The Monthly Three: December Edition

This month, I wrote about the urgency of joy in the dance music that we enjoyed this year, the authenticity some of Nigeria's 2023 standouts, and shared some new music.

New month, new Three! A new year is upon us, and I’m so grateful for your readership, your subscriptions, your shares. Thank you for rocking with me. Previous editions here and here.

Dance, Dance!

One of the most exciting things about this year in music for me was seeing how much danceable music styles resonated in some of the best albums I heard this year. I have always enjoyed electronic and dance music, from the early American stuff that started in Chicago to UK dance bands that meld trip-hop and electronica like Faithless; from UK big beat to drum and bass, and all the delightful electronic music we’re getting from South Africa. When South Africa’s Channel O was still available on Nigerian cable when I was still in secondary school, I fell in love with the various South African house music styles and was immensely pleased when Nigerian mainstream artists started to borrow from amapiano and other styles (heavy on the “was”, but that’s another topic). Back then, my relationship with the music was different. Dance music was unalloyed joy, while I looked to other genres like r’n’b, jazz, and folk for music that mines our emotional depths. The younger version of me as a music listener did not think of joy as an emotion worth examining closely, holding up to the light, fixing it in its context, and celebrating and understanding it in all its shades. 

Electronic music has soared over the past couple of years since the pandemic, and this is as true mainstream pop music globally as it is in Nigeria. Amapiano have been the key “what’s that?” element that’s been sprinkled heavily throughout Nigerian afrobeats in the past few years as the genre has gained more global mainstream ground. While a lot has been said about Nigerians trying to “take over” amapiano, it has been especially gratifying to see South African house DJs like DJ Waffles and Major League DJs making names of their own, doing residencies and headlining sold out shows across Europe and North America. The emergence of the pandemic and the popularity of various dance music styles are twinned for me. I like to think that, after a long time of being holed up in our homes, music that centers on joy resonated anew with audiences. For artists who are omnivorous in their music influences and tastes, dance music styles also provided yet another palette to work from and to expand on typical pop music themes of joy, sexuality, and pleasure.

In 2023, some of the best albums I heard melded dance and electronic music styles with other genres. Beyonce’s Renaissance is an obvious starting point here, where she used dance as a vector for joy, freedom and self-confidence, but there were other albums that used dance styles in really cool ways as well and showed the versatility of it. Chappell Roan’s excellent The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess had songs like the boisterous and flirtatious “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl”, “HOT TO GO!”, and “Red Wine Supernova”, made for dancing with abandon in your room or out with friends. These dance songs punctuated the record, and along with the storytelling and vibrancy in the songs added to the earnestness of the album. Jessie Ware’s That! Feels Good! is a sensory delight, a melange of funk and disco that captures the heady highs and lows of love and pleasure. With songs like “Free Yourself”, “Hello Love”, and the title track, the album finds lots of sonic space for play and experimentation by using its varied influences to toy with tempo and mood. I also really enjoyed Troye Sivan’s Something to Give Each Other, which used dance styles effectively in its storytelling. Songs like “Rush”, “Got Me Started” and “What’s The Time Where You Are?” are delightful jolts of sexiness that calls to mind the most packed dancefloor and the gravitational pull of attraction that makes the dancefloor feel like it’s just you and that other person.  

Across all of these various albums, the longing they expressed was eloquent and frank, and the joy they depicted felt urgent. These albums and their dance-y leanings were especially refreshing to me, because they came out at a time where it seems so many of us have practiced a studious coolness, trying not to commit to hard or feel too much. Given the practiced cynicism of our time, music that takes joy seriously gives me some hope.  I want to believe that these albums and the current moment that we are having where dance music resonates so much is because more people agree with me than not, that giving oneself over to the feeling of joy and the desire to dance can feel as rapturous as any epiphany. 

Authenticity Is the Mission

We owe the Nigerian alté movement from the early 2010s a debt for shaping both the aesthetics and the evolution of the way Nigerian music sounds, but much more besides. People like Odumodublvck and Seyi Vibes who both had a huge year would not be here if we never had a cultural turn where things like authenticity and community mattered. 

