In my last conversation with Tobias on Afro Banta Beats Podcast, he had just dropped his single “Time Away” while still working on finishing his Diary of a Loverboy II album.
Diary of a Loverboy II Cover | Credit: Tobias.wavTobias finally dropped his new project composing of eight tracks. As the title reads, this album is for the lover-boys and lover-girls too.
Surely, there is enough love to go around!
Tobias starts the album off with a mood-setter. The intro of any album is by far the most important part, it determines whether a listener gives the project a chance or not. Tobias succeeded in making an intro that catches your attention. Makes you feel like you are in a lounge with some beautiful babes, cigars, drinks flowing (holy water of course) and colorful lights all around.
The first song of the album, “Style & Experience;” the kind you send to a babe in those ungodly hours (Father God, please forgive those who partake in such ungodly activities). It is truly the after club move record as he sings, “cause you know the night’s gonna end and you’re rolling with me, only if the time is right…girl I am yours, only if you wanna get down.” Fellas no more are the days where you hit up a girl with the, “what you doing tonight?” text, instead send her a link to “Style & Experience.”
“Time away” is for those moments when you just can’t stop thinking about that one ex. By the way, if you have a new boo you should really stop thinking about your past lover. I loved how Tobias started this song with a phone call to an ex, who clearly didn’t pick up because the babe has moved on. May the good Lord mend the broken hearts of all the fallen brethren in the line of relationship warfare. Tobias does on this track what great artists have perfected; he invokes the ethos of his listeners in times of love sickness.
You can see the growth and evolution in Tobias’ artistry from this project. Diary of a Loverboy II has a concise theme that is meticulously adhered to in the various tracks and a cohesive rhythm that maintains the listener in a state of pensive movement.
The sound you can expect from this project is a perfect harmony of afrobeats and dancehall rhythms.
This album serves as a lover-boy’s case for why they deserve to experience the one thing humanity yearns for the most, after money; LOVE!
My Interview with Tobias.wav
Who are you trying to speak to on this album? “People that care to listen to good music but at the same time good song writing that appeals to your emotions…of being young and in love. You know, looking for love. Finding love and telling a story.”
What would you say is the starkest contrast between this album and previous projects? “I really wanted to make my songs more relatable. This is my most relatable project while at the same time being my most concise.”
I noticed a lot of Yoruba being used in this album, what was your thought process in incorporating the Yoruba language on this project? “The first thing people need to understand is that I am a Yoruba man. Before anything else, I am Yoruba then I am Nigerian. I feel like Yoruba is such a romantic language that now it’s blowing up. A lot of the Afrobeats songs we are hearing now have a Yoruba in it. Just the way the language, how beautiful it is, it really speaks to you. You might not understand what they are saying, but the melodies that come out of using Yoruba in your music, it makes it a lot more appealing. I just wanted to tap into that space. I speak Yoruba, and I feel like it would’ve been cooler to have it in my song. Let people know where I am, whom I am representing as I am on my musical journey.”
Why the title, Diary of a Loverboy II? “The first project I put out was just a snippet of what I could do when it comes to storytelling from my perspective, from my own experiences. I honed in on that and decided that I was going to expand more on that subject matter. So people could be more familiar with my world and my experiences.”
What do you hope listeners take out of this project? “It’s okay to be in your feelings. It’s okay to talk about your feelings, to sing about it. They just need to take their time, get a glass of wine. Chill, and just listen to it from top to bottom. It flows so well. It’s okay to chill. You don’t always have to be on your toes, relax. Just soak in the sound, the melodies and the production.”
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