A collaboration between Adekunle Gold and Davido is no longer a novelty. The duo have worked together before, most memorably on High, a record that carried both commercial weight and cultural presence. This new release, Only God Can Save Me, arrives from a different angle, not as an amapiano experiment like many recent collaborations, but as a Fuji-influenced Afrobeats record that leans heavily on narrative and mood.
A Sound Built Around Restraint
Production duties fall to Seyifunmi, who keeps the instrumental intentionally sparse. Rather than crowding the record with layers, he allows the vocals to lead. The backbone of the song is a looping solo motif that feels instantly familiar, largely because it mirrors a melody style already popular in contemporary R&B. Instead of disguising this familiarity, Seyifunmi reworks it across different textures, moving between guitar and piano, each tweaked at varying EQ levels to subtly shift the song’s emotional colour without ever overwhelming it.
This restraint is both the song’s strength and its limitation. It creates space for storytelling, but it also means the instrumental never fully surprises.
Storytelling Over Spectacle
Lyrically, the record revolves around temptation, desire, and the internal bargaining that comes with attention and excess. Adekunle Gold frames the song from a reflective standpoint, portraying a man aware of his flaws and surrounded by distractions, leaning on faith and humour to justify his choices. His delivery is fluid and conversational, rooted in Yoruba expressions that ground the song in everyday Nigerian reality rather than pop grandstanding.
Davido’s verse continues this theme from a more flamboyant position. He presents success as both privilege and problem, painting a picture of constant attention, expensive relationships, and emotional detachment. Rather than moralising, his approach is matter-of-fact, almost resigned, reinforcing the song’s central idea that desire and consequence often coexist without resolution.
Why It Falls Short of Their First Collaboration
Despite its solid storytelling, Only God Can Save Me is unlikely to have the same cultural footprint as High. This feels less like a moment and more like an entry in the catalogue. There is little here that reshapes either artist’s sound or pushes Afrobeats into new territory. Without the narrative thread, the song risks blending into the growing pile of vibe-driven releases designed primarily for streaming playlists.
Still, the storytelling saves it from being entirely disposable. There is a clear attempt to say something, even if the sound itself plays it safe.
Final Thoughts
Only God Can Save Me works best when approached as a reflective, mid-tempo record rather than a defining collaboration. Adekunle Gold and Davido sound comfortable together, and Seyifunmi’s minimalist production gives their voices room to breathe. While it lacks the distinctiveness needed to stand as a landmark release, its grounded narrative and cultural cues ensure it has more substance than the average stream-chasing single.
