Five Takeaways from Rema’s New Album, ‘HEIS’

Released in 2022, Rave & Roses was a defining period of the star’s ascent, its run-up producing his (and the genre’s) biggest-ever record, while its overall material finely juggled between mellow love bops and big-sized portraits of stardom. However, the album didn’t seem to sufficiently capture the rave aspect, a gap Rema fills with HEIS.

As with every piece of art, reactions to this will evolve over time but here are five immediate takeaways from the new Rema album.

Rema is confident in his legacy

It’s noteworthy to remember that Rema didn’t have unanimous acclaim when he started out, with criticisms about sounding too Bollywood-inclined. From those vocal experiments, he’s worked out a more expansive style, touching base with international influences as readily as with African ones. And with the commercial might to show for it, Rema has every reason to talk his shit. The title of HEIS confirms that view and it’s entirely tilted in the direction of legacy.

On “HEHEHE,” he opens up contemporary Nigerian Pop’s canon. “H.I.M position cannot be vacant / No more Big 3, there’s now a Big 4,” he sings in a knowing drawl. It's as full of bold proclamations as the rest of the songs. “MARCH AM” sees him mention himself as “the prince of Afro” while doubling down to affirm that “success no fi make me lose my hunger.” Across the 11 songs, this sort of chest-thumping appraisal becomes the focal lyrical point, swelling with even more fierceness as the project advances.

The production is deliberately inventive

During the Lagos-held listening party for the album, Rema asserted that he wanted to create an album that had little influence from amapiano. As insiders of Nigerian music will confirm, for a while now listeners have been clamoring for a new sound, or even a return to the old one: what Nigerian pop sounded like before the popularity of log drums.

Although he doesn’t completely walk the talk, as the percussions in records like “YAYO” and “VILLAIN” are molded after the intricacies of ‘piano, there is a wild and inventive streak one hears across the album. Producer P.Priime makes the most contributions, but Producer X, London and Alex Lustig also flex their versatility by blending into Rema’s dancehall-informed direction. The beats mirror the incandescent street hop scene of mainland Lagos, replete with whistles and sounds of revving car engines, which embeds an urgent and live-centric touch. All these choices show that the producers were quite in tune with the artist’s vision; they’re not the kind of songs one records and sends over via email.

“Afro rave”: valid or unsettled?

Since “creating” new genres became cool for Nigerian artists, even the usually individualistic Rema hasn’t been able to resist that temptation. Prior to Rave & Roses, he began calling his sound “Afro rave,” although he didn’t establish the sonic cornerstones of the genre. Still, there’s a certain conversation that’s come up in recent times about Rema: how he reflects prime Afropop ideals even though he’s always suggested that he had something more in the vault.

Well, that something more is offered on HEIS. The new question becomes — does it have enough to validate the Afro rave sound? Personally, I think it does. The eleven songs here operate via a set of rules, all of which revolve around street music ethos and Rema’s distinctly dark energy. Paired together, it passes as a sound of its own, with its sonic and lyrical checkpoints. But it’s also worth saying that musicians across areas like Ajegunle to Agege and Surulere have always made this type of abrasive music, they just didn’t have a catchy title for it. With one of the biggest Afrobeats acts tapping its energy, it proves the vibrant life and rich sonic material that can be found through the consistent digging into local material.

Rema knows how to pay homage

When Rema won the Headies’ Best Male Artist of the Year award in 2023, he was lauded across the country for his inclusive speech. In it, he recognized the need to support home-grown institutions, as without them — from the media to the award organizers — there would be no superstars. It was an incredible moment of awareness, which established Rema as one of the few contemporary artists who know how to pay homage (and why it is important to do so).

On HEIS, he literally upholds a number of the people and places that, in some way, have contributed to his music. Whether it’s the proud nationalism of “BENIN BOYS” or the hyper-realist “OZEBA,” whose title sounds like another version of Uzebba, a town that was a powerful center of the ancient Benin Empire. He name drops “fine girl Tiwa (Savage)” and fellow Mavin signee Crayon, on the affectionate closer “NOW I KNOW” singing, “Keep my guy Crayon safe for me, na ‘im I tell Solo.” Even his feature ODUMODUBLVCK on “WAR MACHINE” continues with his homage-paying through the mention of Burna Boy, who Rema has often cited as an influence.

The most polarizing project of 2024 (so far)

Not everyone will accept HEIS on its terms, and that polarizing factor might come to be the defining quality of the project. It seems to be a spot Rema is comfortable in, as he’s constantly playing the long game by creating according to his interests and waiting for listeners to catch up, or not, depending on who’s listening.

Thus, there’s a chance that some might never accept what Rema offers on this album. Their criticism would sometimes be valid: the songwriting doesn’t offer much variance. It doesn’t move deep into the street realities Rema sought to depict, not from the linguistic point of view that purveyors of the style have established before now, mostly during the mid-2010s. But here’s the positive: that a big act like Rema could take such risks on what is one of the most anticipated projects of the year opens up the scene for more creative risks of similar ilk, even though I suspect few people will be heading towards the same street hop direction.