The Truth About Singer Shaboozey's Stage Name

Shaboozey, best known for songs such as "A Bar Song (Tipsy)," "My Fault," and "Annabelle," along with his recent team-up with Beyoncé for her groundbreaking "Cowboy Carter" album, is one of the most popular country music artists of the moment — but just how did he get his stage name? Interestingly, Shaboozey's unique moniker actually fell into his lap ages before he made it big and became a famous artist. "Shaboozey was a name I got while in high school and it was a play on my last name (Chibueze) correctly," he shared during an interview with New Wave Mag. "It's something everyone around town called me — it's kind of just stuck, so I picked it and kept it pushing," he added.

In case you didn't know, Shaboozey's legal name is Collins Obinna Chibueze, and it's his surname that his community in Virginia, where he grew up, had difficulty pronouncing. "I'm Nigerian-American, so my last name is actually pronounced Chibueze," he shared with Genius. "And just growing up in Virginia, everybody just didn't know how to enunciate my name, so they was just like, 'Shaboozey.'" He continued, "I was like, 'Okay, I guess I'mma just run with that. 'Telling my homies, 'Should that be my artist name?'" And though he was initially skeptical, it eventually grew on him. "I love it, man," he said, though he admitted: "I think they f**ked me over in the long run."

Given his success, that surely seems unlikely!

Shaboozey's latest album, "Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going" has also inspired curiosity in country music fans. Similar to the incorrect pronunciation of his legal name, the public doesn't always pronounce the album's title as he originally intended. He recently addressed the confusion about the title and gently set fans straight during an interview on Kelly Clarkson's talk show. "I don't remember, but everyone's always butchering it," he said about his new project. "They're like where I've been is not where I'm headed ... to where I'm going. It's a tongue twister." But while Shaboozey admitted that he believes "it makes sense in a sentence, on a cover it's a little cluttered." Fair point!

As for the creative process Shaboozey employed when creating his new album? "I'm a lover of a concept album," he said about the project's flow with Grammy Awards. "I love film, I love stories, I love payoffs. I love the hero's journey, they call it." He also applied the mechanics of storytelling. "There is a way to tell a story in a three-act structure. And within those structures you have your rising action, you have your hero's call to action. They lead the world, you have your climax, and then you have, was the hero changed? Did they get the thing they were looking for at the end of it?" Finally, Shaboozey also pulled from his appreciation of film. "I want something to feel immersive, so arrangement is big to me."

Yeah, we certainly think he achieved that and more!