V: Aṣa’s heartfelt Afrobeats excursion

28 Feb 2022 - 00:00

At its core, Aṣa’s new collection V is motivated by highlife and Afrobeats. And yet, it is hardly a total departure from her foundational soul-jazz mould. Characteristic of Afrobeats, V exposes an artful sonic promiscuity about its author, who flirts with everything from pop to R&B and electro. This clever conjuration is how she has arrived at yet another golden album.

Aṣa. Photo: Lakin Ogunbanwo

The LP, a fifth for the accomplished French-Nigerian singer, nestles at a rare intersection of intimacy and freedom – a singular documentation and celebration of life and love.

The musician says she set out into V with a serendipitous spirit occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading her to throw open the door to different creatives. The resulting sound finds her enlisting an unlikely cast of collaborators, starting with producer P.Priime, whom Aṣa describes as fresh and sharp with production, as well as Wizkid, Amaarae and The Cavemen.

But do not fret, Aṣa’s essence is very much present here: she makes a cogent argument for a taut album – that 10 songs are enough to achieve the assignment (Jokester Basketmouth makes a similar argument, with his shining debut Yabasi and acclaimed sophomore album Horoscopes, featuring a concise 10 and nine tracks, respectively).

Oozing with psychedelic sparkle, V retains Aṣa’s delicate vocal phrasing that summons a dreamy ambience. Her lyrics, cathartic by default and easy to the ear, are rendered mostly in passionate English, with sprinklings of Yoruba of course.

Much of the album centres on romantic love. ‘Mayana’ and ‘Ocean’, the singles that heralded V, capture the psyche of intimate passion. The former invites a love interest to elope; the latter compares his emotional capacity to a vast sea. On ‘Show Me Off’, Aṣa sings: “You’re like the beautiful sunrise in the morning / When I look into your eyes, they mesmerise me.”

Sadly, as is often the arc of love stories, it gets grim at some point: “You say you love me / Still, you plague my heart,” ‘Nike’ goes. ‘Love Me or Give Me Red Wine’ asks: “Now that you are gone, who’s gonna love me?”

It is this reviewer’s suspicion that the highlife-leaning tracks on V possess a special potential for a unique eruption. Take for instance ‘IDG’, the Wizkid-assisted track, which entreats the listener to “live in the moment” because “tomorrow belongs to God.” Due to the way it’s constructed, the track alludes to a couple of songs off the Afrobeats star’s Grammy-nominated Made in Lagos, and is arguably V’s best song: fluid, introspective and an interesting lesson into what fame teaches a person. “I don’t see different kinds of love / So I know if it’s real enough,” Wizkid sings.

‘Good Times’, another song that bears the highlife signature, backs the above notion. Distinguished by the touching choral harmonies of highlife duo The Cavemen, the song ponders the value of good friends. “They say blood is thicker than water / Some friends are loyal than brothers”, observes Aṣa, adding: “I may not have money / But with you I am rich.” On the song’s hook, The Cavemen sing: Good times are always gold / Lately I have been so cold / And I want to be with you my friend.”

Aṣa is a creator of incredible albums – albums that stay with us. Everyone remembers where they were when her eponymous debut arrived in 2007. It has pretty much been the case with everything else she has released, and now she has added new voices to that journey.