People had a lot to say. “Low-budget Davido” was not on my bingo card that year.

    So when a fellow corper stopped me during NYSC and said I looked like Davido, I wasn’t surprised. At camp, people called me Davido. It was my nickname. Some even took it further and called me OBO.

    At Mami Market, I had to live up to expectations — even though I didn’t have OBO money. When the ladies stopped by and hailed me as Davido, I felt obliged to prove myself. I bought them drinks. Sometimes, I paid for their food.

    The billing has always been part of looking like a celebrity. People expect me to spend like him, but brah, I currently work in academia. Still, it has given Lagos street boys the perfect excuse to ask me for money. “Davido!” one random guy shouted at me a few months ago. I smiled because I understood the joke. But my guard was down, and he seized the opportunity to ask for money. If there’s any downside to looking like him, that is it.

    Get More Zikoko Goodness in Your Mail

    Subscribe to our newsletters and never miss any of the action

    I’ve never felt on top of the world for looking like a famous person, but it does bring some notoriety. At camp, it was easier to make friends and talk to girls because they would introduce me as “the guy that looks like Davido.” In the hostel, the other boys would stop by my corner, just hailing me. Some people have said they would feel a type of way about it, but that’s not me. I’ve embraced it, knowing it’s just a joke.

    If there’s truly any resemblance between Davido and me, it’s nowhere near the Rema lookalike that made the news or the Tems lookalike who constantly fends people off on TikTok.

    Mine is subtle — never enough that I could sneak into a club as Davido, but enough that I’ve gotten preferential treatment from a fan. When I worked in tech, my manager — a much older woman — couldn’t remember his name but always referred to me as the lookalike of “that musician.” That meant she was more aware of my work, which in turn meant she saw my contributions at the office, and that is all you want when starting out in tech. That’s as far as looking like Davido has taken me.

    Davido Lookalike

    It’s never been something I think too much about or worry over. I just focus on my life and laugh when people make jokes about it. I don’t have OBO money, after all. But if I did have his money, I’d travel the world and visit some of the best libraries. I’m currently doing my PhD in Organisational Behaviour and HRM and have no interest in entertainment. I want to be a professor in five years. So Davido has no reason to look over his shoulder — I have no plans to replace him.

    ALSO READ: 16 Nigerian Celebrities And Their Surprising Lookalikes

    [ad]