I’ve written before about how there is a huge difference between when an artist fan base has a Big Man and hangers-on dynamic, as opposed to when an artist seems to be emerging from a specific community that identifies him/her as one of their own. The artists that fall in the latter category tend to come with a specific sound. Their use of specific language makes them recognizable to a group of people or subculture, making them loved as much for who they are as the music they produce. Seyi Vibes is rooted deeply in his hometown of Ikorodu, and his afro-adura sound is shaped by Yoruba music styles like fuji and more contemporary popular music sounds. Ikorodu was his first audience before his breakthrough “‘God Sent”’ piqued the attention of street-pop listeners beyond Ikorodu and his hit single “‘Chance (Na Ham)”’ broke him fully into the mainstream. His blend of influences speaks to the blend of influences of a group of young people who developed an appreciation of the fuji their parents jammed to while listening to music from elsewhere and watching Nigeria’s own afrobeats scene evolve. Seeing Seyi Vibez spring forward is so obvious now, if you ever jammed to Da Grin and Konga’s “Sare Kaba Kaba”, listened to 9ice when he first came out, or gotten familiar with Olamide’s earlier work. Odumodublvck also built his audience outside the mainstream before he caught popular attention, and songs like “Picanto” piqued mainstream interest. You hear his music, and you can hear the culmination of everything from UK rap to DRB, along with his own definitive signature and a use of language that’s very Nigerian. Even Shallipopi, another artist who had a huge year in 2023, is similar in his appeal, in that his use of Edo pidgin and slang in his easy-going flow that reminds me of early UK grime gives him a strong sense of place that helped songs like “Elon Musk” become huge hits. 

Seeing people building from smaller places and retaining strong identities as they grow in their music has always been fascinating to me, especially in an industry where mass appeal means big money. These artists reflect the nature of what I imagine to be the challenge that Nigerian A&R managers face as they seek to find and support new artists. Finding new voices is always more art than science, but in many western countries where streaming numbers will indicate something about their following, streams in Nigeria are very much a lagging indicator that will only fully emerge when the artist has gotten industry backing. What’s exciting about this time is that more artists will see the examples set by artists like Shallipopi, Seyi Vibes and Odumodublvck and feel more free to be themselves, convinced that if their output is strong enough, the audience will come.

Looking Ahead

There are so many Nigerian female artists who I am excited to hear more from in the coming year. Lifesize Teddy and Fave are versatile and original with great pens, but Bloody Civilian is probably my favorite. Her singing voice is measured, and with songs like “How to Kill a Man” and “Family Meeting '' off her aptly-named EP Anger Management, the dark subject matter tinges the restraint in her voice with a quiet disdain. The songs are refreshing because it is so good to hear a Nigerian woman making music that is not as preoccupied with her desirability, and expresses irritation and annoyance in ways that are very relatable. She did a remix EP of Anger Management EP called At Least We Tried featuring collaborations with other up and coming artists, including pretty much every emerging female Nigerian artist you should know about. I’m very excited to see what else she does in the coming year.

There’s other music I’m digging into from new artists. I’ve recently downloaded Yarden’s new EP The One Who Descends because I liked his way-too-short song “Wetin”. I’m also really enjoying Sarz’s direction with the music he’s making. The song with Skrillex and Crayon and now the new one with Gunna and Asake make it clear that he’s exploring new sonic landscapes. That tendency was observable even really on in his work on Niniola’s Ibadi way back in 2014, and in his work with Obongjayar’s Sweetness EP and WurlD’s I Love Girls with Trobul. I’m hopeful that Sarz will drop a proper full-length record of collaborations in the coming year.

I’m really excited about Culture Custodian’s recent new podcasts. They dropped Overnight Success, which is an interview series with people who are making an impact on popular culture in Nigeria, and Uncultured, which is takes on different pop culture topics. I think we need more people steeped in our context telling our stories and helping to control the narrative, so I think this is very important work.

Lastly, I wrote a long-ish, reflective piece on Asa, her importance and her place in Nigerian music for the good folks over at The Republic. It’s dropping on Monday, so make sure you check that out.

Happy Holidays once more! Thanks so much for reading. Until next time.