Best Naija Pop Album/EP in 2022

new* profile on Asake in (The) Native (Mag)

it’s “new” in that it was published just now. however, it was written three months ago, before the album came out, and apparently no one thought to update it. weirdly, it totally omits producer Magicsticks, not even a namecheck, and worse, his “King of Sounds and Blues” tag is attributed to Asake himself. still a very interesting read.

it’s counterbalanced by this earlier review of the album, which does focus on Asake’s remarkable partnership with Magicsticks:
https://thenativemag.com/featured/asake-mr-money-vibe-review/

whatever you may think of Joey Akan, this interview he did with fellow Port Harcourtian Omah Lay is beautiful and offers true insight - and it’s only two hours long!

https://afrobeatsintelligence.substack.com/p/17-omah-lay-embrace-your-demons

oh, you want a shortcut? here’s the brand new video for “Soso”, one of Boy Alone’s highest highs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6eE3c70hgg

having gone through everything, rema & asake are clearly the top 2 & i'm still giving the edge to rema

I guess I dont see the dichotomy of dance >>> R&B bc in the original 10s formulation already contained lots of R&B; it just feels like a narrowing, rather than a move from one extreme to another

which yes I agree lots of postiives have come from it, to be clear. the genre isnt dead or something, lol, its hugely successful and creatively great etc. just a little samier

It's more a question of focus, I think. When I first heard of 'afrobeats' it was as the next thing in London clubs after funky and other kinds of post-dubstep had gone out of fashion. Now 'naija' pop means Nigerian stars taking over the world more or less on their own terms.

deadline rapidly approaching!

so will you vote for The Fader’s number 29 album of the year (Boy Alone) or its number 18 (Mr. Money With The Vibe)?

unfortunately, votes for number 49 (Black Sherif’s The Villain I Never Was - also because Ghanaian) or number 8 (!) (Cruel Santino’s Subaru Boys: FINAL HEAVEN) will not be accepted.

https://www.thefader.com/2022/12/13/the-50-best-albums-of-2022

pulled the trigger for asake. really the only thing that was holding me back in that regard was that russ verse smh

wish i had more time to dive into some of these before the deadline but i voted for rema, a great front to back record w/ a vision for its sound that stands apart from the other albums on this list (as do others on this list in their own way, but rema more aligns w/ my personal taste)

xp
Interesting! The Fader has really declined, imo, so it's kind of a nice surprise to check in at the end of the year. A better site that covered their taste parameters would be so welcome.

I do like that Santino album and regret not including it (though it seems p clear this poll is a Rema v. Asake showdown--lol xpost). I also had never realized that the cover of Boy Alone is a photograph until seeing it big there. Definitely a poll where I wish we could do some kind of ranked voting

Definitely a poll where I wish we could do some kind of ranked voting

Definitely a poll where I wish we could do some kind of ranked voting

― rob, 13. december 2022 18:48 (fifty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Well, seeing as nearly all of these belong on a year-end 25, you could rank them there ;)

good point...though albums don't nominate themselves

I like the whole thing, but the Santino might be worth a listen purely for the chance to hear Koffee sing "We're taking/ psilocybin"

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

the cruel santino album is really good

I started worryin', worryin' about a lot
I went to the hospital with no remorse
And then I met a doctor:
“Tell me what is happenin' to this poll?
Am I bein' attacked by Asake?
It's not makin' sense, what do I do?”
I said, "Doctor, I'm not feelin' fine
Tell me this could be a sign”
And he said, "It is time", I gave birth and voted Rave & Roses

weird that out of all these great *big* albums, this one isn’t receiving any plaudits in the EOY lists.
it’s long, but - unlike the equally long Burna - there isn’t a track too many. if you’d make me, I’d say, okay, let’s lose “Time N Affection” then - my least played track until today, “Hold Me”, has today turned into a new favourite.

Time n Affection is one of the best songs!

It is weird. I guess everyone agreed with OkayAfrica: 2022 Was the Year of Asake, which I understand but there is something lazy about, e.g., praising the Wizkid album and overlooking Rema

realizing i hadn't heard basketmouth yet, put it on. "listen" ft. wande coal is a fucking banger!

it’s a great album - the best of these after the big four (R&R, MMw/V, MLLE and BoyA) for me.

there is something lazy about, e.g., praising the Wizkid album and overlooking Rema

he just didn't have the profile of wiz, burna etc in america/with critics for whatever reason. i've told lots of ppl about that album even ppl whose taste i really trust and basically no one had heard it or even seemed to recognize that it had been released or that they should care about it. then again, i'm not sure i would've gotten around to checking it out had it not been for the proselytizing on this very message board

rema did get that fader cover in like 2019 when basically no one in the u.s. had heard of him

xp
yeah I'd be curious to figure out why that^ happened but the Asake blew up super fast, but I have no idea how

huh, I had forgotten about that. he didn't even make their list, right?

an odd data point: Pitchfork reviewed the Rema (7.2) but hasn't yet reviewed Asake or Wizkid

the wizkid thing is weird but they slow drip reviews this time of year to keep the site populated through the end of the year so i bet they'll get to it

yeah I'd be curious to figure out why that^ happened but the Asake blew up super fast, but I have no idea how

asake is just fresher. i think he also has a real personality and unique style whereas rema feels more like run of the mill afropop (in light of the album i would disagree but i understand why superficially ppl might see him that way). i'm more interested as to why he seemed to lag behind wiz, burna & davido in the US even tho in africa it seems like he was seen on their level?

I seem to remember that there was some sort of critical backlash against the rema album because africans somehow found his lyrics to be too simplistic? It struck me as v weird at the time.

i think it might just be that rema doesn't seem to be signed to any international labels like the others are so i'd guess that there just isn't quite the same level of promotional infrastructure behind him as the others, especially in the usa?

like cruel santino showed up on a few critic lists and he's far more niche (to the point that no one here really paid too much attention to him) but he does have an american label deal

rema is signed to mavin which has a deal w/ virgin which is distribution as opposed a frontline label. the promotional apparatus is definitely smaller but virgin is a big fish in the distribution pool and have had plenty of famous/successful artists on their roster so i'm not sure that fully explains it. i also don't know how much american labels were/are really doing for afrobeats honestly

that feels right on the one hand (to ufo’s point), but on the other hand: he’s got a worldwide hit, including in the US. “Calm Down” has been on the Hot 100 for three months now. he should be on people’s radars.

as for the lyrics thing longneck mentioned:
he explicitly addressed that in “Are You There?” - and it’s also one more thing he has in common with Wizkid. Wizzy has long been plagued by the same criticism in Naija, during the first part of his career in particular, and it has flared up again after MLLE dropped: only singing about sex, repetitive and simplistic lyrics, bla bla. there’s a bit of a backlash going on right now, in part self-inflicted (that’s Wizkid, not Rema)

Even Burna caught some flack for his lyrics on Love, Damini, iirc.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Voted Asake (my aoty) but happy with the results.

yeah this turned out to be a little less suspenseful than I thought, but good work everyone

Yeah good work, and great idea for a poll. We probably need more voters if the year-end-poll won't be as boring as the 2010's one :(

[OkayAfrica’s review of Victony’s Outlaw.

(no mention of “Soweto”, sadly)

Boy Alone does Tiny Desk (with a little help from his friends):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHjczZIxr_0

quite the victory lap:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdujYTi6lZs

i really enjoyed that halftime show, tems in particular who i had not actually seen sing live before

the new naija sound translates really well to arena/festival scale

and we already know this but rema is a fucking superstar