BWith his 2023 album Work of Art, Nigerian singer Asake marked a milestone in the impressive recent wave of West African pop, with his upbeat toplines underpinned by the deep and dynamic Afro-house style of amapiano. While not as consistently strong, his follow-up is more versatile, taking a journey through the black diaspora he has charmed into stadium-filling success.
Sometimes he uses his considerable charisma to mask his songwriting weaknesses: “Skating” or the pulsing synthwave of “Uhh Yeahh” don’t have much melody, although they are atmospheric. But the album is otherwise melodic and rich in compositional detail: improvised flute, saxophone and muted trumpet frequently float across the background, wonderfully human in contrast to the drum programming and piercing amapiano bass stabs.
Asake’s earnest voice rises and falls on the columns of heat these songs emit, and is joined by a number of high-profile guests. Wizkid helps open the album’s interestingly tranquil first third with the almost soporific MMS, while Stormzy Suru offers his own brand of spiritual thanksgiving. As the album shifts gears, it’s a real pleasure to hear Travis Scott and Central Cee tirelessly rolling over Afrocentric rhythms, and best of all is Whine, a Caribbean dancehall track played alongside Afro-Brazilian counterpart Ludmilla, whose lyrics switch from English to Yoruba and Portuguese: a carnival-worthy celebration of the Black Atlantic.