🇳🇬 NAIJA SPECIAL: which of these *seven* current high-profile Nigerian hit songs is the best one? please help me decide

(the tracks are in chronological order by release date)

I provided links to YouTubes of the songs.
You can also find them on this Spotify playlist: ILM rolling ✳️all-inclusive✳️ afro 2020

Good list: I really enjoyed all of these on first contact. I'll need to review before voting, but "Woman" was the one that provoked the biggest first impression. I think the only one I definitely won't vote for is "Eli," which I loved until that outro guitar solo—too much for me though ymmv

i know the burna, fireboy, and wizkid songs. def prefer fireboy out of those three, but i'll listen to the rest.

shit mang, I'm behind. only heard Woman so far

oh wait, I've heard the Niniola one too

thanks for this list. "Wonderful" is perfect.

Addicted, Woman and Smile above the rest for me, haven't heard the Tiwa Savage. I've gone with Addicted because it sounds deep, intimate and hypnotic - amapianesque in one word - and I love the idea of long versions. With that said, Woman is tight, prod slays. I've started returning a lot more to Smile, initially I was all about Eve Bounce and Cool me down, Smile is more rounded as a hit and it's very nice to have a Wizkid-female duo again.

Olandi, Kointabala and Lo Lo could be in this poll too.

there are actually two amapiano remixes by South African producers for Tiwa’s “Dangerous Love” now - a sign of the times. the DJ Ganyani & De Mogul has new vocals, and there’s also one by De Mthuda one.
the original version rules so much harder tho, you should give it a try!

(that’s one one too many)

Innoss B’s “Olandi” and Serge Beynaud’s “Kointabala” are both great, but it wouldn’t be a *Naija* Special with them in the mix.

I went for big new summer songs by big established artists (newly established in the case of Rema and Fireboy), so “Lo Lo” by a newbie like Omah Lay didn’t fit the bill.

Just listened to these all in a row and they make an impressive showcase.
"Wonderful": aptly titled--Burna Boy is so consistent now I think I underrated this the first time. Extremely excited for the album.
"Woman": goddamn this is so well composed, there's so much pleasure in the production, it's so generous. Voted for this.
"Dangerous Love": genuinely bizarre for a big pop song, those processed vocals are borderline unsettling, I am into it but it's not as easy to love.
"Smile": an absolute jam if a little less creative/ambitious compared to the others. Sadly, it calls out for social listening.
"Addicted": might be hypnotic to a fault? I dig it while it's playing but now I can't really remember what it sounds like. I may have said the exact same thing about past Niniola tracks.
"AG Baby": this is really cool, the production is almost as rich as "Woman" and, pvmic, but I think Nailah's feature adds a lot.
"Eli": I was hoping that knowing the last 30secs of hair metal wank were coming would make them less repellent, but instead this time I noticed how much I dislike the drum sound in that bit too. Oh well, the first 2:30 are excellent, so I am back on team Fireboy.

rob, thanx for that extensive breakdown! agree with you on “Wonderful”, “Woman”, “AG Baby”, and “Smile”, which feels like the outlier here, style and production-wise.

I guess you could call “Addicted” an outlier too because it’s the least “poppy” of the bunch, but it’s one of the few I’m leaning most towards (excuse me for being sort of oblique here but I still need you folx to help me decide!)

As for the processed voices in “Dangerous Love”: they are very much part of the appeal for me (and are sort of a hallmark of producer Cracker Mallo’s style). But, as I wrote on the Rolling Afro thread, for me the song is all about the way she suddenly pulls that I’m deep, I’m deep, I’m deep in love with you section out of the bag in the middle of the second verse.

I’m also fine with the rock guitar in the outro of “Eli” - don’t find it intrusive, much less a dealbreaker.

