Of Fireboy’s Hoe Phase

So Fireboy has released his ‘PLAYBOY’ album. Let’s first score him high for sticking to the theme. With tracks like Ashawo, he plays right into the essence of the playboy concept. I can’t wait for touchy people to say he is encouraging promiscuity and the Men-A-Scum movement to have a few things itching their genitals about this. Faux pun intended and necessary.

These days it is rare for me to find an album that I didn’t have to force myself to listen to some tracks just so I can write a honest review. Same with this. This is because I’ve given up on lyrical prowess of Nigerian musicians so the compensatory melody or vocals is usually the saving grace. When even that is missing, then yes we have a catastrophe. Thankfully Fireboy nails melodic artistry and it shines throughout the album so the album isn’t subpar.

In terms of range, he is a natural at moving the songs from fast to slow and leaving pauses at just the right places to avoid monotonous delivery. This sadly doesn’t save some songs like Adore and Sofri from being complete slumber fests. This has made the album longer than was necessary because Tracks 5 to 9 were merely time wasters and filler tracks. Beyond lazy composition and even lazier delivery. I guess you can’t win them all.

Overall production quality on this album is standard. Admittedly, we have become so used to clean clear sounds with proper background vocals and harmonisation, that to score exceptionally in this metric you must literally go above and beyond. So no criticism here, just normal.

Now, listen to Tracks 12 and 13. That is his strong suit. See how that entire thing comes naturally to him? Does he sound like he has to think about the lyrics or struggles with the melody or vocals? No. His next album has to contain at more of those. I score the album 4 out of 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. It was a really good mix if you’re intoxicated enough.