I am scared for the singer’s forthcoming "Gold" album

It is with great conviction that I write this. I am scared for his forthcoming album – “Gold” – from Adekunle Gold.

Reviewing an album before it comes out is very scary, and in many ways, senseless. It’s very evident when someone who has not listened to the full tracks of an LP, talk about it, and try to share his views on it. You can tell that the person has not fully embraced the art, due to his conspicuous paucity of knowledge, lack of passion, conviction, and perspective. He sounds fake, without substance, and very silly.

I am yet to listen to Adekunle Gold’s forthcoming album, but I do have far more than snippets. For one, Adekunle Gold has sold us a concept, a dream of locally crafted love songs, drawn from the Highlife, made urban, and released. ‘Sade’, ‘Orente’, and ‘Ready’, fall into this template. The other one, ‘Pick up’, maintains the sonic integrity of his releases, but goes spiritual for lyrical inspiration. It is a song begging for good financial fortune. Four singles, all off the new project, is enough to get an inkling into the core sound from the album. Adekunle’s ideas are very emotive and easy to decipher, and the template is open. Highlife, one of the purist sounds from Nigeria, has been chopped and reworked into the times by various artistes. That’s why Flavour has a career. Adekunle Gold is the Yoruba appropriator of it. A proud and deserved child of his volition that launched him from graphic artiste/art director, to rock star.

Adekunle’s style, which has been his blessing, is also a curse. While he has benefited from carving a niche, the rigidity of that genre and the following he has amassed so far, prevents him from inter-genre experimentation. So, whether we listen to the whole thing or not, we already know what he is going to drop on the album. Would you imagine Adekunle Gold vibing on a pacey club beat, complete with huge drum kicks and synths. That would be an abomination for a man who is seen as the darling of Nigerian music, who is the antithesis of what we generally criticize, to cross into that rowdy crowd. Adekunle is special, and that inhibits him, giving him very little wiggle room to be creative.

I am scared because I am of the opinion that the album will be repetitive in sound, and also in content. I am scared because Adekunle Gold is such a fine artiste, and this body of work might not be an asset to him. I am scared because, he needs more than the template songs that he has been dishing out to make the album rich. I am scared because I am sacred.

The “Gold” LP will be released on July 29, 2016. I will definitely be in line to buy a copy, or stream from Apple Music. Only then will my fears be assuaged. Adekunle Gold, please pick up your hustle.