Maybe it’s too much to ask for, but I’m also very curious about the opinions and insights from posters who are less familiar with Afropop. Honestly, one of the reasons I made this poll is to give people who are reluctant to dive head-first into (in this case) the Rolling Afro thread a chance to dip their toes into (in this case) Nigerian pop, and look a little bit further than that intriguing sole entry on the EOY Tracks 77 they came across - a quick immersion, if you will.
I don’t care if you don’t know about the producers, just let me know what you think of these songs!

xpost
I'd need to be better at describing timbre to explain my problem with "Eli" I think. There are other recent non-rock pop songs with guitar solos that I do like, but that one pushes some internal "hell no" button for me. If it's not clear, I don't in any way think this is an objective opinion or w/e and rather wish I could just live with it.

Also tbc, "genuinely bizarre for a big pop song" is a compliment in my reformed-indie-fuxxor book, though your comment makes me think I just need to listen to it more, get acclimated to those processed vocals (cool that that's a producer hallmark--I've kind of given up on learning who's who in Naija production these days, which I regret), and pay better attention to Tiwa's voice. Her new one is quite nice too iirc.

One silly problem for me with "Addicted": I can't decide whether to put the extended or not version on my playlist :)

extended of course, even if this emphasizes its outlier-ness

After listening to all of these exactly once, I think "AG Baby" might be the only one I would actively seek out again

harsh, but I’m sure you’re being fair.
(note to self: be careful what you wish for!)

curious tho: what does “AG Baby” have what the others don’t?

...have *that*... ouch

I’m not saying the others are bad! They’re quite cool but slickly produced pop music and autotune aren’t my thing. AG Baby just caught my ear the most, the thing the bassline does is cool to me

ah I see, that’s helpful. was indeed wondering about your musical proclivities. thanx for getting into it!

I really want to do a remix of 'Addicted'

I don't hear what's so strange about Dangerous Love. We talking about those backing vocals? Highly processed, makes them sound like a Middle Eastern instrument. the whole thing has an exotic/Orientalist sheen

Hmmmmmmm. All these are awesome or nice, even though I'm not really feeling the Wizkid like that.
As for ranking them I'd probably go

Woman
Addicted
Dangerous Love

AG Baby
Wonderful
ELI

Smile

liked the tiwa savage best by far, really lovely, specifically the gentleness of the bass.

kept feeling like the wizkid was gonna turn into 'the word girl' even though they're really not similar at all.

burna boy was p good.

not really feeling the others

Burna or Wizkid for me - Burna for the harmonies, Starboy for the bassline. Leaning Burna, it's such an explosion of joy.

I went with Niniola but outstanding selection, breastcrawl!!!

ELI a close second

Every time I see "Eli" mentioned I hear the Arthur Russell song of the same name in my head, so there's an additional point in its favor

In the absence of Omah Lay's Damn, it has to be Niniola.

ELI a close second

― daavid, Thursday, August 13, 2020 3:34 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Hadn't heard the guitar solo at the end which is terrible and it takes points away but not enough to dislike the song overall.

i don't think the guitar solo is bad as all that, though it could've used a more polished studio hand

I went with Niniola but outstanding selection, breastcrawl!!!

gonna vote for fireboy. runners-up are rema and nindiola. the burna is indeed wonderful, but it bears an unfortunate resemblance to that rusted root song *shudder*

tbh "eli" is my least fav fireboy song ever i think... "new york city girl" one of my fav songs of the year tho

i liked "wonderful" more listening to the burna album this morning but it's still a bit cheesy to me

wizkid song is nice but a bit generic

really liked the niniola song

"ginger me" is my fav rema song of the year but i like "woman" a lot too so that gets my vote

i too like woman!

it took a little while but all these songs have clicked into place now. they work really nicely as a suite

happy to hear it - and I like the suite concept!

all of them new to me a couple of days ago

i should vote for Dangerous love if only because i had to stop and rewind a few times before i get to the end? like if my ears are beeing reoriented on its motion? loved it

Addicted sounded invinting and familiar from the go. idk, it could be its percussive perfect-paced force balanced with this hinted softness that always gets me when done with this natural lush flair. it's impeccably crafted.
better yet, her voice! it's not just a voice, you all see? i would defenitely read, rn, some piece about her. who is she?

