Different musicians claim to have started taking music as a full time job for a very wide range of factors, most of them play the struggle and hunger card, these ones say they were raised in the worst parts of Lagos or Port Harcourt and have a very catchy tale about how they used to hawk on major roads, or wash cars for daily earnings, or walk to school without any footwear.
The more religious ones attribute their jobs to divinity. They say God gave them music while they were still in their mothers’ wombs; that they kicked to rhythm and would hum lullabies after six months of their birth. They narrate how they tend to put in only very little effort but get the best feedback from their fans and listeners. This sounds mysterious and in a very religious country like ours, appealing.
Yet, none of these was the case with Sadiq Onifade. Popularly called WurlD, his own breakthrough in Nigeria’s music industry was a very weird kind of love. Weird enough to be considered a fetish. The WurlD that is very much celebrated today, got into mainstream limelight in 2019 because of his love for girls with trouble.
In the collaborative LP project with Sarz titled I love Girls With Trouble, Nigerians found a very pleasing blend of soul, blues and Afrobeats that they just couldn’t get enough of. Two albums later, WurlD is all we wanted to hear and more.
His latest album is called My WorlD With You (MWWU) and is a blend of melancholic pop and afrobeats sounds. It is a product of deliberate marriages of R&B, pop, soul and blues with mamba, alternative afrobeats and highlife. It begins with These Days Love Don’t Change which tells almost the same story as No Easy Love; teaching listeners to be aware of love that doesn’t feel like love — love that doesn’t want to put in some work in order to sustain the feelings.
The 19-track album licensed under Wearegvds has P.Priime produced Let You Down, Stamina, Spunk and Sad Tonight as its preceding rollout tracks; of which the first two have the same sonic identity as songs on his previous Afrosoul album. This is as opposed to tracks like Toxic, Make It Snow and Gucci which are in salsa style and get your head nodding unconsciously to their rhythm.
Of course, the album would almost be incomplete without a Sarz collaboration and Sweet N Fine does it perfectly. As always, Sarz brings in his fire percussion packs which overlap the tender chords of the keyboard so soothingly that one can almost not tell one instrument from the other.
Overthinking, Naked Rain, Press, Shine, Something To Lose and Same As You are perfect for moody evenings when love is the only emotion you want to feel
In all, WurlD seems to be getting even better at doing his thing; being himself, owning his unique vocals, writing his peculiar words and being the king of his own space. MMWU opens up whoever listens to a even more lucid version of who Sadiq Onifade is and this album gets an 8 from DigiMillennials.
Itty can be caught studying African pop culture, writing about it or hosting a relationship podcast. When he's not doing any of these, then he's definitely at a bar, getting mocktail.
