On Her Third Studio Album, Ayra Makes It Clear Beyond Reasonable Doubt That She Is The Life Of The Party.
Like every other Gen Z star that rose to prominence in the dawn of the new decade, Ayra Starr is a master in the mystic arts of R&B and Pop fusion. Her debut album, 19 & Dangerous told a compelling coming-of-age story through a relatable lens of an ambitious teen, transitioning into a budding superstar. The album and its resulting deluxe version’s biggest compliment to the mainstream was producing the smash hits that were Bloody Samaritan and Rush, but the high points off the project were the soulful RnB tracks that encapsulated what it meant to be young, wild and in love.
Ayra’s sophomore album was a marked pivot to more mainstream soundscapes in Afropop lamba, from her R&B debut and while it wasn’t this writer’s cup of tea—it was a solid project that re-affirmed her status as the undisputed pop queen of her generation, due to her malleability in orbiting Afropop and its variant genres effortlessly. Now her third album is here and she seems to have attained new, unprecedented levels of balance that excites this writer and also objectively makes Starrgirl one of 2026’s best offerings.
Ayra wastes no time in setting the record straight that she’s now operating in uncharted territory, by titling the opener Dangerous. The drums are domineering over lyrics of self-adulation, while Terry Apala serenades us with rich Fuji background vocals. There is an uncanny resemblance this beat has with Wande Coal’s Kiss Your Hands ft. Ikechukwu—and whether or not it’s an intentional rip off, it provides a nostalgic backdrop that functions as a good launching pad for Ayra to talk her shit. It’s 2026 best album opener for sure.
Amazing is an homage to the somewhat dated era of cloud trap R&B that dominated the late 2010s, but the African spin on the beat injects some fresh life into it. Ayra flexes her vocals here almost like an instrument and waxes poetic about how her lover has her acting a fool and why she wouldn’t have it any other way. Kwn turns in one hell of a guest performance that is instantly a ceiling raiser and one of the album’s best. Gimme Dat ft. Wizkid set the dance floors on fire last year and while it’s a decent single with Ayra outshining a pop veteran on his own famed mid-tempo pop template, it’s not exactly elevated by the album placement like most great albums.
Pressure has such a riotously pulsating beat that matches the high mileage of sensual tension brewing between Ayra and her love interest, as she instructs him in precise steps the way to push her buttons and drive her insane. Ayra does something ingenious with her voice in the second half of the song and she morphs into a new vocalist entirely due to her enigmatic range. It’s easy to forget she’s one of the best vocalists of her generation and this writer is glad she’s reminding us, even on pop soundscapes like this one. Tornado is the most recent single and while it’s another solid display from Ayra, she’s once again drawing from that well of Afro-Swing fusion that she’s been tapped into since Hot Body last year and it barely offers anything refreshing.
Despite this album’s many strengths, it suffers from poor sequencing. The three opening tracks have varying BPMs and tempos that fail to establish an opening rhythm, before Midnight In New York dials things up a notch, after the first stretch of tracks with a steady rhythm (Pressure, Tornado.) Only for things to slow down again with Hot Body, into that same Dancehall fusion pulse that Midnight In New York picked up from—and rise yet again into a much faster tempo with Ms. Paper on the following track. Hot Body should have followed the sequence of Pressure and Tornado, and Midnight should come right before Ms. Paper.
Despite the aforementioned shortcoming, these songs are pretty good in their own right. Midnight In New York is Afro-House adjacent with subtle Amapiano fusion elements. Hot Body lends itself to the same Bashment drums that are prominent on Tornado and the same goes for Who’s Dat Girl much later on the album. The latter track is much superior due to Rema’s dynamism on his verse and his perchance to eat up all the pockets available on a beat. Ms. Paper on the other hand is Ayra’s most unique track in a while, as it’s like no other song on her catalogue. It’s basically Bouyon with a hyper-pop DNA, except the production isn’t so maximalist and it has heavy Afro percussion in place of EDM elements.
Theodora and Ayra Starr are in perfect ambience on this track and it’s impressive for first time collaborators to pull off such synergy. Ms. Paper is undoubtedly the album’s peak as it pulls Ayra out of her R&B and pop adjacent fusion into a more chaotic template she executes to a tee. The song perfectly segues into another upbeat track, Dance that’s pretty much straightforward. Ayra has come a long way from being a doe-eyed, RnB singer on her debut—and she’s now a full fledged popstar with the influence and money to back it up, so she’s for sure going to stunt on her detractors on the dance floor. This album isn’t very cohesive, but the current two track sequence is it’s true peak.
Where Do We Go remains as underwhelming as it was when it premiered as a single, and just like most of the singles here—the album’s lack of cohesion doesn’t elevate it. It’s a shame because the writing here is quite vivid at painting the heartbreaking aftermaths of an exhilarating lovers night out gone wrong. Ayra confesses that she wasn’t always this self-assertive, confident version of herself and indeed used to be a black sheep in the past on Misunderstood. It’s such a wholesome full circle moment, where she bigs herself up for remaining resolute in her own personal faith and not budging in the wake of scrutiny.
Letter To God continues the Afro-Soul stretch of tracks that commenced with Misunderstood and on this track, Ayra sings about the purest form of love that is steadfast and true for someone—who isn’t even in her life anymore—due to the good times they shared together. Heaven Baby is the emotive piano ballad on the LP that will yank your heart strings with its earnest proclamations of love and the inevitable phenomenon of soulmates. Both Ayra and Zayn do not shy away from stating in unequivocal terms that they are meant for each other and no one else. It doesn’t matter that the concept of soulmates is flawed, what makes the song work—is the fact they both believe it in the deepest depths of their hearts.
Treasure is the true album closer that has Ayra in her feelings, giving gratitude for how far she has come and despite this being an over-flogged trope on Afrobeats album outros, it comes off as less pretentious than usual because Ayra is self aware enough to state that her success is first and foremost hers, before anyone else’s. Starrgirl is perhaps Ayra’s most accomplished LP in the sense of it featuring her most balanced iteration of Pop and R&B. While it might not have the cohesion of 19 & Dangerous, it excels at being a much more electrifying experience. One you could liken to a damn good concert show.
Final Verdict:
Sonic Cohesion: 1.2/2
Expansive Production: 1.6/2
Songwriting: 1.7/2
Delivery: 1.8/2
Album Sequencing: 1.2/2
Total: 7.5/10
