Adekunle Gold - Friend Zone

What this video is

Released in October 2016 as a visual companion to the 6th track on Adekunle Gold's debut album 'Gold' (YBNL Nation), 'Friend Zone' arrived during a pivotal moment for Nigerian highlife pop. The album debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard World Albums chart, signalling a global appetite for melodic, guitar-driven Afropop rooted in traditional Yoruba highlife. The 'friend zone' concept — a universally relatable romantic…

Why it matters

A key visual artefact of the contemporary Nigerian highlife-pop revival, 'Friend Zone' exemplifies how YBNL-era artists blended organic acoustic guitar arrangements with modern Afrobeats production sensibilities. The video's narrative-comedy approach mirrored the genre's tone: emotionally resonant…

The director

Patrick Eritobor, known professionally as Patrick Elis, is a Nigerian film and music video director born in Warri, Delta State, Nigeria. He studied architecture at the Petroleum Training Institute in Warri before relocating to Lagos. He rose to prominence…