Nigeria: Fireboy DML releases Playboy album

Comprising 14 songs, the LP arrives two years after the last studio collection, Apollo. It includes the already-released title track, ‘Peru’ and ‘Bandana’, and features fellow Nigerian artists Asake and Rema, Jamaican act Shenseea, British singer Ed Sheeran and US acts Chris Brown and Euro.

“Love and appreciation to every one of these genius minds who worked with me on this project, and to my teams at YBNL and Empire,” Fireboy DML said ahead of Playboy’s release.

Thematically, Playboy finds its author letting his hair down and not overthinking life. “Change is very important,” Fireboy DML told Billboard after a tour of the US in March. “I needed to feel that change before I even started working on the album. After Apollo, I was still in that zone.

“But in that trip to the United States, my headspace changed. And when my headspace changes, it’s time for a new album. And this album has the same energy you get when you listen to ‘Peru’ –  no overthinking, no time wasting, straight to the point. There’s depth, there’s intensity, of course, but there is no vulnerability at all. It’s screaming, ‘This is who you are. Stop living your life in a cage, just come out.’”

Fireboy DML is credited with helping to push Afrobeats into a universal genre. Over his career, the 24-year-old has received massive charting success with ‘Peru’, which marked his first entry on Billboard’s Hot 100, and received gold certification in the US and UK with over 300 million streams. A 2022 BET Award nominee, the artist has collaborated with award-winning colleagues from around the world, including Ed Sheeran, Blxst, 21 Savage and Madonna, among others.