With his 2023 release Work of Art, Nigerian vocalist Asake set a high-water mark for albums in the impressive recent wave of west African pop, his serenely lilting top lines underpinned with the deep and dynamic Afro-house style of amapiano. While his follow-up isn’t as consistently strong, it’s more versatile, going on a trip across the Black diaspora that he has enchanted to arena-filling success.
He sometimes uses his considerable charisma to paper over songwriting cracks: there really isn’t much of a melody to Skating or the pulsating synthwave of Uhh Yeahh, atmospheric though they are. But the album is otherwise tuneful and rich with compositional detail: improvised flute, saxophone and muted trumpet frequently float across the backdrops, gorgeously human against the drum programming and penetrating amapiano bass stabs.
