Praise

Praise performing at Coachella 2021.

## Overview

**Praise** (born August 8th, 2006) (also known under the names: Livian, Tipsyfad, Oxytoxic, etc.) is a Nigerian fancam artist. He is recognised in The Industry as being a pioneer for the alternative genre. He is a part of the First Generation of fancam artists. One of Praise's most notable roles in The Industry was the founding of the company ST100 in October 2020. His ownership of the company lasted from October 2020 - January 2021 prior to his hiatus following controversies within The Industry.

Since his arrival in The Industry in July 2020, he has become a household name with the release of 1 mixtape, 4 studio albums and 1 re-recorded album. Praise originates as an artist who explores the alternative genre which has grown in popularity since his debut. Throughout his career, he displays many different genres in his fancams which proves his versatility in editing. With the release of his most recent album, Runway, many describe his new fancams to be "unique", "innovative" and "creative". As of December 2021, he has sold an estimate of 1.2M career units, placed 14 fancams in the Top 10 of the ST100 Singles charts and earned two #1s

Praise has received widespread critical acclaim on his discography and many award nominations including multiple Fancam Grammys.

## Personal Life & Controversy

Praise was born in Lagos, Nigeria and grew up in the city until he moved to London, United Kingdom where he currently resides since the age of 4.

Praise joined The Industry in July 2020, released his mixtape in August and debuted in October with his first studio album.

### The "Newbie" Controversy

In November 2020, The Industry welcomed many new members and aspriring creators. At the time, the majority of The Industry consisted of members from the First Generation which in turn, managed to spark a great controversy of whether new creators should be allowed to create fancams as they could potentially "ruin" the greatness of The Industry.

Everyone was divided and shared different views and opinions on the situation and it has been noted as one of The Industry's first major controversies. Some of the biggest contributors to this debacle were Baddie, Rocket Number Nine and Praise himself as he was willing to defend many newbies for their right to stay in The Industry.

### Witchcraft Accusastions

Throughout his career, Praise has had multiple accusations of practicing many forms of witchcraft (including voodoo, hoodoo and etc.) which has not only sparked many theories but it has simultaneously been the sole reason as to why some say he has underwhelming career numbers and statistics.

"Praise is fully-aware of the fact that the choices he makes can backfire on him" a member of Praise's team states in leaked footage from earlier this year which some say to be evidence for these accusations.

More evidence include restrictions and suspensions of many accounts that he has said to "have done him wrong", multiple videos of Praise mumbling or chanting in unknown languages and various tweets which suggest he does infact practice certain forms of dark magic.

### The Various Deactivations of ST100

From December 2020 - February 2021 some referred to this time period in The Industry as being "the dark ages". This was due to high inactivity, multiple fights, debates and arguments which led to ST100 deactivating at certain points during this period.

Some members were said to have not been on good terms with each other at the time, leading to ST100 themselves being dissatisfied with behaviour surrounding certain artists. This scandal brought upon future controversies surrounding ST100, including Praise stepping down as CEO of the company.

### Hiatus & The Great Schism Scandal

In February, Praise officially stepped down as the CEO of ST100 and passed down the title to BP.

Later on, many members were kicked from The Industry for unknown reasons with people beginning to start accusing various people of being responsible for the chaos surrounding this. It was due to all this that Praise became unable to stay in The Industry any longer. Many people had different opinions including Praise himself and everyone was divided at a certain period.

He later returned to The Industry 2 months later in April.

### Cloning Conspiracy Theories

On August 9th, Praise announced his 4th studio album *Runway* which was met with great reception and support from his fans.

However, conspiracy theories began to spread and trend claiming that Praise has been dead since April and that he was cloned with a lookalike. Many say the reasoning for this theory being true is that he has drastically changed his art form and would rather "focus of being a sex symbol". Hardcore fans state that "the real Praise would never give up his alternative crown that easily".

## Career

### Pre-debut

Before officially joining The Industry, Praise would occasionally release his own fancams as an independent artist. In July, during the "FancamAwards" era, he requested to join The Industry as he was inspired by others in it. The fancams he released before joining were titled "Captain Hook", "Black Is King" & "I Just Killed My Boyfriend".

Shortly after, Praise released a mixtape titled "ExplicitBabylon" which was published in August and consisted of 11 tracks in total.

### The Silverprint (September 2020 -November 2020)

Immediately after the release of his mixtape, Praise began to start planning his debut album and decided he wanted to learn more about creating fancams and explore with various visuals and concepts. In September, he teased his debut single "My Power" (stylised in all uppercase) which would later be released and debut in the Top 5 of the singles charts. He would also begin teasing "*The Silverprint*" in cryptic tweets. Unfortunately, in the middle of the production of the album, Praise was suspended from Twitter, causing him to face some obstacles whilst making the album.

He later managed to get back up on his feet and release the next single of The Silverprint, "Never Really Over" which peaked at #6. Afterwards, he also released 2 other singles for the album, "Midnight Sky" peaking at #3 & "Everything I Wanted" with BP, his first #1 single and highest peaking single. On October 30th, The Silverprint was released with 9 tracks and debuted at #4 on the album charts.

### Ecstasy (November 2020 - December 2020)

The lead single to his next album would be titled "Hello Kitty" (styled in all lowercase) and would later go on to peak at #9 and sell 4k units only. The fancam shows elements of EDM and rock with vibrant visuals to further represent the exciting nature of the fancam.

In November, an Instagram account which went by the handle "ecstasyalbum" was opened. This account was used mainly to publish and tease details surrounding the release of Ecstasy. Firstly, the tracklist would be revealed aswell as teasing the 2nd single of Ecstasy titled "Nurse's Office" (styled in all lowercase) which would subsequently fail to chart and achieve little success. On November 27th, Ecstasy would be released. Its main genre is alternative and pop, along with very few trap influences. The album peaked at #3 and spent only a week on album charts.

Just like it's predecessor, the era would have to be cut short yet again due to Praise getting suspended and Ecstasy being removed from streaming services. As of December 2021, the album has only sold 7k units in total, making it one of The Industry's worst commercial failures and Praise's lowest selling album.

### Spectrum (December 2020 - February 2021)

After Praise's suspension and the release of Ecstasy, he decided he had to take a new direction in The Industry and create a brand new image for himself in the hopes that he would be able to continue his career of making fancams. To do this, he built himself an alter ego named "Livian" which represented himself but with a completely new identity. This alter ego would later go on to join The Industry as a brand new artist. In December, Livian announced her lead single to her third album, "*Spectrum*". The lead single named "Mad Hatter" (stylised in all lowercase") was released on December 15th and would later go on to peak at #15 then later falling to #28 with 6.5k units sold. It would be later revealed to The Industry that Livian was Praise all along, and his album would now be released under his name

On January 3rd, Spectrum was released. The album included elements of EDM, alternative and pop. Praise himself described the album as his most experimental project, seeing as most of the content is "out of the ordinary" and not done before in The Industry at the time. The album has 15 tracks in total. The next single "Copycat" (stylised in all uppercase) would see some moderate success as it peaked at #9 on the singles charts and sold 10k units. It was also met with acclaim from fans and peers.

The album rollout would seem successful at first, however, The Industry was met with a huge deal of arguments during January - February which would later lead to Praise leaving The Industry and abandoning the Spectrum era. As of December 2021, the album only sold 16k which showed it to be yet another commercial failure. With this and Praise leaving The Industry, it was clear that he was at a dead end.