Is Asake now making music for a foreign audience?

Asake's mainstream run reached a new height when he released his third album, 'Lungu Boy', in 2024.

Unlike his debut album 'Mr Money With The Vibes' and sophomore 'Work of Art,' his third album saw him embrace more foreign elements while cutting down on the Amapiano fusion and Fuji music elements that rocketed him to global stardom.

Although 'Lungu Boy' made some attempt to connect with the home fronts with songs like 'Ligali', 'Mentally', and the vibrant 'Fuji Vibes,' Asake didn't show similar desires with his actions.

The Grammy nominee was notably absent in Nigeria in December 2024, when all major stars, including Davido, Burna Boy, Wizkid, Ayra Starr, and Rema, performed across the country.

Asake, however, stayed put in the United States, where he has taken up residency in the celebrity hive of California. He also appears to have settled in the country where he launched his marijuana strain Giran.

After his appearance at the 67th Grammy Awards earlier in the year, he released a freestyle he called 'Military' where he shared a desire to do whatever pleases him.

He then unveiled a new set of tattoos that had fans curious about the state of mind of the star whose music has dominated the mainstream since 2022.

His decision to also part ways with his former management team while retaining and publicly showing off the caucasian member of the team, Alexa Rae Perkins, seems like a desire to cut down the Nigerians in his cycle.

His decision to part ways with YBNL Records, under whose book he rose to mainstream fame, also didn't help optically, as many fans, albeit erroneously, considered it a betrayal. The fact that Asake didn't seem to care also added to the divide.

While these moves were not unbecoming of an Afrobeats star with global ambitions, Asake's actions suggested a desire to limit his connection with the home front.

This narrative was further fuelled by he release of his first release of 2025, 'Why Love,' which carried familiar throbbing log drums, but his delivery was a stark contrast to the man who breathlessly dominated the beat in his previous work.

Like several songs in 'Lungu Boy,' his delivery seemed paced and calculated to aid the digestion of the foreign audience he was courting.

Although he has been on a collaborative run with guest appearances on songs with Olamide, Young Jonn, and British rapper J Hus, he still feels farther from the local front where his absence is beginning to raise questions about his next career move.

Ahead of his upcoming fourth album, he has christened 'MONEY', Asake released a surprised single on July 25 titled 'BADMAN GANSTA' featuring French star Tiakola.

The mid-tempo song produced by P Priime carries a Garage bounce that allows both artists to meet in the middle. Asake, as always, delivers in Yoruba while Tiakola completes the cultural cross-pollination to plant the Afrobeats star in the consciousness of French and European listeners.

While the sonics of his new record further add to the narrative that Asake is making a global play, his lyrics also give some credence to this idea as he appears to answer the question that has lingered for a while: Is he now primarily making music for a foreign audience?

"I be omo naija o
Living my life mi o sa o
Padi raba mon wa o"

In the above lyrics, he identifies with his Nigerian roots while also announcing that he was simply living the life and chasing his ambitions rather than creating a boundary between himself and the home front.

Although the music is still tame and distant from the rousing appetite his previous works created in Nigerian listeners, he wished to remind them that he's still the era-defining star they fell in love with.

This ambition for Asake appears to be the global stage where he wants to rub shoulders with an international audience whose attention he garnered with his earlier work.

Wanting more, he's now making music that carries fewer Afrobeats elements and is only Nigerian in his use of the Yoruba language.

Although it might be too early to call, the optical bridge his prolonged absence from Nigeria has created and the notable difference in his sound suggest that Asake is not focused on how his music is received in Nigeria.

His upcoming fourth album would also serve as confirmation of the audience that's art primarily caters to. While language will always keep him tethered to Nigeria, the approach, production, and his positioning will show where he leans.

Is Asake now making music for a foreign audience? Time will tell.