Nigerian and Grammy Award-winning artiste Wizkid released his much anticipated sixth studio album ‘Morayo’ (meaning ‘I see Joy’ in Yoruba) on Friday, November 22, 2024.
The 16-track album, released under RCA Records and Starboy Entertainment, is a tribute to his late mother, Juliana Morayo Balogun, who passed away in August 2023. It featured renowned artistes such as Brent Faiyaz, Asake, Jazmine Sullivan, and Tiakola.
It may have been a creative decision to name the album ‘Joy’ to celebrate his mother, but it leaves questions on why the Afrobeats star didn’t fully dive into her personal story and life. Imagine Tupac’s Dear Mama, a lead single that was a tribute to his mother, Afeni Shakur. Almost 30 years after its release in February 1995, Dear Mama remains an evergreen track. Obviously, Wizkid has every artistic right to decide the tone and composition of his music as he deems fit. But was this an opportunity missed – to cement a legacy in the hearts of an adoring Afrobeats global audience by reintroducing his mother’s greatness to the world through his lyrics?
Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that Wizkid took a leap of faith into uncharted territories and unlocked a new identity to his sound from Lagos and the other side of his musical expressions. While every track has that signature tune, or sprinklers of it, only a handful seemed to flow unrestrained like a faucet gushes open with overflowing water.
His leap into experimenting with new sounds and beats on some of the tracks in this album is quite commendable, yet Wizkid leaves listeners and fans guessing and asking for more like Oliver Twist. While he explored the surfaces of musical diversity, Starboy was not daring enough to take a giant creative jump, like Beyonce did with Cowboy Carter. `
With Morayo album, Wizkid managed to stay on the edge, and still give listeners something they yearn for, an intimate bouquet of sounds to treasure. But in terms of sublime artistry, the artiste explored caution and somewhat did not leap further into the league of classics and a timeless body of work.
Singles like ‘Kese Dance’ and, “Piece of My Heart”, which set a new record for the most first-day streams on Spotify Nigeria – with a record 1.01 million streams in its first day of release – are standout tracks and favourites. However, Morayo album as a body of work may take more than one listen to fully grow on hard-to-please music aficionados. On the whole, it is an Afrobeats album that deserves its flowers and global appreciation.
Undoubtedly, Wizkid is a global music star who has etched his name into Afrobeats and global music lexicon. But with Morayo, he left fans and listeners salivating and asking what could have been. From a purely artistic view, it seemed, with this album, Starboy was comfortable being on the periphery of the good and the great.
