You’ve probably heard of the saying, “don’t judge an article by its headline.” Well, I ask that you also not judge this blog by its title. The reason I ask for you to heed such advice is not because the headline lacks merit, but because it is false in the literal sense yet correct in the subjective understanding of things.
Those who are not “essence warriors” but true fans of Afrobeats can testify to the fact that CKay for the most part has been seen more as a ‘singles’ artist than one with a rich discography of memorable albums. Before listening to this new album, Sad Romance, I had forgotten about the other two albums that he had dropped, hence the falsehood in my headline.
Quite frankly speaking, Ckay’s last two projects did not leave a mark in the ears of listeners. All we took out of the first two albums was “Love Nwantiti” and vibes. Right before he announced “Sad Romance,” I had a conversation with my friend, who is very well versed in African music, on how CKay needs to release his debut album because of his limited discography. Now, both my friend and I have definitely listened to his previous albums but for some reason we had totally disregarded the existence of these last two projects.
The forgetfulness of CKay’s earlier projects did not come out of nowhere but are a reflection of an artist who rode on the high of a hit record but for some reason or another lacked the ability to translate that high onto other pieces of work. On his actual debut album “CKay The First,” “Love Nwantiti” was the highest streamed track with 567 million streams, while the second highest streamed track on that album was “DTF” with 5.1 million streams all on spotify. “Jeje de Whine” is the highest streamed track on his second album “Boyfriend” with 6.5 million streams.
The extreme level of disparity within stream performance between most streamed and second most streamed tracks is not an outright endorsement of my former statement, but definitely raises questions on the lack of consistency in track performance within the two albums.
Now let’s get to his newest album, sad romance, which I rightfully call his debut album. This project showed how great of an artist CKay is, he delicately carried through a theme of how romance evolves in ways that usually don’t end like the perfect Disney fairytale.
Love is messy, it is crazy and dare I say it is also wicked. You can ask any of the women in Adam Levine, Ime Udoka and Ned Fulmer’s lives and I’m sure they can relate to this theme of sad romance.
Speaking of these three gentlemen who aren’t short of wickedness in their dealings with women, CKay made the perfect song for their spouses called “You cheated, and I cheated too.” This song illustrates the need for a significant other who has been done wrong to get their lick back (a.k.a plot on the cheating partner). “You dey use my heart dey catch your cruise” in other words, you are playing me.
This project had a lot of great records with my favorite being “samson and delilah,” a song that featured Cape Verdean artist Mayra Andrade. As is implied in the title, this track touches on CKay’s longing for a love that is complicated by the tragic ending of the Samson and Delilah biblical romance.
For those who didn’t pay attention in Sunday school or are not of the christian faith, the story between these two individuals depicts a couple who are madly in love to the detriment of one of the parties.
Samson had a gift of strength from God which he could only lose by cutting his hair, this being a secret of course. Delilah collaborated with the authorities of the time to seduce Samson to reveal the source of his strength, and him being madly in love, he was foolish enough to open his mouth. Well I am sure we all know how that story ended; Samson’s hair was forcibly cut off and he lost his power all in the name of incautious love.
That track was not my favorite because of the tragic ending, but because it helped to tie CKay’s overall theme of “Sad Romance” together in a beautiful rendition of a biblical story that showcases just how foolishly in love we all can be. Beyond the meaning of the lyrics, this song was also sweet if I may say so myself. The feature of Mayra Andrade brought a heightened feeling of sensuality to the song; like the one felt when dancing to Kizomba.
“Sad Romance” featured three pre-released singles: “Watawi (feat. Davido, Focalistic, Abidoza)”, “Emiliana” and “Love Nwantiti.” These singles are amongst the best performing and loved records in Ckay’s discography.
“Love Nwantiti” already featured on his first album is one of the highest streamed African songs of all time. The inclusion of this “Love Nwantiti bonus” track is probably a ploy to drive traffic to the album with a song that’s already hot, although I think he needs to hang it up. “Emiliana,” my all time favorite CKay song, currently has 121 million streams on spotify. “Watawi” is really the only upbeat song on this album, so definitely for the legwork warriors. The beat on that song also follows an Amapiano or South African dance rhythm, showcasing the increased influence of that genre on mainstream African music.
CKay, congratulations on putting out your debut album, Sad Romance. The other two projects were really a warm up for the greatness that you were saving to showcase on this album!
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