Niniola is the self-proclaimed Queen Of Afro-House, with a totally unique style (in Nigerian music) which draws heavily from South African house. Since her debut in 2014 she has released plenty of great singles and an excellent album, This Is Me, with a new one on the way. Her biggest track is “Maradona”, a pan-African hit in 2017, produced by Sarz, her main collaborator. It was later bought and released by DJ Snake (what’s in a name) and was also sampled in Beyoncé’s “Find Your Way Back”.
(her sister Teni is also a very successful singer btw)

A profile from 2017: https://thenativemag.com/music/up-close-with-niniola/

...and one from last year: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/niniola-femi-kuti-958136/

Album review (2017): https://thenativemag.com/music/essentials-niniola-distilled-sound-debut-album-this-is-me/

you might like this recording session in her home studio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TMrCktOmmE

now i feel like i want to live in her home studio <3

yes, yes i can hear the South African house connection

thanks for the profiles above, breastcrawl

nine more days...!

i've had all these songs stuck in my head at some point over the last few days... dang

i too like woman!

― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Friday, August 14, 2020 5:24 PM (four days ago)

^first conscious thought this morning

album count:

Burna: dropped Aug 13
Fireboy: dropped Aug 19
Adekunle: dropped Aug 21
Tiwa: out this Friday
Niniola: “soon”
Rema: ??
Wizkid: no comment

but of course this poll is all about the singles. you have until Thursday to vote!

had fun mixing these tunes together all in a row for my livestream on Friday night.
I also went to my first house party since lockdown on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised at how much people were down with me playing some afrobeats on the decks.
speaking to a British Nigerian friend, he agreed that Naija-pop has seriously blown up in terms of scope and mainstream popularity in a relatively short time

Definitely the case - I mentioned the international crossover appeal of these tracks in my OP for a reason.
“In a relatively short time” probably means since the release of African Giant last year, but there has been a very long build-up to all this obviously.
We’re now at a point where not only the new Burna but also those new albums by Fireboy DML and Adekunle Gold are released internationally with notable feedback (going by aggregated worldwide streams on Apple Music: top 10 for Burna, top 50 for Fireboy and top 100 for AG), and the new Tiwa is next in line.

btw have you made your mind up yet, dog latin? who are you gonna vote for?
(i'm guessing it's not Tiwa, since you left her out of your dj mix!)

as if on cue:

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

(just wow)

Dang, I left Tiwa out, didn't I? Sorry Tiwa, I really like that track.

I can't remember which I voted for but right now it's a toss between Tiwa, Wizkid and Rema with Niniola not far behind

judging from the replies the votes seem to be quite evenly spread (makes sense, given that all these songs are great), with only "Smile" possibly lagging behind. make a difference and give your favourite the edge!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

and here it is, the pun you’ve all been waiting for: Wande left to vote!

lemme listen for the first time all of these:

Wonderful (Burna Boy): the entry chorus sounded a bit cheesy to my ears but I love the raspiness in his voice. Makes any of his songs instantly listenable to me. The instrumental background after the intro has some interesting things going on and is impeccably produced. I wish I liked this one more because it sounds positive.

Woman (Rema) : Love the production but I need to go back to this one. Sounded really good while it was playing but didn’t really remember much of it afterwards.

Dangerous Love (Tiwa Savage): Ah this is the best one so far! Not sure if the intention of those heavily autotuned backing vocals are supposed to make the listener feel uncomfortable but they sound menacing as hell in some parts. I actually love that detail, it’s a dealmaker instead of a dealbreaker for me... gives it an edgy texture to use in certain parts of the song. It doesn’t feel obnoxious, just a bit unsettling haha.

Smile (Wizkid ft. H.E.R.) : Cool sound right from the start. Loving the contrast between the soft r&b vocals against that rubbery bass (might not be a bass). The first minutes are great, I feel like it loses a bit of steam as it goes on but in general very strong sound and production.

Addicted (Niniola) : I’ve heard her before! I like this one, specially like those chopped voices that sound like echoes that appear in the choruses. Is this a signature kind of sound for her? The other song I remember hearing for her is “Maradona” and there’s the same thing going with a vocal coming in and out in some parts. It sounds really cool imho.

