Imagine giving out gifts days after your birthday (I for one definitely wouldn’t), but ‘Odogwu’ is gracious and he blesses us with his sixth studio album ‘Love, Damini‘.
The diversity in the ethnicity of various artistes on this album, is just one of the many wow factors on this album. Burna really encompassed a wide range of different sounds in this album (there’s even a Latino artist feature).
Something listeners may notice and appreciate, is the fact that Burna retains his style of singing even when merging with international artistes like the afroswing king ‘J Hus‘ and the iconic ‘Ed Sheeran‘.
We also see the return of singles like ‘Last Last‘ and ‘Kilometre‘ in this hour long album.
Before I go further, I would like to admit that prior to being exposed to Nigerian contemporary music, I originally had an aversion to listening to sounds from my own country. But as I began to delve deeper into our musical culture, it became undeniable that there is but little that comes to Nigeria’s unique sounds.
Those unique sounds Burna Boy readily makes available. The first track ‘Glory‘ is an autobiography, that implements uplifting piano sounds that depicts the artiste’s trials and his rise to fame. It sounds like those early 2000’s gospel sounds that are never completed without a choir and here Burna implements the help of the South African choir group ‘Ladysmith Black Mambazo‘.
“You’re playing russian roulette with loaded revolvers.” This line carries the risque, dangerous feel ‘Science‘ embodies.
Jagele is initially simple. Nice percussion afrobeat, with a repetitive piano chord but Burna makes it so much more with his catchy progressive hook and that sax is the icing on the cake.
Burna Boy samples a beat that Kvng Vinci implements a song from the Korean show ‘Squid game’ and he gets sensational ‘Victony‘ to add his amazing vocals to ‘Different Size‘.
We get yet another street anthem from Burna akin to ‘Ye‘. Picture a Burna concert, we reach the hook of the song and the music is cut off and Burna lets the fans sing the chorus to ‘It’s Plenty‘ (someone buy me a ticket right now). The song is all about living in the moment and enjoying life to the fullest.
After eighteen tracks , the south african choir returns to close off the album on the song ‘Love, Damini‘.
The album as a whole further proves Burna’s ability to work well with various musical concepts while maintaining a sense of originality. Will the album live up to African Giant’s regalia? Only time and the statistics will tell but for now we enjoy.
Listen to Love, Damini
Summing up a day in Solomon's life would include: anime, manga, marvel breakdowns, writing and workout. If he's not doing any of these, he's either listening to indie pop or fan-boying Dominic Fike.
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