By: Bobby Nishimwe
In the lead up to his Super Bowl halftime show, Usher ventures into Afrobeats with his latest album 'Coming Home.' Teaming up with Nigerian superstar Burna Boy and producer Pheelz, Usher showcases his boundless musical prowess, delivering two mesmerizing Afrobeats infused tracks that highlight his versatility as an artist.
The two tracks featured on the album are “Coming Home,” and “Ruin.”
Coming Home is a record that he performs with Burna Boy. This track takes inspiration from the past while incorporating contemporary nodes of musical sounds. As the record starts, you are immediately drawn into time travel, finding yourself in the late 80s as “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson is being blasted on every street corner. The elements/loops incorporated in Coming Home pay an homage to the brilliance of Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson.
First part of the record is characterized by Usher giving us amazing classic pop-R&B vocals with hints of Michael Jackson-inspired arrangements. As we get right in the middle of the track, Burna Boy comes in with a totally different flow moving us away from the 80s era. The brilliance of Pheelz at this moment is choosing to scale back on the drums and instrumental elements of the track in order to put Burna’s vocal cadence at the forefront. This allowed Burna Boy's voice to bring in the Afrofusion flow within the record.
Usher named his album after the “Coming Home” record and his decision to have it be the first track showcases his strong belief in the writing, production and performance quality of this song.
Different from "Coming Home", “Ruin” was performed by Usher and Pheelz. It was by far my favorite track on the album. This record was a perfect marriage between Afrobeats and R&B. Unlike Coming Home this beat and rhythm leaned a lot more into Afrobeats. From the beat, melodies and vocals - everything just flowed in harmony with each other. Usher’s flow felt native to this African sound, and that is in part thanks to the amazing writers and production that knew how to create something that felt so natural to him.
Pheelz has performed and produced some of the biggest African records of the past few years. Some of the songs he is known for are “Finesse” and “Electricity.” Finesse was arguably one of the biggest African songs of summer 2022, and Pheelz performed this record with his fellow Nigerian artist Bnxn. It currently boasts more than 148 million streams on Spotify. Electricity is another hit record that he performed with Davido, similar to Finesse this track was also doing the numbers in 2022.
Afrobeats continues to find itself in the biggest rooms, projects and stages of the global music infrastructure. This project with Usher is just another testament to the brilliant musical genius of Nigerian artists who view the global stage as their front yard.
“Coming Home” by Usher and Burna Boy
Writers: Burna Boy, Usher, Marc Byers, Pheelz
Producer: Pheelz
“Ruin” by Usher and Pheelz
Writers: Ndumizo Manana, Pheelz, Usher
Producer: Pheelz
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