AG Baby (Adekunle Gold ft. Nailah Blackman) : this is lush af, one of my favorite ones in here. Another impeccable produced song.

Eli (Fireboy DML) : Those guitars at the outro are a headscratcher, wtf is going there!? Should have kept using the wind instrument sound from the intro and interludes instead, that one sounded amazing.

Didn’t watch the music videos as then I get biased on which song I like better, I‘ll do a second listen watching the videos on my second listen.

Overall amazing selection. Pretty much liked everything in here... if I had to pick one based on first listen I’d go with Dangerous Love as it’s the one that made the biggest impression.

Hahaha just reading rob’s opinion on each one and there’s a couple observations which are pretty much the same as mine; the unsettling voices in Dangerous Love and the wtf Eli guitars at the outro. And yes! They do sound like hair metal! That’s what it was reminding me of. Really weird (as in bad weird) choice.

excellent stuff, Moka! the rock guitar in “Eli” works well enough for me, but on the track “Dreamer” on his brand new album Fireboy is pushing his hair metal luck a wee bit too far. approach with caution!

I think I find it a bit jarring because the rest of the song sounds doesn't seem to me like a humoristic kind of song but that outro feels like the end of a joke song. I don't know, maybe I'm missing some context and Fireboy DML is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek, jokester artist.

That said I do love the rest of it. Those (chinese?) flute melodies paired with that dancehall/reggae beat sound cool cool cool.

I know these songs are cherry-picked, but this selection makes me very interested in hearing more Nigerian modern music. I'll definitely check other works of the producers involved in here. These all have in common tasteful production, amazing mixing and some vibe-y, out of the box ideas in their sound.

the problem with the 'eli' guitar solo isn't that it exists, the idea is fine imo. it's just poorly played.

yeah that's the problem, everything sounds so well crafted prior to the solo and suddenly it sounds cheap, even the drums that enter that part sound bad in comparison. That's why I'm assuming it's a bit of a joke I don't get?

I think the rock guitar is meant to evoke the evil temptress the song is about, “Dirty Diana”-style. (I will also maintain the song is secretly modelled upon (and mirroring) “All That She Wants” - the “exotic” flute motif, the “lonely girl” line)

Doubt that it’s meant to be tongue-in-cheek, “Dreamer”, including its rock guitar, is as serious as it gets (unless the joke is on me!). “Favourite Song”, also produced by Pheelz, has a weird abrupt ending as well.

I know these songs are cherry-picked, but this selection makes me very interested in hearing more Nigerian modern music.
I'll definitely check other works of the producers involved in here. These all have in common tasteful production, amazing mixing and some vibe-y, out of the box ideas in their sound.

Just an example, a (self-produced) song I’m digging right now, that has amassed just 1459 plays on Spotify and a combined 200 views on YouTube in the 5 months since its release:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wq6mmTyn4o
BwoiiDaas • Radar

Also, 4.5 hours left to vote!

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

Nice vote spread

Smile could have been higher, then again they all could.

The 'Lonely girl' line on Eli sounds to me like it's referencing 'Don't Stop Believing' more than 'All That She Wants' which might be a clue to the guitar solo part, I dunno?

I respectfully disagree (different subject matter), but then I’m willing to die on this Ace of Base molehill. lol I’m pretty sure Fireboy has the song on one of his playlists tho!

Great turnout, and yes, a very nice spread of votes. Actually impressed by how precisely this result mirrors how I would rank them at this point, with the important caveat that all of the top three tracks would have been equally worthy winners for me.

longneck, you were very close as well!

Thanking you all for voting, it’s been... wonderful!

Your bonus for the day: Niniola’s official video for “Addicted” that just came out today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-7bk5BW-RU

ayo breastcrawl, what did you vote for? I scanned the thread and didn't catch an explicit mention--and am i right in thinking you haven't said a peep about Twice As Tall yet?!

this poll was set up as a consultation of the ILM hivemind to help me decide, so it wouldn’t have been right for me to vote myself!
I * think * I would have gone with “Dangerous Love”, but I love “Dangerous Love”, “Woman” and “Addicted” about equally, which is a whole damn lot, and even more than the others, so I’m pretty happy with this outcome.

