2016 has been a good year for Nigerian pop singer Wizkid, with his latest conquest at the recently-held MTV African Music Award (MAMA) in South Africa – winning 3 awards including the Artist of the Year – cementing his place as the reigning king of African music scene.
He has been an undeniable force in 2016, exporting African sound to global audience especially with the chart-topping record-breaking collaboration with Canadian rapper Drake on One Dance. He’s on top of his game.
What can Starboy (Yes, Mr Weeknd, you are a cheap thief) do to take his game to the next level on his forthcoming album?
Stop writing lousy lyrics.
I love Wizkid’s music since the days of Pakurumo and Love My Baby – which I consider an evergreen – and he’s constantly dropped hits that I love so much, like On Top Your Matter.
However some of his other songs including Tease Me, Jaiye Jaiye and In My Bed would have been very great pop songs…except they are thematically incoherent.
Let’s examine some of the lyrics of the three examples:
Tease Me is a song of seduction and wooing of a girl which devolves into a praise-singing tune of himself and his friends.
In Jaiye Jaiye, we have a lovely Afrobeat (the real Afrobeat) tune accentuated with masterful saxophone by Femi Kuti with lyrics talking about his dreams, aspirations and thanking God for his triumphs…until it tries to infuse too much Fela – “If you call her woman, African woman no go gree”.
In My Bed has a good club tune unfortunately watered down when he started praise-singing politicians and moneybags.
These are just some examples of why many of Wizkid’s songs will be ridiculed in the next 20 years or so like we do to Remedies’ Shako mo nowadays.
What Starboy should do is stick to just one subject per song in his forthcoming album, and his musical legacy – what we’ll remember him for when the light is off and the noise of the crowd has died down – will be that of a singer who made evergreen music.
Like he did on Ojuelegba.
He has been an undeniable force in 2016, exporting African sound to global audience especially with the chart-topping record-breaking collaboration with Canadian rapper Drake on One Dance. He’s on top of his game.
What can Starboy (Yes, Mr Weeknd, you are a cheap thief) do to take his game to the next level on his forthcoming album?
Stop writing lousy lyrics.
I love Wizkid’s music since the days of Pakurumo and Love My Baby – which I consider an evergreen – and he’s constantly dropped hits that I love so much, like On Top Your Matter.
However some of his other songs including Tease Me, Jaiye Jaiye and In My Bed would have been very great pop songs…except they are thematically incoherent.
Let’s examine some of the lyrics of the three examples:
Tease Me is a song of seduction and wooing of a girl which devolves into a praise-singing tune of himself and his friends.
In Jaiye Jaiye, we have a lovely Afrobeat (the real Afrobeat) tune accentuated with masterful saxophone by Femi Kuti with lyrics talking about his dreams, aspirations and thanking God for his triumphs…until it tries to infuse too much Fela – “If you call her woman, African woman no go gree”.
In My Bed has a good club tune unfortunately watered down when he started praise-singing politicians and moneybags.
These are just some examples of why many of Wizkid’s songs will be ridiculed in the next 20 years or so like we do to Remedies’ Shako mo nowadays.
What Starboy should do is stick to just one subject per song in his forthcoming album, and his musical legacy – what we’ll remember him for when the light is off and the noise of the crowd has died down – will be that of a singer who made evergreen music.
Like he did on Ojuelegba.