FireBoy Playboy Album Review: Right Decisions.
FireBoy DML is obviously a big talent if we are judging from the quality of projects he has released. Being an artist who favours release of the Long playlist to Extended playlist, Fireboy has solidified his musical genius by creating three studio album in the shortest years possible. He could be well after Olamide’s record for most album per year ratio in time to come.
Reading about what inspired this album, he stated that he is at a level in his carrier and life where he does not really care much but wants to have fun doing what he loves. To achieve this he reveals that he had to separate himself and seek new ways adventures that could help him deal with the creative block he was having. While those are true, musically, Playboy Album shows a clear understanding of his mistakes in the Apollo Album.
When I criticized Apollo Album, one of my greatest concerns was his excessive deviation from the Afrobeats and alternate sound that gave him success in the first place and replaced with sounds that are highly western. As expected Apollo album did not gain much love from fans, especially in Nigeria which is the headquarters of African music. He may have gotten the number for his work but lost that street credibility and bond that Laughter, Tears, and Goosebumps gave him.
Fast forward to 2022 and playboy is a body of work that he produces with only Afrobeats and Alternate sound. Apart from Peru which brought him global success especially when he featured British singer: Ed Sherran; Fireboy created songs that are purely Nigerian. This can be heard in songs like “Afro-highlife” which is a pure definition of Alternate sound; and “Compromise” and “Diana” which are pure “Afrobeats” songs.
Another clear improvement from Apollo Album is his general creativity and production approach. Prior to the playboy album, 80% of his songs were produced by “Pheelz” who was like the official producer of YBNL when he was signed. While the production was top-notch, the problem is, that familiarity may affect the creative process because some details may be overlooked in Apollo Album. To correct that defect, Fireboy opted for Elven (11) producers within and outside Nigeria. Kicking it off with the works veteran music producers Shizzi and Kolten did in Peru, he worked with Zaki Aje Amujei on “Compromise” and “Afro-Highlife” which for me are one of the best songs on this playlist. Furthermore, he works with Phantom on Diana, Pprime on sounds like “Having Fun” which is a Reggae sound, and “Bandana” which is an Afropop makossa song. In summary, he employed the services of usual faces in his music carrier to make him better.
Finally, the last tile piece and completed work of art is Fireboy’s choice of who to feature on this project. For me employing Mavin/Jonzi World Records Afrohindi Ace star: Rema was one of his best choices. Rema brought his Indian Hindi-vocals to “compromise” giving the song a dreamy and emotion soundgasm. Chris Brown is more of an Afrobeats artist now than an RnB/Soul musician and is also a unique star who Empire and YBNL did well to secure his services for FireBoy. Chris’s ability to understand the tempo and message “Diana” gave it that sound light while the dancehall rap of Shenseea gave it a new kind of bump. I will like Empire and YBNL to work on very good visuals for the songs on this album.
