Wizkid – Sounds from the Other Side

Indeed, as if determined to put daylight between himself and his local rivals, SFTOS features an impressive line-up of international artists: Drake, Chris Brown, Treysongz, TY Dolla Sign, Major Lazer, everyone.

This already is unprecedented for a Nigerian act and is especially a nod to the Starboy’s partnership with Sony Music. But while this collection may yet excel commercially it raises questions concerning Wizkid’s range as an artist, and the legitimacy of his claim to global attention.

A 12-track compilation made over two years, SFTOS rehashes Wizkid’s dominant themes. His main preoccupations remain dance, women, love and dance by lovely women.

One of the early singles, Daddy Yo, features a hook (from an uncredited Efya) urging "Wizzy boy make me dance." Another single, Sweet Love, finds him clamouring for affection. Sexy, with back-up vocals from, again, Efya, samples Fela Kuti’s Oro di hun’ and briefly describes another of Wizkid’s romantic preference: "I need baby wey go bless me o/Wey go love me no go stress me o." All for Love, made with South-African singer Bucie, has a probing refrain: "What would you do for love?" This song should excite Afro-house music lovers.

But that is it. Compared to Wizkid’s past work, and despite the long guest list, Sounds from the Other Side is disappointing for containing too little artistic ingenuity or thematic variety. Instead, there is, as new status signal, only a bland, inconsistent Caribbean flavour.

On Come Closer, which features previous collaborator Drake, Wizkid employs Jamaican patois, insisting "me steady repping, representing for me city!" It is a curious case of double-speak, and marks a detour for an artist whose break into intercontinental consciousness was inspired by Ojuelegba—an afro-fuji paean to his experience as a precocious music talent in a predominantly pidgin-speaking part of Lagos.

Far from a case in isolation, this fascination with, indeed fetish for, the Caribbean ducks the entire SFTOS project, as on the two TY Dolla Sign-assisted songs Dirty Whine and One for Me and also on Naughty Ride with Major Lazer. Wizkid often sounds uncomfortable, lost at sea, struggling to rediscover his magic in the company of his more illustrious, more Caribbean colleagues.

This is especially puzzling when the aforementioned songs are contrasted with solo-delivered songs like Picture Perfect and Sweet Love, both of which have better replay value. It raises the question: What, if not commerce, is the point of collaborations that are not artistically complementary? Some of the joint efforts on this project walk the tightrope between gratuitous and grating.

It would be overreaching to say Wizkid has self-sabotaged by courting western acceptance via company. To draw parallels with the doomed attempt of fellow Nigerian D’Banj at crossing over to the US music market through Kanye West is hasty. A song like African Bad Gyal alongside Chris Brown, with whom Wizkid has palpable synergy, provides consolation that Wizkid’s new trajectory is not totally wrong-headed. Perhaps it's only a little rushed.

When one has dominated, and thereby defined, the local music scene for the past half-decade, it is natural to develop an impulse for greater visibility overseas. But if Sounds From the Other Side is a party thrown by Wizkid inviting the world, the presence of several global stars distracts from his own ability, and as celebrant he must quietly wonder if his party isn’t better without co-hosts.

Buy Sounds from the Other Side on iTunes