Everyone thinks “Sounds From The Other Side” is an album, except Starboy himself

“Sounds From The Other Side,” the highly anticipated global release from Wizkid is available everywhere via Starboy/RCA Records/Sony Music International.

The project features collaborations with Drake, Major Lazer, Chris Brown, Ty Dolla $ign, Trey Songz and Bucie, along with production by Sarz, Diplo, Picard Brothers, Spellz, DJ Mustard and more.

And while the reviews have been mostly good, there has been a miscommunication about the structure of the project. Everyone thinks “Sounds From The Other Side” is an album except Wizkid.

The singer who first promised a mixtape named “Sounds From The Other Side” in 2015, has maintained that narrative up to this point, telling every media house that this is a mixtape. And while we applaud the consistency of his vision, everyone thinks differently. To the world Sounds From The Other Side is a great album. Nothing more, nothing less.#

RCA Records, the company to which he is signed, officially refers to it as a ‘project’. On streaming platforms Apple and Spotify, the singer’s new release is titled an ‘album’, and it is treated as such commercially. Wizkid’s project is sold on iTunes Nigeria for N1,400, while in the US, it is on sale for $7.99. Guess which other album is sold at that price? “Girl Disputed” album by Sevyn Streeter, and also French Montana’s “Jungle Rules” LP which was released on the same day as Wizkid’s.

But in an interview with Ebro Darden on Beats 1, the 27-year-old refused to call the release an 'album,' instead choosing to label it an 'EP.' It’s the first time Wizkid is referring to the project as anything other than a Mixtape. And that simply cannot hold true.

“Sounds From The Other Side” cannot be an EP. It contains 12 tracks, and has a duration of 40 minutes. That’s not how EPs are structured.

An EP (Extended Play), was originally created to house a collection of songs that are more than a single,  but lesser than a full-length LP (Long Play). Depending on the era and the country of release, the definition of what constitutes an EP versus an LP has changed quite a bit over the past seven decades, but as recent as 2015, it was broadly defined as a collection of four records or less and approximately 25 minutes in length. Wizkid’s ‘project’ does not fit into that.

But why is the singer and his label rejecting the album tag?

“It’s because they are testing the waters,” Says Ayomide Tayo, Entertainment Editor of Pulse. “This is his first project with Sony, and they would rather play safe and not call it an album. But everything about it makes it an album.”

This isn’t new. In 2015, Drake, who is featured on “Sounds From The Other Side,” released a project titled“If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late.” The project ran for 70 minutes, and contains 17 tracks. And although it was treated as an album, the rapper maintained his position and called it an EP.

But for many fans, Wizkid’s new project can be called whatever he wants. The music is great and that’s all that matters.