Burna Boy’s music career has now stretched across nine compelling chapters, each marked by cultural shifts, personal evolution, and sonic innovation. Its latest chapter titled “No Sign Of Weakness”, is an ode to the singer’s victory over the stream of obstacles faced in his over-a-decade old journey as a musical artist in Africa.
The album almost feels like a sequel to its predecessor, “I Told Them”. Over the years, Burna Boy has been tagged one of the greatest lyricists to come out of Africa and with this project, you can share the emotions tied to its central message – even if the world threw stones, I didn’t let it hit me.
A few months before the album dropped, Burna Boy was once again at the footstool of public criticism following his alleged feat of selling out the London stadium for the second time consecutively, as many attendees reported with video evidence that there were indeed empty chairs at the alleged sold out concert.
Then came Empty Chairs, a track born of this moment.
“My enemies are no longer on the street, or the roads. Now they are on the internet or the blogs, and in my sold-out shows looking for empty chairs.”
A line like that doesn’t just sting, it bleeds. This track was supported with an artistic cross-genre verse from the legendary Mick Jagger.
Burna Boy has firmly proclaimed his genre as Afro-Fusion, a self-acclaimed subgenre of “afrobeats” that encompasses different sounds, culture and genres, a well calculated move to prevent this global artist from being boxed with how he expresses his music. And this was perfectly displayed in the reggae record “Sweet Love”, released as a lead single to the album.
Burna Boy is a 1x Grammy Award winning artist and a 11x nominee. This means that quality production and composition is not a topic worth discourse, but this album feels like the least impactful body of work released by the singer since his stardom.
Burna Boy has had an epic run since 2018 following the drop of his fourth studio album which contained tracks like “Ye”, “Heavens Gate” among other classic records. From this moment in his discography, it has been milestone after milestone, year after year, album after album. But how close does No Sign Of Weakness stand in comparison to his past projects?
A fair rating for the sonic composition of this project is a 6/10. Although the production and sound quality is top tier, some tracks tend to feel out of place due to their position on the album. This in most cases is not a requisite but given its Burna Boy, the artist behind Love Damini and I Told Them, this album feels below par. It is still worthy to note that a number of tracks embodied high delivery, like “TaTaTa”, the beat feels somewhat complex but Burna Boy’s melody took a commendable direction.
The general theme and message, a good 7.5/10. The album’s core message may place Burna Boy as narcissistic but the main question is when has he not been narcissistic? For an artist who has been the self acclaimed “African Giant” for years now, this commentary appears to be behind time.
He is one of the most unpopular African art exports, objected by more standpoints than he is accepted for. After all the wins and records he has scripted to his history, he released a body of work directed to his antifans, not entirely narcissistic, yes?
Overall impact of this album? 5/10. The world was expecting another genre defining project but that is not what NSOW is. The individual tracks and the album as a whole may not stand the test of time or create a blueprint for the newer generations of artists unlike his past projects.
An inclusive review of this project is a 6/10. This is a sonically diverse body of work, the album travels through genre, culture, and emotional terrain with deliberate boldness. The message is unwavering — an artist that refuses to settle or become what people expect of him. Yet, the enjoyability is questionable due to the misplace of tracks but not artistically impactful to contend with his existing discography or live up to the bar he has set for himself.
