Five Takeaways From Wizkid’s New Album, ‘Morayo’
On his sixth studio album, the Nigerian superstar plays close to home.
One would be hard-pressed to find a more anticipated album than Morayothis year. All the talk on the Afrobeats sphere has, directly and indirectly, referenced the possibility of a new Wizkid album, with the artist steering those conversations himself.
Featuring 16 songs, Morayo is a longer project than what Wizkid has offered in his last two albums. It’s also his least collaborative, in terms of featured artists and the producers he invited into the room. For the majority of the songs he goes the solo route, an indication that after all these years Wizkid still has a lot to say.Morayo is coming at a crucial time in Afrobeats history, where debates about its origins and destination are rife. By virtue of Wizkid’s legend, the album asks to be considered in lieu of this conversation, even as it shines with its own immediate qualities.
Here are five takeaways we’ve gleaned from initial listens.
The drums draw from Fuji and Juju traditions
Seconds into “Troubled Mind,” one hears the sonorously gifted KWAM 1 De Ultimate giving a shoutout to Wizkid. A legendary figure within Fuji music, his presence acts as a bridge between the superstar’s generation and that of his mother, to whom the album is dedicated. The album further honors this intergenerational relationship through its drums, which are very indigenous and draw from the Fuji and Juju traditions. This dedication to his sonic roots is most audible across the album’s first half, grounding Morayo in the conceptual plane of familiarity.
Wizkid’s singing is getting even better
For an artist who’s demanded a lot of his voice over the years, it’s beautiful to hear Wizkid still growing as a vocalist. Since Made in Lagos, it has been clear that the artist favors chill beats and even more laidback singing, mastering techniques he’s explored sparingly throughout his career. On Morayo, he’s in great form, whether he’s singing softly (“Time”) or raising the roof of the dancefloor (“Karamo”). Wizkid’s songwriting has a unique lean to it, featuring phrasing and vocabulary that’s quite distinct to the artist. On records like “Apres Minuit” and “Lose,” one hears how his singing reflects the best vehicle for his everyman lyrical sensibilities.
Desire and ambition are major themes in the album
Quite frankly, desire and ambition are major themes in Afrobeats, and Nigerian pop in particular. Just about every notable song in the movement’s history has straddled either of both worlds or combined them, to varying results no less. On Morayo, this blend is largely successful because of the frankness of Wizkid’s perspective. When he sings about desire, he does so with the required longing, each syllable in service of his masculine urges. “Piece of My Heart” and “Slow” are fine stand-ins for this category of the album’s songs, while “A Million Blessings” and “Don’t Care” represent the aspirational side. These twin angles might represent the dualism of the Lagos existence, whose reality is ever-present due to the album’s sonic grounding.
The album uses its features perfectly
For a good album — and Morayo is definitely good — it’s a dicey field to suggest something that could or could not work. Wizkid has often tilted towards a wider collaborative cast. Why change a working formula, some would ask? There’s something the American writer James Baldwin once said about an artist never being successful: people can project their variations of success to you, but within the artist, there must be an ache that cannot be fulfilled, a desire for the closest thing to perfect. I think Morayo stands on the level of Made In Lagos, which is considered Wizkid’s opus, and that has to do with how well the features are blended. From Tiakola’s stunning contribution on “Apres Minuit” to Anais Cardot’s soulful stir on “Slow,” each feature is handpicked and every song intimately crafted. Only an artist confident in their process could lead such a room.
The return of classic Afrobeats ideals
Between Tyla’s insistence that she doesn’t make Afrobeats and a wide section of Nigerian pop listeners clamoring for less amapiano influences, the movement is at a crossroads. Now it must showcase its merit beyond the percussive hypnosis of the South African form, and more than a few artists have responded brilliantly. Of the mainstream acts, the latest albums from the new-age duo of Rema and Fireboy DML have been most significant, both delivering memorably without necessarily dipping into the ‘piano sound.
With Morayo, the shift is stamped by the iconic embrace of Wizkid, whose entry into the scene coincided with Afrobeats’ entry into international spaces. Being at the crossroads of the old and the new, it’s quite important that Morayo plays out like an album you could bump in the 2000s. It’s a return to classic Afrobeats ideals — the dance, the sweet talk, the deliberately rough textures of the sound — Wizkid has thrown a flag up for the era of music he grew into. This sets up the next year interestingly, a sort of open question for what the next person will create.