You would be right about TaT, my only peep has been to say that the Fireboy and especially the Burna have been throwing me for a loop. I will get to it, but I will say now that I’m finding it a lot easier to enjoy Apollo.

I'll definitely check other works of the producers involved in here. These all have in common tasteful production, amazing mixing and some vibe-y, out of the box ideas in their sound.

FWIW I think you'd find it more rewarding to explore via the lead artists themselves rather than the producers - there are many wonderful producers across Nigerian pop at the moment but the quality is uniformly pretty high.

Not sure about that. They're both valid ways of exploring. It can be very interesting and yes, rewarding to dive deeper into a particular producer's work if a track they produced blew your mind.

Xp
Fair enough! And yeah I feel like I’m still processing Twice As Tall

thread for Tiwa’s phenomenal new album:

next level at 40: 🌸TIWA SAVAGE’s CELIA🌸 album

listened to the Tiwa album and the Fireboy album in a row and while I like Tiwa's album it is clearly an attempt at mainstream pop. I miss tracks like Ma Lo, Ileke and One. Fireboy's album is also pop but it's unabashedly a tribute to the 90s and keeps firing surprises at me.

not sure I agree with you, but it depends on what you mean by “mainstream” here. but by all means take it to the Tiwa thread, that’s what it’s for!

btw DL, you might also be interested in this outstanding request by ufo:

someone should make a thread for fireboy too, i would but i'm not sure i can properly articulate what i love about his album

Fireboy thread is a great idea, although slightly wary of clogging ILM with tons of afrobeats threads (not that I'd be the one complaining).

I love Fireboy's completely random list of influences. The fact he loves Sacrifice by Elton John puts his music into an amusing context

it’s not clogging, it’s the Afro Takeover!

You should start that thread! Rolling threads are great for shining a brief spotlight on things that would otherwise not get talked about but they don't engage people who aren't already on the bus.

If you want the unconverted to listen properly, start a thread 🎈

Happy with these results, yes

i didn't vote but these results look about right

https://everyrecordtellsastory.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/adam-ant-goody-two-shoes.jpg
you don’t vote, you don’t start threads, what do you do?

(sorry, couldn’t resist)

lol

i just never got around to listening to a few of the tracks i hadn't heard here, but i'm glad i did because "woman" rules especially

Okay cool, here we are folx:

Thraed of 🔥 Fireboy DML 🔥 and his new album Apollo

Having listened to all these songs a stupid amount of times now I can confirm that this is the scientific and objective order:

Woman > Smile > Dangerous Love > Eli > Addicted > Wonderful > AG Baby

That said, the best one is the one I'm listening to in the moment, perhaps witht he exception of AG Baby, which hasn't yet dug itself in for me yet.

🔥🔥🔥

xp

This poll would have even been better (and tighter!) with "No Stress" as the Wizkid entry instead of "Smile". And it would have been a Perfect Eight if Davido had dropped his "Fem" in time.

With the Wizzy album out now (dedicated thread here, six out of these seven have their accompanying albums released. In chronological order:

Burna Boy, Twice As Tall, released Aug 13
Fireboy DML, Apollo, released Aug 19
Adekunle Gold, Afro Pop, Vol. 1, released Aug 21
Tiwa Savage, Celia, released Aug 27
Niniola, Colours and Sounds, released Oct 2
Wizkid, Made In Lagos, released Nov 29

So that only leaves our winner, but there's no word on a Rema album yet, afaik.

(However, Davido's A Better Time is apparently scheduled for Dec 3 now)

oops, Wizkid, Made In Lagos, released *Oct* 29, obv

Our winner finally gets a proper video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7dsnMbRAHY

it’s Rema getting his Apple Sugar High on.

...and Davido's A Better Time album is out today.

Producers Ozedikus and Altims talk about how they created “Woman” (sort of) together:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQdfBQ3eGYs

(and oh, Altims, the word you’re looking for is “Naijapiano”)