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Segun Adekoye: Tonto Dikeh may be suffering from identity crisis

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I am writing about Tonto Dikeh because she is someone I am genuinely concerned about. You won’t understand my concern. I love Tonto Dikeh. I have watched several of her movies and I sincerely believe she is made for acting (and for music in the afterlife). I wanted to talk about Tonto Dikeh and Rihanna but I believe Tonto’s crisis may be more serious than Rihanna’s.

While we may define success as the number of records and movies sold, awards won, number of fans, amount of money in the bank and so on, some artistes may not feel that way about themselves. Tonto has always been a controversial actress wanting to be in the news for several odd reasons. She begins a modest Nollywood career and begins to hit the high notes (in people’s subconscious) when she starts to take really daring (body-baring) scenes. She becomes a major source of concern after she finds a new career in music. Then, her kind of music and how she tries to pass her lyrics across is another reason to be concerned about the pretty actress. You find yourself reflexively tapping your colleague and asking if all is well with Tonto.

In my opinion, Tonto Dikeh wants to be a music superstar but she doesn’t know what genre to fit it. While she may want to try R&B and Soul, she is afraid that she doesn’t have the voice to sustain it. She also doesn’t have much faith in her rapping skills. Hence, the need to stick somewhere, anywhere that keeps her voice in the safe-zone. She wants to be like Rihanna. She wants to be able to do pop and electronic music. Ask her if she wants to win a Grammy, she’ll probably tell you she’s never considered it. And then ask her why she’s doing the music and she might shrug and say that she wants to make her fans happy.

How do you know Tonto is suffering from Identity Crisis?

Thank you for asking. I won’t go over the definition of Identity Crisis or what causes it. My friend Fola Daniel makes a good note of it here. I’ll just take an excerpt from his write-up:

I call it a process because most of the words associated with identity crisis reveal that they are not things that can come on you just in one night. They are things that happen gradually. You can’t wake one morning and start feeling intimidated by the people around you if nothing had been absent in you to allow for that intimidation. You don’t just see people and envy them right away. Envy is a feeling and a form of emotion that develops usually as a result of another process seen in other people. it is very obvious that most of the people experiencing identity crisis have something missing in them

1. Wants the Illuminatic attention

When Tonto released the video of her song “Hi”, it had similar sound and visual effects with Rihanna’s ” We found love” video. Symbolism and all those things attributed to Illuminati were present in the video. Even if Illuminati wasn’t a propaganda, she too small na. She never reach that level yet. She go need shine her torchlight well well.

2. Endless Twitter Rants & Wars

Tonto will be the first to start trouble on Twitter by indirectly dissing her colleagues. Like she is the Nigerian version Keri Hilson. So Tonto is trying to be like Rihanna and Keri Hilson at the same time. Na serious ish be that o. Tonto is also quick to insult fans that insult her. Like she has too much time on her hands.

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3. Getting Drunk before a UK performance and falling on stage

There is no harm in taking a sip before you ride the stage for your performance before an international audience. The only harm is getting so stoned that you just rant like a car without breaks, you scream like a danfo bus conductor “London!”. Then you fall on stage. Who is Tonto trying to become? If she lacked the confidence to hit the stage alone because it was UK, she should have taken a backup or had someone support her.

4. Posting Drugs on Instagram

This is the most annoying part of it all. Tonto posted a marijuana wrap that almost got her in trouble with the NDLEA some weeks ago. This week, she posts the photo of a wrap and some powdery substance beside it. Whether it is drugs or not she has successfully passed her message across. What is Tonto Dikeh trying to call herself? A druggie? Another symptom of Identity Crisis.

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5. Telling the world you’re okay when you’re depressed

But we all know Tonto isn’t exactly as happy as she claims and the criticisms aren’t getting to her. The fact that she even writes about it means they are getting to her. Here is what she posted on her Instagram page less than 24 hours ago.

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How do you cure Tonto’s identity crisis?

Just say a prayer for Tonto because she won’t see a therapist or a psychologist. And she won’t agree with this write-up. I’d conclude using Fola Daniel’s words:

Don’t let your past failures frustrate you away from what you are doing if you know that is the right thing to do. Keep doing what you are good at, focus on it and take your eyes away from the previous setbacks you have had.